Bantham Estate runs this crossing for six months and four hours a day, in two two-hour windows with no departure times inside them. It is the South West Coast Path's way over the Avon, and when it is not running the alternative is nine miles longer.
2026 season, 1 April to 30 September 2026, as published by Bantham Estate and read on 22 September 2026 — eight days before it closes. Bantham Estate — ferry dates and times · 2026-09-22
Bantham stands on the Avon's eastern bank where the river reaches the sea in the South Hams, with the sand of Bantham Ham on one side and the golf course above Bigbury-on-Sea across the water. The gap between the two looks walkable at low tide and is not: the South West Coast Path Association warns that a deep channel is always present and that the current can run hard, and Bigbury Parish Council repeats the point about soft sand and currents at the river mouth. So there is a boat.
It belongs to Bantham Estate, a private estate whose ownership changed hands quietly at the start of last year — Companies House records the previous controlling shareholder ceasing on 31 January 2025 — and which still runs the ferry directly rather than contracting it out. The estate is also the body that administers most of the tidal river above the crossing, although the South Devon AONB's own documents describe the estuary bed as predominantly the Duchy of Cornwall's.
The service is as small as it sounds and more precisely defined than most: daily from 1 April to 30 September, 10am to noon and 2pm to 4pm, £4.95 a person each way, and running whatever the tide is doing. Outside those dates and those four hours, the Avon has to be walked round. Few ferry routes in England define themselves as narrowly.
One number covers the entire fare structure: £4.95, per person, each way. There is no return, no child rate, no concession and no group price, because the estate publishes none — and for a crossing most people make twice in a day, that means £9.90 a head for the round trip.
It is also worth knowing what is not said. Nothing is published about paying by card or cash on the boat, about dogs, or about whether bicycles are carried at all. The estate's car park nearby takes contactless only and says so loudly, but that is a rule about the car park and it does not transfer to the water.
| Per person, each way | £ 4.95 |
The only fare Bantham Estate publishes, shown on the ferry page alongside the 2026 dates and carrying no validity date of its own Bantham Estate — ferry charges · 2026-09-22
The Avon rises 460 metres up on the Aune Head mires of south Dartmoor and runs 23 miles to the sea, arriving between Bantham and Bigbury-on-Sea. South Devon National Landscape describes the tide pushing up to Aveton Gifford, where a weir stops it four and a half miles inland at the first place the river is bridged, and the estuary itself as a ria that almost dries at low water except for a very shallow river channel. Nobody publishes how wide the crossing is or how long the boat takes, so this page does not say — and the western pin is a postcode centroid, because the landing has no coordinate of its own.
The Bantham side is the developed one, in the sense that anything is developed here: a slipway below the village, and behind it the estate's car park, which it says holds over a thousand cars with the beach about 75 metres from where you leave yours. Since 1 July 2026 that car park has cost £12 for the day, £9 from one o'clock and £6 from four, with a weekly pass at £50 and motorbikes at £3. Payment is contactless only — the estate is explicit about taking no cash there, though it says nothing either way about the boat.
Two things to note before you commit. The gates are given as opening around 7.30am on the car park page and 8am in the estate's own FAQ, and they close at 9pm in summer; a car left inside after that costs £100 to recover. And Bantham Ham is a scheduled ancient monument, with evidence of Bronze Age and Roman-era settlement and a post-Roman trading port, which is why metal detectors are banned.
There is no quay on the western shore. Cockleridge Ham is a sand spit, and the only fixed landmark any official route description uses is the ferry information panel standing on it. No address, no postcode, no published coordinate exists for the landing — the pin on the map is the nearest postcode centroid on the Bigbury bank, which is the best an official source allows.
The walk starts immediately and it starts upwards: inland from the panel, up steps, along a field edge and then up the road beside the golf course. The nearest parking is Bigbury-on-Sea's pay-and-display at the beach, postcode TQ7 4AR, with an overflow field at the foot of Folly Hill in the busy months — both a good walk from the water, and the parish council warns that times are enforced strictly.
The published season is 1 April to 30 September. There is no winter service, no reduced service and no request service — the coast path simply reroutes walkers inland for the other half of the year.
Bantham Estate states that the ferry runs no matter the tide, which sets it apart from most estuary boats in this part of Devon. What the tide does govern is the sand either side, and whether the walk to the water is a stroll or a slog.
The South West Coast Path Association says plainly that wading at low tide is not recommended, because a deep channel is always present and the current can run hard. Bigbury Parish Council adds its own warning about strong currents and soft sand at the river mouth.
From the information panel at Cockleridge the official route goes inland and up steps, then along a field edge and up past the golf course. Nothing about the western landing is level, and there is no parking at it.
At Bantham the estate charges £12 for a full day, dropping to £9 after one o'clock and £6 after four, contactless only. At Bigbury the beach car park is pay-and-display and the parish council warns that times are enforced rigorously.
The estate office is on 01548 560897, confirmed identically by the coast path association and by South Devon National Landscape's ferry sheet. A different number circulates locally for a Bantham harbourmaster; it appears on no other source and is not reproduced here.
That walk round is the number worth carrying. The coast path's waymarked alternative follows the Avon Estuary Walk inland to Aveton Gifford and back down the far bank, and the association's own figure for the detour is nine extra miles — 14.5 kilometres — on a stretch where the boat would have taken a few minutes. South Devon National Landscape rates the estuary walk itself at 7.5 miles, or 8.5 at high tide when part of the tidal road is unusable, with stiles, three flights of steps and steep climbs. It is the same trade a walker faces at the Torridge crossing at Appledore, where the first bridge upstream is at Bideford.
The other thing the estate is careful about is the ground you are standing on. Bantham Ham is a scheduled ancient monument: Bronze Age settlement, Roman and post-Roman occupation, and a trading port that Historic England recognises as nationally important. Metal detectors are banned, as are drones and disposable barbecues, and nobody may stay overnight in the car park. It is a working private estate that happens to be open to the public, and the rules read that way.
The published 2026 season ends on 30 September, so late September is the last of it. Between 1 October and the end of March there is no service, and the coast path routes walkers inland instead. The Thames boat at Shepperton at least keeps its winter weekends; this one keeps nothing. The estate has not yet published 2027 dates.
No, and this is the unusual part. Bantham Estate states that the ferry runs no matter the tide, which is not true of most estuary crossings in south Devon. The windows are fixed by the clock — 10:00 to 12:00 and 14:00 to 16:00 — not by the water.
The South West Coast Path Association advises against it: a deep channel is there whatever the tide is doing, and the current can run hard. Bigbury Parish Council separately warns people not to cross at the river mouth at low water because of strong currents and soft sand. The sands around Cockleridge are walkable; the channel is not.
Nine miles, or 14.5 kilometres, added to your day — the coast path association's own figure for following the waymarked Avon Estuary Walk inland via Aveton Gifford. That walk is 7.5 miles in its own right, or 8.5 at high tide when the tidal road floods.
There is no answer to that, because the estate does not publish sailing times. It publishes two two-hour windows a day and nothing inside them — no interval, no frequency, no statement of whether it shuttles or waits. Arrive inside a window and expect to be taken across.
Neither is published. The single figure on the estate's page is £4.95 per person for each crossing, which makes a there-and-back £9.90 a head. No child rate, no concession, no dog charge and no bicycle charge appears anywhere, and no source says whether bikes are carried.
Unknown, and worth asking before you rely on it. The estate says nothing about payment on the ferry page. Its car park page does say contactless only and no cash, but that is a rule for the car park machines, not for the boat.
The pay-and-display at Bigbury-on-Sea beach, postcode TQ7 4AR, with an overflow field at the base of Folly Hill in peak season. Neither is at the landing — Cockleridge Ham is a walk away — and the parish council notes that parking times are enforced rigorously.