HOBBY (THE), a road, 3¼ miles long, on the W coast of Devon; leading along the S side of Bideford bay, in the neighbourhood of Clovelly, toward Hartland point. It was made by Sir J. H. Williams. It winds entirely through woods on the verge of magnificent cliffs, across the head of dolls; and it commands, nearly everywhere, superb views of the Bristol channel and the Welsh coaST.

(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))