Powderham Castle in the context of Lympstone

In British heraldry, a coronet is a type of crown that is a mark of rank of non-reigning members of the royal family and peers. In other languages, this distinction is not made, and usually the same word for crown is used irrespective of rank (German: Krone, Dutch: kroon, Swedish: krona, French: couronne, Italian: corona, Polish: korona etc.) In this use, the English coronet is a purely technical term for all heraldic images of crowns not used by a sovereign. A coronet is another type of crown, but is reserved for the nobility: dukes, marquesses, earls, viscounts and barons. The specific design and attributes of the crown or coronet signifies the hierarchy and ranking of its owner.

Certain physical coronets are worn by the British peerage on rare ceremonial occasions, such as the coronation of the monarch. These are also sometimes depicted in heraldry, and called coronets of rank in heraldic usage. Their shape varies depending on the wearer's rank in the peerage, according to models laid down in the 16th century. Similar depictions of crowns of rank (German: Rangkronen) are used in continental heraldry, but physical headgear has never been made to imitate them.

Field sports are outdoor sports that take place in the wilderness or sparsely populated rural areas, where there are vast areas of uninhabited greenfields. The term specifically refers to activities that mandate sufficiently large open spaces and/or interaction with natural ecosystems, including hiking/canyoning, equestrianism, hawking, archery and shooting, but can also extend to various surface water sports such as river trekking, angling, rowing/paddling, rafting and boating/yachting.

Field sports are considered nostalgic pastimes, especially among country people. For example, participants of field sports such as riding and fox hunting in the United Kingdom frequently wear traditional attires (British country clothing) to imitate landed gentries and aristocrats of the 19th-century English countryside.

Earl of Devon is a noble title that has been created several times in the Peerage of England. It was possessed first (after the Norman Conquest of 1066) by the Redvers family (alias de Reviers, Revieres, etc.), and later by the Courtenay family. It is not to be confused with the title of Earl of Devonshire, which is held by the Duke of Devonshire, although the letters patent for the creation of the latter peerages used the same Latin words, Comes Devon(iae). It was a re-invention, if not an actual continuation, of the pre-Conquest office of Ealdorman of Devon.

Close kinsmen and powerful allies of the Plantagenet kings, especially Edward III, Richard II, Henry IV and Henry V, the Earls of Devon were treated with suspicion by the Tudors, perhaps unfairly, partly because William Courtenay, 1st Earl of Devon (1475–1511), had married Princess Catherine of York, a younger daughter of King Edward IV, bringing the Earls of Devon very close to the line of succession to the English throne. During the Tudor period, all but the last Earl were attainted, and there were several recreations and restorations. The last recreation was to the heirs male of the grantee, not (as would be usual) to the heirs male of his body. When he died unmarried, it was assumed the title was extinct, but a much later very distant Courtenay cousin, of the family seated at Powderham, whose common ancestor was Hugh de Courtenay, 2nd Earl of Devon (d.1377), seven generations before this Earl, successfully claimed the title in 1831. During this period of dormancy, the de jure Earls of Devon, the Courtenays of Powderham, were created baronets and later viscounts.

The River Exe (/ˈɛks/ EKS) is a river in England that rises at Exe Head, near the village of Simonsbath, on Exmoor in Somerset, 5.2 miles (8.4 km) from the Bristol Channel coast, but flows more or less directly due south, so that most of its length lies in Devon. It flows for 60 miles (96 km) and reaches the sea at a substantial ria, the Exe Estuary, on the south (English Channel) coast of Devon. Historically, its lowest bridging point was the Old Exe Bridge in Exeter, the largest settlement on the river, but there is now a viaduct for the M5 motorway about 2 miles (3.2 km) south of the city centre.