Torquay, the seaside setting of Fawlty Towers, is in Devon, England.
The sitcom places Basil and Sybil Fawlty’s chaotic hotel in Torquay, a resort town on the south Devon coast. Although the fictional hotel bears the town’s name in its setting, the series was not filmed there. Exterior scenes used Wooburn Grange Country Club in Buckinghamshire, while other location work took place mainly around Harrow.
Torquay also connects directly to the programme’s origin story. In May 1970, members of Monty Python stayed at the Gleneagles Hotel there while filming nearby in Paignton. John Cleese later drew on the hotel’s eccentric owner, Donald Sinclair, when creating Basil Fawlty. A common mix-up is confusing Devon with Cornwall or Dorset, neighbouring counties in south-west England; Torquay is firmly in Devon.