Sidmouth enjoyed a touch of celebrity endorsement over the weekend, with a visit from TV personality Stacey Solomon, her partner Joe Swash and their little boy Rex - or 'Pickle' to his mum.

Social media was buzzing with the couple's updates on their summer staycation in sunny Sidmouth, as Stacey said in an Instagram post: "You definitely don't need to get on a plane to find paradise."

If you follow the Loose Women presenter on Instagram, then you may have seen the fossil hunting debacle. An innocent day of rock collecting was flagged to the star as potentially illegal - one mustn't fall foul of the 'pebble police' - but was quickly laughed off by the couple who later joked "don't worry I won't take any of these pebbles home" on a clip of Stonehenge.

The surprise visit went down well with locals too, who were pleased to see their seaside home spoken about in such a positive way - and publicised to Stacey's not so meagre 3.6 million Instagram followers.

Given the rocky time experienced recently with Covid-19, this nod to Sidmouth as a choice tourism destination comes as a much-needed boost to businesses who have all but lost a season.

It looks like Sidmouth worked its charm on Stacey and she will be back again, bringing her elder sons along too. In a post she said: "We're already working out how and when we can come back with the big boys... Joe wants to hire a caravan - I'm not convinced yet, not with his tidying up skills."