Appledore slipway, New Quay Street

From the confluence at Appledore, the combined Taw and Torridge estuary covers around 100 square kilometres and stays tidal well above both Bideford and Barnstaple, reaching within roughly two miles of Torrington on a big spring tide. Bideford lies about two miles upstream on the Torridge. The slipway itself sits directly beside Harland & Wolff's New Quay and Middle Dock, distinguishing it from Appledore's older, metered launch at Churchfields further along the Quay.

Away from Appledore Pool, the estuary dries extensively at low water, exposing wide mudflats and sandbanks that form the main habitat of the Taw-Torridge Estuary Site of Special Scientific Interest, within the North Devon UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. These flats and the fringing saltmarsh support internationally important numbers of overwintering and migratory waders, including curlew, golden plover, lapwing, redshank and oystercatcher, with total counts recorded above 20,000 birds. The Torridge is also strongly associated with otters, as the setting for Henry Williamson's Tarka the Otter.

Instow, with its leading lights installed in 1957, lies directly across the estuary. Northam Burrows and the pebble ridge run out toward Bideford Bay, and an RNLI inshore lifeboat is based in the village, with an all-weather Tamar-class lifeboat moored offshore.