Devon is one of England’s largest counties, which is one of contrasts too. You have the national parks of Exmoor and Dartmoor (known for their wild ponies), a hilly unique town of Clovelly, a seaside city and cathedral city, plus numerous bucket-and-spade seaside resorts.
One quirky town in Devon is Totnes. It’s the world’s first Transition Town, which means that it’s aiming to become totally self-sufficient, not having to rely on oil, supermarkets or anything else from the big corporate world. It’s not yet there, but the town has its own currency, community energy panels and lots of independent shops. England’s first zero waste shop launched here, founded by an ex-Man United footballer and his wife. He said that if you told him he would give up a shop as a premier player to be a shopkeeper at 27, he would never have believed you. But he’s still ambitious, having just launched a nationwide ‘milkman’ service – difference is that it’s all plant milks, in glass zero waste bottles.