Totnes
Totnes, Devon is an English Market town. The village of Dartington is just outside Totnes, as is Dartington Hall.
Understand
Back in the 1920s, an Englishman who had been in India working with Tagore on rural renewal projects married an American heiress he had met when they were both studying at Cornell (see their biographies). They bought Dartington Hall, one of the oldest and largest manor houses in England, and started an assortment of development projects in the area — a textile mill producing tweeds, several sawmills, a cider company, a glassworks, and so on.
Among the things they started was Dartington Hall school (now closed), using fairly novel methods. A.S. Neill's Summerhill is a better-known example with a similar approach. Aldous Huxley sent his kids to Dartington Hall and based some of the educational methods in his novel Island on Dartington.
Get in
By train
- 1 Totnes railway station. has trains from London Paddington via Exeter, Plymouth and Penzance. Trains are run by Great Western and Crosscountry.
Get around
See
Market square, with the Butterwalk across High street in the background.
There is a market every Friday and Saturday, an Elizabethan market on Tuesdays (with the sellers dressed in period costume) and a monthly gourmet food market.
- Fore Street and High Street, both lined with Tudor period buildings.
- 1 Totnes Castle, Castle Street, TQ9 5NU, ☏ +44 1803 864406. Situated on a promontory, commanding the River Dart, Totnes Castle was built by the Normans at a point where three valleys meet. Despite little remaining of the original motte and bailey castle, other than the earthworks, the stone enclosure of Totnes Castle's keep, built at the summit of the motte, has survived to the extent of being one of the best preserved in England. adults £3.60, children £2.20, concessions £3.20.
- 2 Berry Pomeroy Castle, Berry Pomery, TQ9 6LJ (2 miles east of Totnes), ☏ +44 1803 866618. adults £4.90, children £2.90, concessions £4.40.
- 3 Totnes Information Centre, The Town Mill, Coronation Road, TQ9 5DF, ☏ +44 1803 863168, enquire@totnesinformation.co.uk. Run by Totnes Town Council, Totnes Information Centre represents a good starting place for visitors to the town.
Do
- 1 South Devon Railway. Daily Apr - Oct + some other days 4+ trains per day. 7 mile steam railway to Buckfastleigh £12.40 return.
- DartingtonARTS. Theatre, dance and music performances
- Dartington International Summer School of music.
Buy
- Dartington Crystal. a famous glassworks
- Cider Press Centre. a group of shops
Eat
- Roundhouse Cafe.
- Barrell House (Top of town, corner of castle street and high street).
Drink
Sleep
- 1 Steam Packet Inn, St Peter's Quay, ☏ +44 1803 863880.
- 2 Glazebrook House, Glazebrook, South Brent TQ10 9JE, ☏ +44 1364 73322. Alice-in-Wonderland themed hotel, but no children under 15 or dogs. B&B double £200.