I visited vibrant friendly town with amazing independent shops

An interesting and pretty little town sits on the edge of wild moorland not far away from where I live, but I recently visited the vibrant place for the first time. There’s nothing I love more than exploring a new area – and I’m lucky enough to be spoiled for choice as there are numerous unique towns surrounding the city of Plymouth in Devon.

Ashburton is not too far from Plymouth, where I live, so myself and a companion headed towards Dartmoor to explore this town recently. The attractive place is renowned for its independent shops and Devonian character – and I was left delighted by both of these things after my visit. We took the bus from Plymouth (number 38) and the journey was seamless and pleasant, winding through beautiful countryside and other towns and charming villages along the way.

We’re living in a time when we are frequently hearing about shops closing down and struggling high streets, so it was very encouraging to discover Ashburton, with its cluster of independent shops to explore.

The streets here are unchanged by time, you can imagine previous centuries as you wander through the town – and everyone we met was so friendly.

There’s several pubs, tearooms and cafes along with unique shops, including antiques, plus a bakery with a queue out the door – and what struck me was despite the drizzly day, Ashburton looked so colourful thanks to brightly painted buildings.

The air feels so fresh in this town as it’s surrounded by countryside and the beautiful expanse of Dartmoor National Park, giving a sense of calm and timelessness to the location.

Looking around one colourful little boutique gift shop called PAD was interesting – and I bought a couple quirky little things that I’ve not seen anywhere else.

There’s also the nicely presented Ashburton Fish Deli on one of the main streets, selling tasty local fresh catch, Mediterranean-style goods and other interesting items.

All in all, I think you can probably get anything you’d need in this town, including some high-quality clothing for sale in several of the independent boutiques – or you can potter around in the handful of charity shops.

We stopped for a late breakfast in Diablo’s Diner which had a friendly local vibe and tasty food. I am really fussy about bacon, but this little cafe served up the best, it was great quality, crispy (at my request) – and the prices were very reasonable.

Being a Devonian myself I’m surprised that I’d not stumbled across this beautiful town until now, but I’ll certainly be going back there soon, in fact, there’s an intriguing festival taking place in Ashburton at the end of April into the beginning of May.

The Dartmoor Tors Festival is “bringing together walkers, thinkers, creatives who are interested in natural landscapes and how we relate to them”, the festival website explains.

This festival promises to be “a celebration of the power and beauty of places seen as wild and ancient around Britain, and an exploration of why and how they provoke a response”.