The 'cool' village near Plymouth that loves going its own way

On a Tuesday afternoon, Things Happen Here, a live music venue managed by an ex-punk band member, feels like the hippest club in any global city. This is despite its location amidst the rolling Devon countryside and its eclectic mix of community craft events during the day and DJ sets by a member of the Idles at weekends.

It even boasts techno Morris dancers and an upstairs snooker table. A short distance away, the Cott Inn bustles with patrons. The ancient pub, distinguished by its impressively long thatched roof, is a frequent recipient of press and industry accolades.

Despite the nationwide trend of bar closures, nearly every table at the Cott is occupied.

Just beyond the hill lies one of Devon's most renowned medieval estates, now a visitor attraction and arts hub. It features a grand hall, stunning gardens, and a cinema that screens everything from Paddington in Peru to a Michelangelo documentary within a 14th-century barn.

I didn’t know what I expected to find when I visited the village of Dartington but it’s clear they do things differently here. It’s a place of many centres, part extended arts campus, part Totnes suburb and part commuter village with traditional trappings of good local schools and country pub. An underlying artistic ethos is what sets it apart from almost anywhere else in the county.

Perhaps that’s why its inhabitants were recently named the happiest in Devon. The South Devon village was hailed as a vibrant place that “seamlessly blends history, culture and nature".

Mark Annear, landlord at The Cott, has agreed to give me a guided tour. “I was born and bred in Dartington so this was probably the first pub I ever came in," he says. "I trained and did an apprenticeship here at the start of my career.”

From a very young age he loved the pub environment. After cutting his teeth managing bars and clubs in London, Bristol and Exeter, including Exeshed, he returned to the Cott 15 years ago.

When he took over, the pub was closed, but Mark and the team resurrected it and built its reputation for great food and a friendly community atmosphere. In 2024, it was named Greene King's pub of the year.

“The area is beautiful,” he says. “We’ve got Dartington estate on our doorstep. It has a village with a cinema, lots of different cafes, bakeries making their own bread, obviously the Cott being a brilliant local community pub. It’s just a really nice place to live.”

Mark’s the sort of landlord who people stop to say hello to. He reckons he knows the people at five or six of the tables who are eating and drinking here today. He is also generous in his praise for others running local businesses.

“Things Happen Here is doing amazing things,” he says. “It's incredible. They have 300 people on a Saturday night.”

Martin Edmunds, who most people know as Ed, helped to establish the Cavern club in Exeter in the early 1990s. He was in a punk band called Annalise. He and two business colleagues took over the old community centre two years ago. There’s a beer side of things, a music side, a park outside for the kids and pizza evenings.

“We have tonnes of sold-out events on Fridays and Saturday, just like you’d get in any regular bar in the country," he says. "My background is in bands and record labels. I’ve toured all over the country and Europe, Japan, Australia. I’ve seen plenty of venues that are good and bad and I knew when we came here what we wanted it to look like.

“It’s got to feel welcoming. But also we know we can’t appeal to everyone but we aren’t trying to do that. We wanted to create a place that we and people like us wanted to come.”

They’ve had some pretty big punks bands on stage recently like Discharge and Subhumans. Straight after school on Friday, the place is swamped with local parents and kids. It’s not a community centre anymore but it’s a community hub, he says, with something for everyone.

“The way I see Dartington now is pretty much a suburb of Totnes. There’s lots of new housing going up, which isn’t affordable by the way. Dartington estate is a lovely place to go up and walk around.”

Dartington’s reputation as a centre for the arts can be traced back to the Elmhirst family. Husband and wife Leonard and Dorothy, then the richest woman in the world, co-founded a progressive education and reconstruction project.

Depending on your political leanings it was either a free-thinking utopia or left-wing folly. The Dartington International Summer School was world-renowned.

The estate is an impressive site. It sprawls over more than 1,000 acres and combines heritage, culture, hospitality and entertainment. At the centre is the old baronial hall and quad that looks as if it’s been transplanted from an Oxbridge college.

On its outer circle is the Green Table Cafe, which Mark from the Cott Inn opened earlier this year. It’s bright and modern with a great lunch menu and sandwiches. Mark is in conversation with a group organising an event at the Green Table celebrating the life of black writer, professor, feminist and poet Audre Lorde.

Enjoying a coffee on the benches outside are friends Linda Hall and Victoria Fox. They live in Bovey Tracey about 15 miles away but come here to walk the dogs and take in the atmosphere.

“I love Bovey but it feels different here,” says Victoria. "It’s a lovely place to walk down by the river and is very dog-friendly. It feels relaxed.

“The terrain is different here. Bovey is Dartmoor and brooding and here is the Dart valley and it feels softer.”

“There’s more creativity here,” says Linda. “A different crowd of people. The people dress differently and there’s organic food which you can’t really buy in Bovey.”

Dartington estate has cast a centuries-long paternal presence and the trust still owns much of the local land. Its origins date back to Saxon times. The most ancient part, the hall itself, goes back to the 13th century.

Next year is a celebration of the Elmhirsts buying the land. It hasn’t all been plain sailing in recent years with acre after acre being sold off and the closure of beloved educational institutions.

Stephen Benzikie is the chief marketing officer at Dartington Hall. He says it is inevitable that the estate has set the tone for much of the village.

“Dartington is an open-minded place and there is space here to explore different ideas, types of music. The challenge for Dartington now is to make itself more relevant to everybody.

“You go back 20 years there was a lot of people seeing it as snooty. A lot of classical music and highbrow events, which was great but there’s been a lot of Radio 3 and Radio 4 here in the past and I think we could do with more Radio 2 and 1 with probably a bit of Radio 6 in there too. You've got to make it more accessible otherwise you’re limiting your audience.

“Our financial problems have been well documented. Going back to September 2023 we really were on the brink. There’s been a turn around. Over the last 50 years it’s only survived by sawing off limbs and selling land.

“We want to make the place accessible because we want it to stand on its own two feet. It costs £10,000 a day to keep this place open and that’s got to come from somewhere.”

The future is making the hall a place where people of all ages and backgrounds can visit, broadening the appeal beyond the art house crowd.

“It has to be something for everybody,” says Steve. "Come and see us, there’s plenty happening here. Come and support us. We’re a piece of local history that is well worth preserving.”