BBC Online - Devon - Discovering Devon - Home Town (original) (raw)

	Michael Wright came to Petrockstowe from Sussex, fell in love with the area and decided to relocate here to enjoy the Devon countryside and a less stressful way of life. Despite being a newcomer he says he and his family have been welcomed by the locals and feel very much at home in the village - here's why......

Petrockstowe is a pretty little village north of Okehampton, not far from Hatherleigh. On a warm summer's night you can stand on the hill overlooking the village, believing that you have been transported back in time.

An inky black sky with clear bright stars, just a few flickering lights of neighbouring farms, the sound of an
owl or fox hanging on the air; then occasionally a car will come to break this magic illusion.

You're only twenty minutes from Dartmoor

From this same hill, on a clear day, you can see the peaks of Dartmoor, knowing that you can be entering the Dartmoor National Park in just 20 minutes by car

Turning north, looking down on to the village, you can imagine the clatter of horses hooves and the stage coach descending into the village as it would have done many years ago.

The road through Petrockstowe was originally the main route from Hatherleigh to Great Torrington before the building of the road that is now the A386. The village, once part of the busy Clinton Estate, and typically sold to pay death duties in the 1950's, has changed little today.

The church standing on the left and the white cob cottages on the right, built in the 18th century, still retain their thatched roofs today, tended by the local thatcher Peter Bright who lives in one of them

After ewe...Even today the village still suffers the occasional traffic jam

Today's Petrockstowe is surely a much quieter place, the shops, railway, police station and busy farm estate are no longer in evidence however the public house remains, formerly the "White Hart", now "The Laurels" run by landlord Phil which, with the Baxter Village Hall and places of worship, form the hub of the local community.

The Baxter Hall was built on the site of the old village school from a donation by Ethel Baxter a former resident of Petrockstowe and relative of TV presenter Raymond Baxter

Continue Michael's tour of Petrockstowe