Taking the Long View

“Oncoming traffic in the middle of the road.”

Now there’s a sign that gets your attention. I came on it early my first day driving in the English countryside. We had picked up a hire car in Plymouth and were heading for Ringmore, a small village on the South Devon coast.

Other prominent signs included “One lane track” and “Single lane traffic” (both on roads meant for two-way travel) and one ominously saying “Slow Down. Accident control measure”.

With one son in New York, the other in the Netherlands, and Devon, Cornwall and the Cotwolds in our dreams (courtesy of the BBCs ‘Escape to the Country’ television programme), my wife Sandy and I decided it was high time we saw them all.

Travelling in the Northern autumn, we planned several weeks in the UK between visits with the boys – a time to wander and explore and relax. Along with the road signs, other things caught my eye and got me to mumbling: ‘What a good idea’ or ‘We should give that a go’ or ‘We’re on to that, but we could do a better job of it’.

Take support for local (and organic and specialty) food producers, for example. The menu at The Journeys End Inn, the local pub in Ringmore, noted, “All food is grown, caught or sourced within 50 miles of Journeys End.”

The Tearoom at the wharf in St Ives, Cornwall includes a map showing their suppliers – half-a-dozen right in town, the others nearby. Eran Hovav, the chef-owner of Baobab Café in Crediton, Devon has taken the local thing a step further, telling us their fresh ingredients come from his backyard or next door.

Hole Foods café in Mousehole, a tiny fishing village in West Cornwall

Many cafés also stock items for sale – from boutique wines and chutney to breads and soap. In the process they are supporting many a back-to-the-lander, hobby farmer and permaculture aficionado. Yet they also stock some high-quality imported products prized by their customers. (I spotted Comvita’s Manuka Honey on the shelf at the Hole Foods Deli & Café in Mousehole, a tiny fishing village in West Cornwall.)

Then, of course, there’s housing. The centuries-old village of Ampney Crucis in the Cotwolds surely has ‘mixed-housing’ right, with its combination of neat row houses, quaint cottages and stately manors. Built in a distinctive yellow limestone from local quarries, the houses border meandering lanes and are surrounded by lovely paddocks and inviting public footpaths.

And there is certainly attention to affordable housing, with many local councils publishing their goals for the percent of total new builds deemed ‘affordable’. In a proposed new development of 83 flats in Oxford, 73 would only be available to tenants from a council-approved list of key workers, including teachers, nurses and social workers. Their rent would be 23 per cent below the market rate.

Ampney Crusis in the Cotwolds got ‘mixed-housing’ right centuries ago.

Environmental sustainability is on the agenda, too, thanks in part to the likes HRH The Prince of Wales. Nansledan, an extension to the Cornish coastal town of Newquay, embodies the principles of architecture and urban planning championed by Prince Charles. The 40-year plan for 4,000 houses (30% affordable) on Prince’s Duchy of Cornwall land is based on their 2009 sustainability strategy.

Nansledan, a sustainable community now rising on Duchy of Cornwall land, will be a place to ‘live, work and play’.

For more on sustainability, we had to visit Totnes, an old market town in Devon, where the grassroots Transition Town movement was founded. Focusing on stable and resilient local communities, Transition Town principles are now pursued in more than 2,000 communities worldwide. (I’m involved in our local effort, so this was a ‘spiritual journey’ of sorts for me!)

We had a town tour, visited the Saturday market, and enjoyed a Local Foods Festival, serendipitously scheduled for the day we were there. We had tea, biscuits and a chat at the REconomy Centre – an incubator-hub “helping to turn activists into entrepreneurs” – where we learned more about Transition Town’s genesis. Our tour guide and facilitator, Hal, was not without a sense of humour. His t-shirt sported the slogan “Totnes. May contain nuts.”

Totnes, an old market town in Devon, is home to the now worldwide Transition Town movement.

Nutty or not, a whiteboard in the Centre’s meeting room noted: “The purpose of our local economy is to maximize the happiness and well-being of our entire community – to create an abundance of opportunity to satisfy our needs, and use and distribute resources fairly in a way that respects natural limits.”

More communities would do well to embrace such a vision.

Gord Stewart is an environmental sustainability consultant. He does project work for government, industry, and non-profits.

© Scoop Media