Local News

Devon County Show Confirms 106,000 Visitors in Another Record-Breaking Year

The tickets have now been counted, and Devon County Show has officially confirmed an audited attendance of 106,000 visitors for 2026 — an uplift of 5,000 on last year’s record-breaking figure.

This year’s Show coincided with the late May half‑term break, a rare calendar alignment that contributed to an especially strong family turnout. While children go free on Saturday and therefore cannot be fully audited, the organisers witnessed a noticeably higher number of young visitors enjoying the attractions, activities and livestock displays.

Across all three days, the Show...

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Stats point to average autumn

Early statistics for autumn 2013 suggest it has been a fairly normal season overall with temperature, rainfall and sunshine amounts all quite close to the long-term average, the Met Office says in its latest blog (below):

Our early season assessment for autumn (Sep-Nov) uses figures from 1 September to 27 November, then assumes average conditions for the final few days of November.

According to that estimate, the UK mean temperature for the season is currently 9.8 °C, just 0.4 °C above the long-term average.

UK rainfall over the same period was 331.7mm, which is...

Road Traffic Collision at Countess Weir

Fire Services from Middlemoor and Topsham were called to Bridge Road in Countess Weir on Sunday following a three car collison.

The collision caused fuel spillage on both carriageways.

Crews from Middlemoor made the vehicles safe and Topsham crews were not required at the incident.

All vehicles were made safe and the scene was left in the hands of the Police.

Sporting chance for Sidmouth – and YOU can vote

Residents of the area covered by Sidmouth Town Council, which includes Sidbury, Sidford and Salcombe Regis, are being invited to vote on how they would spend £250,000 available for sports provision in an event being held on Friday 6 December.

Sidmouth Town Council and East Devon District Council are taking their voting stall to Sidmouth late night shopping on Friday 6 December from 5pm to 8pm in the area near the Sidmouth Market and the Sidmouth Christmas tree, opposite Fields department store.

The money has come from developers who have built new homes in the parish (...

Knightshayes: new team, new direction

Knightshayes, a National Trust property on the outskirts of Tiverton is looking for feedback from dog walkers, runners and den builders alike.

Newly-appointed Senior Ranger, Raef Johnson, is looking to meet and get to know as many users of the grade II listed parkland and woods as possible when he hosts two walks in December.

Knightshayes has recently seen the creation of a new ranger team, whose role it is to care specifically for the park and woodland areas of the estate. Raef joined the team at the end of October, after a number of years working for the Forestry...

Exeter PR agency scoops top award

Devon-based PR and marketing firm Astley Media has scooped a top accolade at the Chartered Institute of Public Relations PRide Awards in Bristol.

The agency, based at Northernhay Place in Exeter, won Gold for Best External Publication for its work alongside client Stagecoach South West.

The publication combines a timetable, map, social media links and discount vouchers to tourist attractions along the route of the rebranded Hop 12, which runs from Newton Abbot, through Torbay, to Brixham.

Targeting tourists, a partnership was forged with the English Riviera Tourism...

Paignton Pier on sale for £1.8m

Paignton pier is to be sold off for around £1.8m by current owners. The pier is currently owned by Mitchell Leisure Investments, who have operated the stores and arcade on the pier since 1994. In this time the company has spent more than £1.8m investing in the pier including an extension of the arcade and a restoration of the pier’s open decking. Emergency repairs were carried out in 2008 after a major structural fault was found in one of the supporting columns. The sale of the pier is being handled by GVA Hotels and Leisure, who will negociate an offer on the pier and the concession...

Devon to freeze in icy blast

The Met office has warned of incoming frost as temperatures plunge in Devon.

An icy blast is set to end the current mild spell in the South of England and will begin a period of low average tempretures over the coming months.

The Met Office said: “Indications are that December will most likely be colder than average.

“For December-January-February as a whole uncertainty is quite large but below-average temperatures are more likely than above-average.”

The average temperature in December is 3.9C while January is slightly chillier at 3.6C.

Snow is...

Charity specialist takes the Chair at St Loye’s

St Loye’s Foundation, the Exeter and North Devon based charity which provides employment, training and care services for people wishing to become more independent, has appointed a new Chair of its Board of Trustees. Graham Faulkner is a qualified social worker who has had over 40 years experience in the charitable, private and local government sectors including being Chief Executive of the Epilepsy Society, General Secretary and Deputy Chief Executive with the Leonard Cheshire Foundation and Chief Executive of Rehab UK, a charity that, like St Loye’s, specialises in vocational...

Exeter to be home of South West forensics

Exeter is set to be the regional leader in crime scene forensics serving the whole of the South West saving as much as £6.6 million by 2019.

Exeter will be the home of the main chemical and fingerprint lab in the South West replacing the individual labs run by each of the regions five police forces. A second chemical lab will be set up in Gloucestershire and a second finger print lab will be opened in Portishead to provide a complementry service.

The current system costs the five forces around £10.8m and it is forecasted that the move could save up to £6.6m by 2019....

University of Exeter has bright future with £40m 'clean sweep'

The University of Exeter has attracted around £40 million to train PhD Students in a funding ‘clean sweep’.

The funding has come by successfully securing a range of prestigious Doctoral Training Partnerships (DTPs) from nearly all of the UK’s major research councils. The Partnerships have been awarded at a time when the Research councils are planning the establishment of doctoral training centres to concentrate funding for doctoral training into a smaller number of high quality institutions.

By securing the partnerships University of Exeter has further improved its standing...

Local News

Devon County Show Confirms 106,000 Visitors in Another Record-Breaking Year

Stats point to average autumn

Road Traffic Collision at Countess Weir

Sporting chance for Sidmouth – and YOU can vote

Knightshayes: new team, new direction

Exeter PR agency scoops top award

Paignton Pier on sale for £1.8m

Devon to freeze in icy blast

Charity specialist takes the Chair at St Loye’s

Exeter to be home of South West forensics

University of Exeter has bright future with £40m 'clean sweep'

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