This summer, we are showcasing our Devon-based team’s 25 favourite local businesses in celebration of our 25th birthday. This week, we’re highlighting five of our favourite local and sustainable places to shop. We’ve also shared our favourite places to eat & drink, and some of our favourite events happening in Devon this year.
Find and Foster Cider
Find and Foster work with orchard owners and a flock of Shropshire sheep to breathe some life back into traditional orchards in decline throughout the Exe Valley. With the aim of revealing the quality potential of the traditional orchards that they foster in Devon, they cultivate, nurture and encourage them to thrive while creating natural ciders that feature on wine lists in some of the UK’s top restaurants. Their ciders are made as an expression of the local unusual apple varieties and terroir, unfiltered and with minimum sulphites. They are aged in French oak and stainless steel to create unique, complex ciders of the highest quality. Delicious Devon in a bottle.
Ania Wawrzkowicz Jewellery
Ania’s jewellery comes from her observations of the natural world, namely the North Devon rock formations and geological topologies. Her work is sculptural, given depth by subtle characteristics such as detailed surface textures, intricate shapes or uneven sculptural qualities. Her hand-crafted pieces interpret and reimagine the beauty of nature’s structures, rendering them into tangible, wearable objects. Each of her pieces are one of a kind and made of 100% recycled Sterling Silver or Gold, as well as ethical and traceable gemstones. Who wouldn’t want a sustainable and beautifully handcrafted memento that celebrates our Devon home?
Nkuku
Nkuku is an ethical interiors and lifestyle brand based on the founding principle of supporting and working with artisans around the world, with a particular focus on handmade techniques and traditional skills. After a year-long trip around the world, founders Ali and Alex began selling traditional crafts collected throughout their travels, sent home on “slow boats from Africa and India”. After a while of individually packing every order in freezing cold Dartmoor with the help of family and friends, Nkuku developed into the retail brand it is today. Now, you can find Nkuku products in various shops internationally, including their original lifestyle store and cafe set in a beautiful courtyard just outside of Totnes.
Riverford Organic Farmers
Every month, our team receives a box from Riverford featuring seasonal, slow-grown fruit and vegetables. They’ve been farming organically on the edge of Dartmoor since 1986, and since then have been making sure their veg is making a positive impact through thoughtful packaging, employee ownership, charity partnerships and much more. In 2022, they were named one of the Best for the World™ B Corps, meaning they scored in the top 5% of all B Corps of their size worldwide. This means you can buy their veg, salad, fruit and meat with an absolutely clean conscience.
Darts Farm
Our guide would be incomplete without mentioning Darts Farm, our neighbours in Topsham. They began 50 years ago as a farm shop hut, and have now evolved into a unique lifestyle shopping destination, with a working farm at heart (this spring, we’ve walked past their little lambs every time we go for lunch). This destination offers a food hall featuring hundreds of local artisan suppliers, a lifestyle shopping area stocked with carefully handpicked retailers, and a fish shed boasting catches fresh from the sea. After your shopping experience, Darts also has a selection of restaurants and cafes, and a terrace bar where you can experience the expert preparation of local ingredients you’ve just bought.
