After a slightly bumpy start – dealing with the minibus breaking down and narrow, flooded lanes – the Geography Department and keen young geographers, had a superb time on their core fieldwork in Devon.
The first day was spent time exploring Riverford Organic farm where the group enjoyed a personalised tour of the farm, looking at environmental sustainability and employee owner business model. Penny, the head gardener, gave everyone a bespoke tour of behind the scenes at the busy box scheme business. Students interviewed international migrants and their experience of rural Devon and their sense of belonging. This was followed by a delicious lunch of organic vegetables from the farm, before heading to and Totnes town.
The Transition Town of Totnes made a strong impression on everyone. The group discovered that it is a ‘home town’ not ‘clone town’ with 75% of stores being local independent shops: local people have protested successfully against planning permission for a Costa coffee shop. Lower 6 geographers considered their resistant approach to globalisation and protectionism for local business and proved – once again – to be incredible ambassadors for Talbot Heath, as they asked insightful questions to local people and considered and spotted evidence of the strong local sense of place and belonging that Totnes has. Discovering how they are trying to build a strong community and economy, which has also enabled them to weather the pandemic and Post-Brexit challenges, impressed the students and staff.
Friday was spent enjoying a stretch of the South West Coast Path along Start Bay; the girls worked extremely hard discovering the story of how Hallsands was lost to the sea over 100 years ago and collecting data which will help them explore how this coastline is being managed by exploring how it operates as a coastal sediment cell systems and the influence of coastal management on local communities.
A huge thank you to Mrs Atkins and Mrs Mortell for organising and accompanying the trip, and to the Geography girls for making the visit another success.
