HelpHound

I have visited Crediton a few times as I have friends that live in the town.
There are a few shops but the town itself is quite small and there isnnt really a lot to do shopping wise. There are some small independently owned shops (butchers etc) which I think it is always nice to see as opposed to just large chain shops.

There are a few nice pubs and a couple of nice places to eat and there is also a train station on the outskirts of the town.
There is also a bus service running from Crediton to nearby villages and also to Exeter City centre however the buses can be quite irregular and unreliable in my experience.
There is a beautiful church, which is worth looking at, and there is also a Farmers Market held on the first Saturday of the month which I enjoyed looking around.

There is a leisure centre but the majority of Crediton is housing estates.
The people in Crediton always seem friendly and there is a good sense of community spirit.

I wouldnnt say this was somewhere you could come for a day out but it is fine if you just wanted to pass in and have a look around.

I cannot think of many other places where some shops still adopt a half day closing. I remember when I was a child this used to happen (Wednesday was half day closing in Exeter), although I thought those days had gone much like no TV in the afternoons. Crediton is a throwback and is refreshingly short of all the kinds of shops which make most high streets so uninspiring and homogenised. The flip side of this is that you cannot necessarily get what you need there so don''t rely on it for your weekly shop. Fashion is out of the question as well. There is some nice architecture in the town and I am hopeful that one day it will be transformed into the kind of ancient market town which has stylish cafe''''s and shops which sell things other than string and furniture which would not look out of place in any nursing home. However, it services a slightly agricultural community and I guess it''''s a question of supply and demand.

There is a farmers market once a month which is worth a look, hosted the newly renovated market square. Fairly good bus and rail links to Exeter and loads and loads of pubs (you may be forgiven for thinking that no-one does anything but drink there). Somerfield is currently the only supermarket and it shows (although there is a Tesco on the way). Not sure if that is necessarily a good thing but at least it means we won''''t have to go all the way to Exeter for anything even slightly out of the ordinary.

I write this review with a tinge of sadness, as I suspect that the coming of a major Tescos is about to change the face of Crediton retail for ever. Crediton is one of the last 'non'Tesco' towns of its size (although it does have a Tesco Metro in the high street and a Somerfields in Mill Street, next to Mole Avon). As a result it still has all the independents that your parents remember! Butcher (Cox's), baker, hardware (Adams), deli (Treloars). newsagents (Evans), clothes shops, electrical store etc. etc. The downside of all this is you may have to actually talk to the person who serves you, a shock to those used to shopping elsewhere.

Lords meadow trading estate hosts yet more independents (Tuckers, Lewis's electrical, Eakers' Builders Merchants and lots more). Forgive the rather out-of-date photo, but let me reassure you that nothingt at all has changed bar the appearance of cars.