HelpHound

I used to often visit Cullompton as a child but I am now filled with sadness every time I drive through it.

The majority of the shops have now been closed down and just sit empty or boarded up. Some even have smashed windows. There are a couple of chain stores, which offer the basics but the town seems really empty and forgotten.

There are a few nice pubs for the locals to enjoy but nothing to really attract people into the town from other places.

There are new housing estates and also a leisure centre and a couple of banks but there really isnnt much else at all other than a few takeaways and fish and chip shops.

There is a regular bus service running to near by towns and also into Exeter city centre.

Cullompton is also located next to M5 and has a motorway services.

I find that this town is now sadly used mainly as a rat run for people leaving the M5.

The town can look really pretty in the winter when the Christmas lights are up but even then the streets seem quiet and empty.

In my opinion the town could do with a cash injection and a pick me up before it turns into another sad and forgotten place.

The first time I visited Cullumpton was when I was 11 yrs old and on a church youth club holiday. I remember them telling us it was set by the river Culm and that it used to be an old woollen producing town. Not surprisingly, apart from a few blurred photographs and the memory of a visit to The church of St Andrews which seemed to have a huge amount of gardens and cemeteries around it, where we did gravestone rubbings (which I think I still have up in the attic!), I do not remember much about the town. However, since then I have been back several times as an adult and think I know enough to write a review on it!
Ok, so the town is situated about 12 miles from Exeter, almost in the heart of Devon. So you can expect, and get great countryside views. There was an extensive roman settlement on the area as has been proved by the earthworks and archeological digs. The church of St Andrews is in fact a 15th Century church with a tower that is 30ft tall (All things I was probably told when 11, but probably wasnnt listening at the time)
There is a great farmers market on a Saturday and some unusual shops though they seem to be getting less each time I visit, and for anything bigger most people catch the bus to Exeter which runs regularly. Everyone is very friendly in Cullompton which is a nice change.

I''''ve lived near "Cully" as the locals call it for nearly three years now and I really do find it a surprisingly attractive place indeed! It''''s actually a typical east Devon market town with the town itself going back to Saxon times (as do some of the people, too...). The name actually means "tun or settlement on the Culm" and as it''''''''s situated practically on the river Culm itself the name''''s not too surprising. The town was bequeathed by Alfred the Great to his son Ethelweard in 872 and in 1278 the town was willed to the Abbot and convent of Buckland Monachorum. In 1376 the Abbot from the same convent gave a water course to the town which flowed through the middle of the main street, enabling people and animals alike to drink clean water both free and easily. Maybe we could have a such similar largesse today!

The high street can be very jolly, especially on a Saturday morning when there''''s the fortnightly Farmer''''s Market full of delicious goodies on offer as well as people to see, stores to visit and that lovely "Saturday morning feeling" so unique to the rest of the week. The town''''s got most of the main shops you need but you''''ll have to venture further afield into Exeter itself for anything really decent or unusual. But it''''s got four banks, a post office, a Sommerfeld, with a Tescos opening in September ''''08 and also the usual host of little shops including the famous "Alfie''''s" where you can buy literally any type of household goods for a seemingly ridiculously, knockdown price.

The Church of St. Andrew is also well worth a visit, set a little off the main road in its peaceful acreage of cemeteries, lawns and gardens. The early prosperity of Cullompton is reflected in the monument to the West Country cloth trade in the south aisle, built by John Lane, a wealthy woollen merchant of the seventeenth century. The church alone is well worth a visit, being descibed by the late John Betjeman as one of the finest in Devon. Maybe Miss Joan Hunter-Dun got married here!

Do come and visit us- just off J28 on the M5.