Arts & crafts

If you fancy learning a new craft, South Devon has bags of opportunities for you to learn from the masters. With skills and techniques passed down from generation to generation, arts and crafts have been a strong focus in the West Country for hundreds of years. Everything from dry stone walling, thatching, cob building, and hurdle making are a great way of learning more about the crafts that have shaped life in South Devon.

South Devon is a centre for a variety of creative work that attracts craftsmen and artists from all around the world. In recent years arts and crafts in South Devon have experienced a renewal in interest, with contemporary work showing just how the creative heritage of the region is being given a new twist. The Devon Guild of Craftsmen in particular promotes a keen desire to maintain a tradition of arts and crafts in the region.

Thriving on creativity

From renowned centres such as the performing arts and teaching centre at Dartington to the Centre for Contemporary Arts and the Natural World, South Devon thrives on creativity, with many studios and workshops busily working on their crafts, paintings and sculptures. Dartmouth in particular is home to some great galleries where you can see some of the best examples of this new South Devon art movement and buy a quality souvenir of your trip.

The strong bond between the artist and the land gives arts and crafts in South Devon a real flavour of the natural environment. The inspiration of the wild moors, dramatic countryside and stunning coastline finds its way into every part of the creative process, with each artist putting their own unique spin on the diversity of their surroundings and using the landscape as inspiration.

With plenty of opportunities for you to try your hand at some arts and crafts skills yourself, this is an ideal chance to experience a different aspect of life in the West Country. So if you’ve always fancied trying a bit of oil painting, sculpting or even learning how to build your own cobb cottage, why not let your creative side loose in South Devon?