The Ashburton Antiques Trail signposts all 11 of the town’s antiques and vintage shops and is an initiative supported by the town council, Ashburton Chamber of Trade and Dartmoor National Park.
Lydia Wood, of In a Nutshell Antiques, one of the shops listed in the trail, talked to ATG about how the project came to life.
“It was borne out of frustration when hearing even relatively local people saying they never knew there were so many antique shops in Ashburton. For the size of the town, we must have the one of the highest numbers of antique shops per square mile of anywhere in the country. The trail is designed to help locals identify the shops as well as drawing in visitors.’’
Wood added: “Specialisms vary from traditional 18th-19th century furniture shops and French antiques to boutique and industrial furniture. I’d say the specialism of the trail itself is that we all cover different styles.
“None of the antique dealers is particularly new to the town. The most established shops have been here over 15 years. My business has only been there 18 months and is the ‘newest’ shop.’’
The trail is available in paper format and online.
