Our Suppliers
Time to introduce some or our wonderful local Suppliers:
GRAHAM WESTLAKE PLANTS
Many of you will recognise Graham as the man who ran our Post Office at the shop on a Monday morning. He has lived in Liverton for over 30 years and has been our outreach Post Office at the shop since it first opened in 2012 until August 2024. After many years behind our shop counter, Graham not only knows a lot of our customers but can often be found helping out volunteers with our till, answering the phone, collecting deliveries and shelf filling! He has now officially joined the Shop Family as a volunteer, but aside from this, Graham is also responsible for the wonderful bedding plants, herbs, vegetable plants and bulbs that we sell outside the Village Shop. All of these are grown locally in Liverton which pretty much guarantees that they will survive in our Dartmoor gardens despite the Dartmoor temperatures and weather.
FLEUR DODWELL CERAMICS
Fleur has a small pottery in Lower Brimley. She designs and makes a range of hand-thrown tableware, aiming to produce simple forms finished with understated unique glazes. Her range includes small jugs, vases, espresso cups, bowls and mugs.
She takes inspiration from our beautiful countryside, using flowers and foliage from her garden and the moors to press into the clay and flood with colour. Fleur uses a raw glaze method, which means the pot is glazed before a first firing and only fired once. This method, although fraught with difficulty, makes the process more environmentally friendly.
PAPILLON GIN
Papillon Dartmoor Distillery is the first of its kind on Dartmoor National Park. Adam and Claire, the owners and distillers, both grew up here and enjoy sharing its special qualities through their small batch gin. They take traditional gin botanicals and add gorse, hawthorn berries, rowan berries, wood sorrel, navelwort, sloes and devon violets, all foraged or grown on Dartmoor. Even the water used in production is sourced from a hill farm on Dartmoor and all combined, Papillon gin is a London Dry style of gin. The name Papillon comes from their love of butterflies and 1% of all bottle sales is donated to the Butterfly Conservation which supports the protection of butterflies on Dartmoor.
DARTMOOR BREWERY
All their beers are brewed in Princetown, at the heart of Dartmoor National Park, making Dartmoor Brewery the highest brewery in England, at 1465ft above sea level.
There are four traditional ingredients in their brewing – Dartmoor malt, English hops, their own strain of yeast and pure Dartmoor water. We stock Jail Ale and Legend in our shop.
THE ECO FRIENDLY CARD CO.
The Eco Friendly Card Co started life as Glebe Cottage Cards, founded by art college student Scott Morrish back in 1993 to make a living from his passion for photography of Dartmoor and Nature. Scott set up an office in the bedroom of his parents’ house, Glebe Cottage, in Ilsington, and the site of the first Ilsington Country Store. Sue, Scott’s wife, joined the business in 1996, and with a mutual passion for the environment, their first green committment was born to only use recycled envelopes with their cards. The Eco Friendly Card Co currently publishes over 400 designs from artists, Scott’s photography and through a valued partnership with The Wildlife Trust.
COX AND LAFLIN
Cox and Laflin are an award winning butchery based at Ullacombe Farm on the edge of Dartmoor. They supply pork, beef and wild venison to the Village Shop. Founder Andrew Cox prides himself on providing the best in locally sourced produce – a true field to plate process.
ALAN AND KATE HOBBS
Alan and Kate moved to Ilsington from Bath to pursue their own interests and start a new life.
Apart from roaming the moors in their spare time, they took the opportunity to research and write two local walking guides Walk! Dartmoor and Walk! Devon for the publishers: Discovery Walking Guides.
They run a smallholding in the village keeping a flock of rare breed whitefaced Dartmoor sheep, together with alpacas, chickens and bees. Their VERY local Ilsington Meadow Honey is renowned.
Alan was Chairman of the Ilsington Village Shop Association for 10 years and both he and Kate can often be found serving behind the counter at the shop.
DEBBIE DUNKLEY CARDS
Debbie has lived in Liverton with her husband, Laurie, for over 20 years.
She has always had a life-long passion for photography.
Laurie, an accomplished photographer himself, suggested that Debbie start turning her photos into cards for family and friends. This hobby has now grown into a wide range of cards available for sale at local fetes and country fayres, the Totnes Show, Buckfastleigh Farmers Market and the Ilsington VIllage Shop.
Many of Debbie’s cards feature local scenes of Dartmoor, its livestock and the rugged coastline of the South Hams.
SANDFORD ORCHARDS CIDER
Barny Butterfield is the owner and founder of Sandford Orchards Cider and began making cider in his shed in 2002. Now production is based in Crediton in the oldest working cider mill in the UK. Crediton is the perfect micro climate to grow apples and they have some of the finest bittersweet apple orchards in the world.
Sandford Orchards Cider has been featured on C4’s Sunday Brunch, ITV’s Love Your Weekend and BBC1’s Saturday Kitchen where their Devon Red Cider was described as “Lush, fruity, silky and splendid….a disco in a glass and dangerously drinkable!”
CHUNK PIES & PASTIES OF DEVON
Chunk began in a Devon butcher’s shop in Ottery St Mary. In 2006, Simon Bryon-Edmond and Keith Walton joined forces to create awesome pies, pasties, pork pies and sausage rolls. Both come from Award Winning catering backgrounds and were desperate to produce the best pies and pasties in the South West.
In 2009, Chunk Pies hit the National stage by winning Britain’s Best Pasty – something which irritated the Cornish who banned them the next year for being from Devon!
Chunk uses pork from Kenniford Farm, Clyst St Mary, beef from Complete Meats, Axminster, Tor to Tor meat from Dartmoor, poultry from Creedy Carver Chicken, Crediton, and cheese from Coombe Farm, Somerset. All vegetables are sourced from local farms.
CLIVE’S PIES
Based in a converted woollen mill in Buckfastleigh, Sally and Chris Carson have been running Clive’s Pies for over seven years.
Clive’s is the home of truly tasty organic “free from” foods – including veggie pies in a wholemeal pastry, pasties in a lovely crisp shortcrust pastry, gluten free pies and cakes which taste amazing, and wholesome ready meals, made with lots of exciting fresh vegetables.
All Clive’s products are vegetarian (free from meat), free from all artificial flavours and preservatives and free from yeast. Most products are now gluten free and nearly all are dairy and lactose free. Where they do use dairy or eggs, Clive’s Pies insist on using Soil Association accredited suppliers to ensure the absolute best possible standards of animal welfare.
FARMER TOM’S ICE CREAM
Dunstable Farm Ltd is the home of award winning Farmer Tom’s Ice Cream and is a small family run business based in Holsworthy. Farmer Tom bought the business in 1999 after a farming accident, with the idea to continue milking cows and run the ice cream business on the side. However the ice cream business quickly transitioned into a full time occupation. Tom’s ice creams are made from double cream and fresh whole milk from local farms. There are 50 different flavours but by far the best seller is clotted cream vanilla.
THE CLOVELLY SOAP COMPANY
Sarah and Casie are the husband and wife duo behind the Clovelly Soap Company. Based in the coastal village of Clovelly in North Devon, they make handmade, all-natural soaps, candles and skincare. All their products are produced using the finest oils, home grown herbs and locally foraged sea weeds, with scent blends inspired by the coast, countryside and hedgerow.
CREEDY CARVER
Merrifield Farm in Crediton is the home of Creedy Carver and has been in the Coleman family for generations. Peter and Sue Coleman and their son James have over 40 years of experience in raising barn-reared, free-range chickens and ducks.
The whole family pride themselves on producing top quality poultry that has a truly amazing flavour whilst maintaining a very sympathetic approach to bird welfare.
Creedy Carver ducks and chickens are raised on an additive-free, low energy diet to promote a slow leisurely growth to produce a meat full of flavour with less fat.
Creedy Carver is served in Gordon Ramsey’s Maze restaurant, W1 Brasserie owned by Gary Rhodes and The Ivy in London.
HALLETT’S THE BAKERS
Hallett’s the Bakers is a local family run firm of traditional craft bakers. They produce bread, cakes, pasties, birthday cakes and wedding cakes in their purpose built bakery in Paignton.
As well as an impressive selection of different breads and rolls, delicious croissants, Danish pastries and scones are delivered daily so why not treat yourself while you enjoy a cup of coffee on our terrace?
For more information including the ingredients for each product sold in our shop, visit their website on: http://hallettsthebakers.co.uk
BRITANNIA SHELLFISH
Britannia Shellfish provide our shop with a range of frozen fish. They are located in Beesands, a small South Hams fishing village located on the South West Coast Path. Owners Nick and Anita Hutchings and other local fishermen land their catch of crab, lobster and spider crab directly onto the beach at Beesands and neighbouring Hallsands. The fish is frozen on the day it is landed to ensure it remains of the highest quality.
LUSCOMBE DRINKS
Based in Buckfastleigh, Luscombe drinks has been an award winning Devon supplier since the 1980’s. The wide range of sparkling and still drinks mix freshly pressed organic fruit and soft Dartmoor water. Gabriel David now runs the family business and every drink is entirely free from concentrates, additives, preservatives, colourings, artificial flavourings or enhancers. In 2021, Luscombe was awarded a Royal Warrant in recognition of their high quality and sustainably produced drinks.
GEORGIE PORGIE’S PUDDINGS
In 1994, George Hollywood created Georgie Porgie’s Puddings making traditional Christmas puddings. Fast forward 30 years and George is now making a full range of steamed puddings including classic favourites as well as wonderful new puddings like Orange and Cointreau, Apple and Cider, Lemon and Pimms and the decadent Choc Orange and Baileys puddings. Perfectly portioned and wrapped in muslin, they are ready to be steamed or microwaved, and are a delicious old fashioned treat made locally in Budleigh Salterton.