Welcome to West Down

The Village

West Down is a vibrant village located in North Devon in the South West of England (Latitude 51.1611, Longitude 4.1239).

The towns of Ilfracombe and Braunton are equidistant at 4 miles to the north and the south of the village which provide some of the services necessary to support parishioners (i.e. doctors, lawyers, dentists, secondary schools etc.) and further to the south (at around 10 miles) is the large market town of Barnstaple.

It is in close proximity to four beautiful sandy beaches at Woolacombe (approx 5 miles) along with Croyde, Putsborough and Saunton Sands which are all approximately 7 miles.

The West Down Parish Council is within North Devon District and Devon County Council.

To read more about West Down please visit the ‘About the Village‘ page.


About the Website

West Down website is created for, and run by the residents of West Down.  It has been developed by a sub committee of the Parish Hall and it is intended that there will be a small management group which will oversee the site, content and future developments.

Its’ purpose is to inform the locals of what is going on in this busy village and to tell the world outside what we have to offer.


Important information regarding details and location of the village’s Defibrillator

West Down Parish Council wish to make everyone aware that we have a fully operational AED in the village

This is a Zoll machine and it is stored in the porch at the West Down Community Shop. It is stored in plastic box with an alarm on it, but there is no code to access the box and the alarm is only for noise purpose only.

This machine is simple to operate and once open you follow the instructions provided by the machine – with good quality CPR the best possible care is provided to a casualty, and chances are survival in a life threatening situation are raised considerably.

If anyone wanted further information regarding the machine or you wanted to consider some training please do not hesitate to contact –  Sue Ayre 07980 182317


Mobile Library

Torrington Mobile Library is back on the road bringing books to you from 12th April.  You will be able to come on board the van in your household bubbles and choose your own books.  To make sure that there are enough books to go around we will be limiting borrowing to 5 books per person for the time being.

Covid rules apply.

You are able to return books to us, these will be quarantined for 72 hours. Please wear a face mask, use the hand sanitiser and observe social distancing rules when using the mobile library.

Your next visit will be on Thursday 1st December at West Down Square 10.20 – 10.50.  For the Torrington Library Timetable 2022 (click here).

Please note that the return of the mobile library service is subject to the Government roadmap going forward as planned.  If we go into another lockdown, the level of service we can offer may change again.

You can find the full timetable with all visit dates on our website: www.devonlibraries.org.uk/web/arena/mobilelibraries.  If you have any queries, please contact us via email: Torrington.mobile@librariesunlimited.org.uk.

Welcome back.


Bus To Barnstaple

A bus leaves the village at 10am from the Square (not Tuesdays and Sundays) and returns from Stand ‘L’ at Barnstaple Bus Station at 13.50pm arriving back in the village at 14.27pm.


(Click on postcards for larger image)

The ‘new’ Village postcard available from the West Down Community Shop


Old postcards

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