West Buckland, Devon

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West Buckland is a small, compact, neat, attractive and desirable village located amidst lush farm land 8 miles (12.9 km) east-south-east of Barnstaple in North Devon, England. Formerly part of the Fortescue Estate, it is reached by most along a winding, mostly one track, steep hill up from the North Devon Link Road. The village may be best known for having given its name to the adjacent co-educational independent West Buckland School: educators of, amongst others, British world record triple-jumper Jonathan Edwards. Despite taking the name, the school comprising its preparatory school, three boarding houses and the public school itself is located on an extensive campus about 1 km east of the village and instead it is the small parish church which draws most visitors from the local area. The village is served by a small post office along with an aging village hall. The garage no longer serves petrol. There is no public house. South Molton is the nearest town. Beware the school traffic which includes a large fleet of long coaches in and out through the narrow village street twice a day.