Axminster is one of those small towns that most people drive through but rarely stop in, in fact ever since the bypass was built you dont even need to drive through it, you can just avoid it completely!
Axminster used to be famous for one thing, carpets. Most people would know what an Axminster carpet was without actually having a clue that it was made in a small town in Devon which is quaint but also can be a bit intimidating, in fact, if you’re not a local then people will be naturally suspicious of you and will look at you strangely as “You’re not from around here are you”.
Axminster is a small town where everybody knows everybody, in fact most people know about your business before even you do. Keeping a secret is near enough impossible. It also seems that in the last few years a lot of houses have been built in Axminster, in fact it seems that any spare piece of land has been built on, Where once there were fields and marsh there is now a housing estate, its like all of a sudden people actually want to live in Axminster.
Maybe it’s the River Cottage restaurant which is in the town centre which has attracted this much attention, after all, everybody loves a celebrity, even if Hugh is hardly ever actually there. Maybe it’s the quaint old style feel to the town centre, it might not be the biggest (in fact its probably more like the smallest) but the Ye Olde style shop fronts and church green right in the middle gives the place a more village feel, plus if you want the seaside then Seaton and Lyme Regis are just 5 miles or so in either direction.
So Axminster, nice to visit but even nicer to leave.
