Devon Guild of Craftsmen

Lots of interesting art of all sorts… Including crafts, photography, scultpures, and woodwork to name a few. Some beautiful, lovely, and stunning; others questionable, odd, and different. Prices range from cheap to expensive but all the art was unique and very creative.
Nice place to find gifts and there are a lot of beautiful, one of a kind handmade cards to purchase. It is much larger on the inside than it looks on the outside. In addition to the main store, there is also a café, a couple nice clean bathrooms and an art gallery area. A must see if you are in Devon.

Whilst on a camping holiday at the River Dart in Aug 2012 we decided to go to ‘Parke’ a National Trust location. As they have no facilities other than toilets and we needed some food we ended up at this place which was just down the road.
Basically you find a table, make a mental note of it and order your drinks and food at the till. They take cards.
As it was the hottest day probably in August we were desperate for some cold drinks. They had no ice! The drinks were chilled but they went ‘very’ hot very quickly especially as they were sitting on the very hot glass tables out on the terrace. I was told that the ice machine broke last year and it was never replaced. WHY?! The food for was okay. I enjoyed the salad which was comprehensive and it came with a homemade coleslaw. The pâté that came with the salad was bog standard. It was the type of poor quality that you get from a supermarket, it was edible but … With all the local produce that is produced in the area why dont they get some decent pâté in. The good thing about the dish was that it came with alot of freshly toasted white and multi grain toast, usually restaurants in my opinion dont give you enough but this place did. The dish price was £6.95. My wife had houmus which again was okay.
The place is clearly a craft and arts shop with a café attached to it but that said the food could and should be better in a place like this.
Get the ice machine sorted!
The car park attached to it is owned by the Riverside Inn pub and the pub charge a refundable £2 to park there. There are signs saying illegal parking will result in £85 fine. We ended up paying but this is clearly just a cash cow, you didnt have to display the ticket. You hand your ticket in to use it as a credit note against food/​drinks purchased.

I love crafts — especially ceramics — and this has some of the best ‘ceramics’ from the southwest. So why doesn’t it work for me?
A lot of the pieces are about surface — their form is weak to non-​existent. They seem sometimes to be trying to express an idea or style, and they are trying to hard. It’s an art graduate’s idea of what art is. That doesn’t work for me.
Then there’s the pricing. Hah. Stratospheric. And when you realise that the commission on the pieces is usually over 40%… well, with a hardworking gallery I can relate to that, but this is an organisation that is meant to support artists.
Then there’s the service… no enthusiasm. Zilch. Nada. Nobody telling you why they love the pieces, no real signage about the qualities. Sure they have pleasant assistants to take your money (not mine, I’m telling you), but that’s it. Why have they chosen the exhibitors? What’s good about them? Where’s the passion? Nope, just ‘It’s here ‘cos we’re the guild and we know what we are talking about so just give us your money and bow to our judgement’. Well, guilds died out in the late middle ages and for a good reason.
Save you time and money. You’ll get more passion from a private gallery and more interest from visiting the artists at their studios.
It’s a pity, because they have a great network and could really promote the art and craftspeople (craftsmen??? Hello, ever heard of women?) with an interesting and interactive gallery.

As a card carrying shopaholic I do enjoy the chance to look at, and pccassionally buy, something which is either limited or totally original.
The Mill in Bovey Tracey is a delight, recently refurbished to provide even more exhibition space and a lovely fresh new café with outside terrace.
The selection of ceramics, fabric, fashion, prints, collage, furniture, statuary, sculpture, pottery, glass work, jewelry and countless other local artworks and designed goods is stunning and so much more affordable than in similar style galleries in say Exeter or Kensington.
The whole building is both disabled and child friendly and the staff are enthused enough to be able and willing to assist whenever requested. a gallery that isn’t stuffy and elitist, this must be Devon!