Devon Live has just published an article by Paul Greaves who visits three communities which have been named the most isolated in England.

However, the web site also has a ready reckoner where you can find out how your area ranks for isolation and connectivity by entering your postcode. [and give your e-mail!]

The result is an isolation score out of a hundred and an estimate of the average journey times to key services by public transport, cycling and car.

Owl was surprised – well not really, Owl knows the problems people who rely on public transport face- at how badly many East Devon villages scored, even places such as Ottery St Mary are considered isolated.

https://www.devonlive.com/news/devon-news/most-isolated-communities-england-right-3824237

Article by Paul Greaves reads:

Sue Lewis and Frank Bowden both live in deep Dartmoor

You could say there are two kinds of isolation, one bleak and lonely the other bleak and beautiful.

A new study says that parts of Dartmoor are the most remote not only in Devon but in England as a whole. It takes longer on the moor to see a doctor or get to school than anywhere else.
Those of us who live in Devon recognise Dartmoor for what it is: a brooding, natural treasure. Then again, most of us don’t live there, we just visit. It can’t be much fun when it takes two hours to get to the classroom by foot or public transport. A GP is an hour and a half away by walking or public transport, 34 minutes on a bike or 18 minutes in a car, while it takes two hours to get to hospital on public transport.

I visit three places where isolation is keenest felt: Dartmeet, Lettaford and Manaton to ask what the people who live there think about being disconnected from the living. I want to know if we should be worried about their lonesomes lives among the ponies and if they miss the bright lights of say, Newton Abbot, or the comforting bosom of an Exmouth, statistically the best connected place in Devon.

What kind of isolation is it to be? Desperate or splendid.