Holga Challenge – Your Town: Totnes, England

Note: This is the first in a series of six stories that are being done by participants of the HooHaa Holga Challenge. The rest will run through Friday.

Second note: Becca had some issues with her camera for this project and only has seven of 12 images for her town.

By Becca Gulliver

This was a challenge in in every sense of the word.

Devon has had one of the wettest, dullest summers I can remember. Then add to that a Holga that was accidentally drop-kicked across a car park, causing the back to fly off, the film to pop out and land in a coiled heap about a foot away.

I had to kiss goodbye to that roll of Ilford Delta. Whilst scooping up my belongings from the parking bay, it didn’t even occur to me that the impromptu game of football could have caused any damage.

This was something that wouldn’t come to light until both films were developed. My Holga now appears to be permanently stuck in B mode (bulb) and if you shake it you can hear something rattling inside.

At least I can still use it for low-light shooting. Anyway, enough about that.

Most of my shots were taken in the Totnes area of South Devon (England), using a Holga 120gn, Ilford Delta 400 and Fuji Superia X-tra 400.

Here I stand and here I rest. And this town shall be called Totnes. – Brutus of Troy

Totnes is a small market town, with a population of between 7,000 – 8,000 people.

Situated inland within a nationally recognized Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, it is a short drive to some fantastic beaches (the nearest beach is a 15-minutes drive).

If you go further inland, you have the wide expanse of wilderness known as Dartmoor to explore.

Central Totnes is built on a hill, which has the River Dart at the bottom and the Totnes Castle at the top.

On the other side of the river you have the suburb of Bridgetown, which is where I live.

Totnes is very old. The first recorded history of the town was in 907 AD, which makes it the second oldest borough in England.

Because of the age of the of the town, the architecture is varied and even boasts one of the oldest Norman Motte and Bailey castles, a medieval church and Tudor buildings alongside more modern offerings of the 18th, and subsequent centuries.

During the 12th century it was an important and thriving market town and in very prosperous times minted it’s own coins.

Nowadays, it probably comes across as quite sleepy at times, but Totnes everything but. It certainly seems to have more than it’s fair share of artists (painters, potters, woodwork, metal work, fine art printing and photography, just to mention a few) and musicians.

The music scene is pretty varied with live bands and electronic music nights during most weekends. We probably have the largest DJs per capita than anywhere else.

If music and art isn’t your thing then we also have a lot of people into alternative lifestyles and alternative medicines.

I would imagine it’s possible to find treatments from most corners of the world here.

Until recently we also had an internationally known art college, which unfortunately was relocated despite protests from the locals.

There is so much one could say about Totnes, but for more information about the town, type in Totnes in Google.

Other images from Becca’s series on her town are below:

Becca on the web: