What will the development look like?

It is still early days for such an ambitious development — but these are our aspirations for the project at this stage. The proposal is for the community to be located on the former Foxhole School site, where Dartington would like to build an integrated retirement community consisting of up to 150 one- to three-room apartments, along with leisure and community facilities.

Some of the complex will be created from the existing courtyard building and some will be new build, all carefully linked together. The new site will incorporate a full range of community amenities for residents and local community alike, and aims to include facilities such as a café/bistro/restaurant, a library, a gym, a hairdresser and beauty salon, a craft education workshop, greenhouse, guest accommodation and consulting rooms for mainstream healthcare provision.

The entire complex will be designed to accommodate palliative and physical care needs and will be dementia friendly and include wheelchair access throughout. Each home will be of sufficient size to enable an active life, with the aspiration of including space for creative or IT activity, with the opportunity for individuals to access arts and music facilities elsewhere on the estate.

Outside space around the development will be designed to include allotment areas and attractive gardens with a range of different zones designed to dementia standards.

We plan to put in place readily available transport links, footpaths and cycle ways to enable access to different parts of the Estate, Dartington village and Totnes.

We hope we can include a child care provision as an integral feature. Our residents will be actively encouraged to interact with children and young people through a range of opportunities, including contact with the local primary, secondary and special-schools, and participation in the arts, sustainablility and social justice activities on the estate.

The community will promote independence rather than dependence, respect the dignity and privacy of each individual, and enable all residents to maintain ‘an abundant life’.

Who is The Abundant Life Project for…