If so, you are in the right place. This page provides information about the recreational facilities on offer in Bishopsteignton.
Our website also provides information about clubs and societies running in the village, and lists upcoming events. For details please use the links below:
The Bishopsteignton Sports Area is one of the best outdoor sports facilities in the district. It's situated at the Recreation Ground in Lawns End, overlooking the Teign Estuary - an excellent location to play as well as watch - and is extensively used by villagers and those from a wider area. It truly helps bring sport to all in the community.
The floodlit facilities cater for three tennis courts, two netball courts and a five-a-side football pitch. Tennis coaching (provided by the Russell Bond School of Tennis) takes place on Saturday mornings as well as Monday and Wednesday evenings, netball is played regularly every Tuesday evening and the village football club plays there on Thursdays. The facilities can be booked on a casual basis at the village shop - the Supply Stores - while more regular, club bookings can be made through the Parish Council offices.
Contact points are:
Mrs Claire Colyer, Clerk to the Parish Council, 01626 870170 (Tuesday and Thursday 1000-1200)
Roger Hunt 01626 775255
For those of you who enjoy activities such as walking, fishing or bird watching, Bishopsteignton will be of great interest.
There are a number of public footpaths and rights of way criss-crossing the countryside around the village. All of these paths are marked on Ordnance Survey maps for the area, making it easy for you to plan a route around the village. A good example of a local footpath is that from Teign View Road, up to Humber Moor, which offers spectacular views up river towards Dartmoor, and down the estuary to the Ness at Shaldon. There is also another footpath from Coombeway, which joins with an ancient right of way across Pixy Pit Meadows and down to the main Teignmouth Road at the old toll house.
There is a walking trails leaflet available from the post office, and at various village sales and events. This includes a map and itinerary for a numbers of walks around the village environs. You can also use the Where to Walk section of the Teignbridge District Council website to plan your own walking route in the area using the interactive map.
Take a walk down to the estuary, where you will be able to watch sea birds and waders, such as gulls, snipe, swans, ducks, geese, kingfishers, moorhens, coots, cormorants and herons amongst others. In a rather different environment, Little Haldon Heath, on top of the hill above the village is a site of special scientific interest, where a number of heathland birds, and other wildlife can be found. There is car parking available at both Postman's Path, and White Wells picnic sites, and a footpath along the ridge between the two sites offers fantastic views of the Teign Estuary, and both the coast at Teignmouth and Shaldon, and towards Dartmoor. You can find out more about Little Haldon Health on the Teignbridge District Council website.
With its proximity to the coast, sea fishing is of course an option, and trips run from both Teignmouth and Torquay, particularly during the summer months. However, it is also possible to fish from the banks of the estuary, with mackerel and sea bass being plentiful. In bygone days it was also possible to catch salmon in the river.
The Recreation Ground is located at Lawns End (off Forder Lane) and is home to the Bishopsteignton Sports Area. As well as offering facilities for organised sports which can be enjoyed by children, there is a large open space, suitable for many outdoor activities, and a children's play park within the grounds. Car parking is available, accessed via Lawns End.
This play area is located behind Bishopsteignton Primary School, and there is a public car park next to it, at the top of Cockhaven Close. The facility was installed in Spring 2008 as a result of a huge local fundraising effort. The play area is designed for children aged 3 to 11.
The basket swing, which can hold about eight children, is particularly popular, as shown in the picture. There are plenty of benches for grown ups and picnics, plus a herb garden. The picnic benches look as though they are wooden, but are actually made out of thousands of recycled plastic milk bottles! A new slide will be installed here soon.
There are a number of public halls in the village. These can be hired for private functions, and they often play host to a wide variety of events, including coffee mornings, quiz evenings, amateur dramatics performances, concerts, meetings of local clubs, dance or exercise classes etc.
The Village Hall is located centrally in the village, on Fore Street. It offers a hall space, kitchen facilities, a skittle alley, and has a stage
(and dressing rooms), for theatrical, and other, events. There is also a south facing garden, with decked area, and views of the river.
The Village Hall is licenced, so a bar can be offered. Bookings for the village hall can be made at the village post office, opposite, or by contacting
Mary James on 01626 778068 for more information. Groups which currently use the hall include: short mat bowls, the local Women's Institute, table tennis, skittles and line dancing.
The Village Hall is part of The Bishopsteignton Halls Foundation, a registered charity, and is run by a volunteer committee. Regular fund raising events, such as coffee mornings, quizes and concerts are held at the hall to raise funds. Last year funds raised were used to install a disabled toilet, and now the committee is saving towards the refurbishment of the kitchen, which they hope to complete by autumn 2009. Another fund raising effort is the "donate a book" scheme.
Further details of the events at the Village Hall can be found on the Bishopsteignton Events page.
There is some history surrounding the building, which was originally an army hut, from Salisbury Plain, which has been erected alongside the original stone wall to the orchard, which previously occupied the space.
Ths Community Centre is run by a volunteer committee of 8 villagers and is available for the use and benefit of all people in the village. The committee are
justly proud of their achievements, which this year have included a brand new, fully equipped catering-sized kitchen, and the redecoration of the Robinson Room.
The Centre consists of 2 large halls and a small meeting room, together with the main kitchen and a small galley kitchen. There is plenty of outside space, both at the front and rear of the building, making it suitable for both good and bad weather events. It is centrally heated, so warm and inviting during the winter months.
The Parish Council also has its offices situated in the building.
Organisations already using the Centre include; art groups, yoga, garden and flower clubs, the Grimspound Morris Men, the Twinning Association, the Lunch Club and the Annual Village Show. It can also be used for parties and other celebrations.
The committee itself organises various fund-raising events, including jazz nights and prize bingo.
The centre is available to hire, and you can view the current list of hire charges. For further information, please contact:
Roy Halsey, Chairman, on 01626 774049
or Jean Knapman for bookings on 01626 772318.
The Community Centre, Shute Hill, Bishopsteignton is part of The Bishopsteignton Halls Foundation, a registered charity.
The village Methodist Church also has a hall, for which bookings can be made with the bookings secretary, Miss B Bardell on 01626 774541. The hall is located adjoining the Methodist Church, on Fore Street.
The Bishopsteignton Museum of Rural Life is a very small museum, opened in 1983, and is housed in two rooms of the first floor of the Community Centre on Shute Hill. It contains an extremely varied collection of items of local interest, including material relating to Brunel's atmospheric railway and a three-dimensional model of the village as it was in about 1900.
Operated by volunteers, the museum is usually open on Sunday afternoons from Easter until mid-September. The Committee of Bishopsteignton Museum of Rural Life very much regret that, despite notices in the press, we will not be able to re-open on Easter Sunday. We will try to re-open as soon as we can and will advertise the date as widely as possible. For further information, please contact Roger Avery (773167). The museum recently received a bequest from the late Miss Molly Coombe, who lived in the village all her life, and a Trust is being formed to administer this.
For further information contact Roger Avery (Chairman of the management committee), tel. 01626 773167.
