Drone survey in Totnes

Totnes sits centrally enough in the South Hams to border Dartmouth, Newton Abbot, Paignton, Kingsbridge and Ivybridge all within easy reach, more neighbouring towns than almost anywhere else covered here, which makes it a useful point to combine with another booking in the area. It's around 45 minutes from Exeter down the A38. That central position also means Totnes is a sensible base for anyone weighing up which nearby South Hams town to book alongside it. The TQ9 postcode area takes in a good stretch of that surrounding countryside too, so a booking here isn't limited to the streets inside the old town walls.

The centre of Totnes is a dense medieval and Elizabethan core, with slate-hung and jettied frontages lining a very steep main street that runs up from the tidal limit of the Dart to the castle at the top. That density means a lot of roofs sit close together with hidden valleys and party-wall junctions, and while that doesn't change what the survey looks for, it's the kind of tightly built historic centre where confirming the exact property and its neighbours in advance makes the booking run more smoothly. Georgian and Victorian streets fill in the gap between that medieval heart and the newer estates further out, adding yet another layer of building age to the same short walk across town.

Outside that old core, Totnes spreads out into more ordinary modern estates at Bridgetown and Follaton, and the wider parish takes in the Dartington Hall estate on its outskirts, so the range of property types booked here can run from a jettied townhouse near the Butterwalk to a modern semi on the edge of town within the same working day.

From the top, near the castle, the view takes in most of that spread at once, the steep roofline of the old town giving way to Bridgetown and Follaton and then out to open farmland, which is a fair summary of the range of work a Totnes booking can involve.

Beyond the town itself, the land around Totnes is rolling South Hams farmland, much of it visible from the castle at the top of the hill, and that rural fringe is covered on the same basis as the town centre itself. A property out in that farmland is booked the same way as one in the old core, simply with its own travel time worked into the day depending on which direction the round is coming from. A written report still follows within 48 hours of the visit, regardless of whether the property sits on a steep medieval lane or a quiet modern close.

The valley itself is fairly sheltered compared with the coast or the open moor, though it stays damp, which allows a wider choice of flying days than some of its more exposed South Hams neighbours.