Lifton, Devon

Lifton is a village that has been a post town since the Saxons decided it mattered, and has spent the eleven centuries since quietly getting on with rice pudding. Alfred the Great left it to his son in a will, Æthelstan held court here with two visiting kings, and the most consequential thing to happen in the last hundred years was a milk factory. The A30 took its traffic away in 1993 and Lifton has been perfectly content about that ever since, which tells you most of what you need to know about the temperament of the place. It is not asking for your attention, and it will not notice if you decline to give it.