Notes from the Field: People, Place and the Evolving Shape of Welcome in Devon
Our research team, as part of the Welcome Coalition’s work mapping and evaluating welcome services and networks across the UK, have now completed fieldwork in Devon, the final of three ethnographic deep-dive locations. They explored how support to newcomers is delivered across a large, rural county and how people and organisations connect within it.
Across several days of visits including to Exeter, Barnstaple and Plymouth, we saw how welcome is shaped by a collection of local responses. Each place offers something distinct, rooted in its geography, its communities and the people who sustain it.
Spaces of welcome in practice
In Exeter, we visited a city-centre hub where services for refugees and asylum seekers sit within a wider community setting. The Refugee Support Devon space is active but calm, with staff moving between conversations, offering advice and supporting people through practical next steps. Nearby, the Devon Ukrainian Association has created a different kind of space: one centred on culture, language and community. This space began as a response to immediate need but it has evolved into something more social and sustaining, reflecting a community beginning to settle.
In Barnstaple, including in spaces such as Sunrise Diversity and Pickwell Foundation, ESOL classes blend formal learning with informal interaction, where people stay after sessions, talk and build relationships with the staff, volunteers and other newcomers. The atmosphere is open and social, with learning acting as a gateway into wider community connections and opportunities.
In Plymouth, support delivered in DCRS is more intensive and tailored. Caseworkers move between complex situations, from legal advice to housing to mental health support. They build strong, trusted relationships with individuals over time. Alongside this, community-based activities like gardening and outreach offer different ways for people to engage, at their own pace.
Across all of these spaces, volunteers play a central role. Many bring professional backgrounds in education, health or social care, offering skilled, consistent support and helping to extend the reach of services into local communities.
The ecosystem behind the work
What sits behind these spaces is a network that is active, though still in development. Organisations across Devon are aware of one another. They are often connected through individual relationships, either staff, volunteers, or community leaders who act as informal bridges. While collaboration is not always formalised, there is a growing appetite for stronger connection and shared learning.
Geography plays an important role here. Services are often concentrated in key towns, with outreach extending into more rural areas through volunteer-led activity and community groups. This creates a system that is locally responsive, but also uneven in reach, highlighting both the strengths of place-based support and the opportunity to connect it more effectively.
Early reflections
Across the places we visited, four key themes began to emerge:
- Relationships are the connective tissue of the system. Welcome in Devon is held together by people. Informal connections, between staff, volunteers and organisations, play a crucial role in helping individuals navigate support. While these relationships are often personal rather than structural, they provide a strong foundation for building more coordinated approaches over time.
- Local hubs provide depth, not uniformity. Each location we visited offers a distinct model of support, shaped by local context and need. Rather than a single standardised approach, Devon’s strength lies in this diversity. Spaces that feel grounded, trusted and relevant to the communities they serve.
- Distance shapes access—and highlights the value of connection. Transport and geography influence how people move through the system, and where support is most visible. At the same time, this reinforces the importance of local provision and creates a clear opportunity. Strengthening links between places so that knowledge, resources and support can travel more easily across the county.
- Cultural events create shared spaces for connection. Arts and cultural activities provide important entry points for welcome in Devon, creating informal, social environments where different groups can connect. From cookery classes to community events, these spaces foster cultural exchange and reduce isolation. However, participation can still be shaped by existing silos and limited cross-group mixing.
Overall, Devon offers an important perspective on how welcome operates beyond urban centres. It shows how care, commitment and community can sustain a system across distance. With stronger connections, those efforts could become even more visible, coordinated and impactful.
Be sure to read our previous Notes from the Field from Bristol and Renfrewshire
If you are interested in learning more about this work or other projects we are doing as part of our Accelerating Welcome mission area, please reach out to beth@neighbourlylab.com.