History and Geography
With a population of approximately 2000, the village lies in the Bere peninsula, between the rivers Tamar and Tavy. Its origins lie in the once thriving local mining industry and market gardening sector. At one time, the mainline trains to London would stop at the village to pick up locally grown produce destined for the capital.
Trains still run to Bere Alston railway station on the picturesque Tamar Valley Line, and there has been discussion of making the town a junction once again by reopening the former 'main line' to Tavistock, the largest town in Devon currently without a railway station. Occasionally reopening the whole line through to Okehampton and Exeter is suggested, since the current Plymouth to Exeter route is dependent on an extremely vulnerable route below the sea cliffs at Dawlish Warren.
Bere Alston elected two members to the Unreformed House of Commons. Only a few burgage holders were entitled to vote but as most, if not all, of these holdings were held by a single individual for most of the time that Bere Alston was a parliamentary borough elections were seldom contested (see rotten borough). Its MPs included Sir George Beaumont, 7th Baronet, Peter King, 1st Baron King and Josceline Percy. The borough was stripped of its franchise in the Reform Act 1832.
Once home to numerous pubs, the village now only has one public house, The Edgcumbe Hotel, located on Fore Street.Now, there is a beautiful modern cafe opened called Hope Cottage next door to Bere Alston United Church.
There are plenty of beautiful country walks in Bere Alston that cross trainlines, woods, and fields.
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