Being the BBC website, I fully expected that accurate reporting would not be allowed to interfere with a "good story".
In all fairness it was a quote from the person who made the Openreach van effigy for the bonfire.
From a quick look on the map it really is rural.. just a tiny hamlet of about a dozen cottages and a few farms in the middle of nowhere. -
gmap link.
Running a check on a B&B guest house in Templeton Bridge, which is further outside of the Hamlet.
Exchange: Witheridge BT Code: WWWITH
Location: , EX16 8AN
Distance:- Direct: 6.68 km
(appx)* By Road: 9 km
DSL Max: 1000 kbps
21CN WBC (ADSL2+) Not Enabled
FTTC is unavailable in your area.
Market 1 exchange. No LLU.
They managed to get a cable to the nearby hamlet of Nomansland, but just eight kilometres further and there's nothing.
Well I guess that would be because Nomansland is on the B3137 which runs between Witheridge and Tiverton.
That last 8km is all country lanes.
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ETA
In previous years they've burnt Wallace & Gromit, Dr Who & the Daleks and a Viking ship.