Paula and I are attempting an experiment during the spring and summer to become a one car family. We live in the country with no immediate neighbours about 1 1/2 miles from Cheriton Fitzpaine.

Until recently we had two cars, one doing about 9000 miles pa and another doing 4000 miles pa. The latter car, a relatively old banger with 153,000 miles on the clock was costing us about £1500 pa to maintain, tax, insure and run. About a month ago this car was written off in a minor prang and so we decided to see if we can manage on one vehicle. It is a challenge where we live, as we are over a mile from the nearest bus stop and a hilly 30 min walk from the village. We are obviously doing a lot more shared journeys and also have to compromise more on car usage and plan our diaries a week or two in advance. We are using the bus when we can to go into Exeter and Crediton and have found a marvellous service called the Devon Fare Car F9 which picks us up from the door and runs to and fro Tiverton 5 times a day Mon - Sat for £5 return.

Results so far? The last month has cost us about £12 for buses/fare car and only minor inconvenience. Annual mileage in the one remaining car could be as much as 12000 miles a year, an extra 3000 miles of diesel costs, but we will attempt to keep this as low as possible and should see an annual cost saving overall. At the moment, if there was a car club in Cheriton Fitzpaine we would sign up as we can certainly envisage times when the occasional use of a second car would be very handy!