"Waiter, is this Scone Organic?"

No place is safe from the modern obsession with all things natural and New Age. Not even the medieval English town of Totnes. Nestled in the lush pastures and wheatfields near Dartmoor in southern Devon, Totnes for decades made a quiet living from cream teas, antiques and postcards. But these days, it's a magnet for urban refugees running the kinds of bohemian businesses normally associated with trendy metropolitan neighborhoods.

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Twenty years ago, Totnes' idea of radical was reduced-fat cream. Now, a stroll through its Tudor-period East Gate reveals the new, hipper breed of vendor ensconced in the centuries-old shop fronts. Green Shoes, tel: (44-1803) 864 997, cobbles to order "vegan" footwear, made from a synthetic leather called lorica. A few doors down, Willow Vegetarian Garden, tel: (44-1803) 862 205, serves mostly organic food and drink in a tasteful, rustic dining room. Nearby, small boutiques boast Japanese, British and other European designer threads, while others hawk surf and skater wear. And despite its ramshackle-sounding name, housewares retailer Tumble Home, tel: (44-1803) 863 024, stocks a collection of funky furniture.

If you'd like to spend the night, try Norwegian Wood, tel: (44-1803) 867 462, located just five minutes out of town and run by an exemplary new Totnes resident, Heather Nicholson—a practicing nutritional therapist and iridologist (someone who claims to be able to diagnose ailments by studying the iris). This "organic bed-and-breakfast" is housed in a beautifully converted barn, overlooking an undulating patchwork quilt of fields. Guest rooms are decorated in colors that represent "harmonious auras," while breakfasts are prepared according to your food tolerances. Needless to say, there isn't a cream tea in sight.