The Parish of Willand, comprising an area of 409 hectares, is situated in the countryside of Mid Devon, approximately 7 miles south of Tiverton. As at November 2001 there were 1302 properties in the parish, the population being approximately 3750.The village straddles the B3181 (the old A38) and is easily accessed from all local areas as well as either Exit 27 or 28 of the M5. The village has grown considerably in the last few years.

Willand is first recorded in 1042 as having "belonged to Ethmar", although it is likely that a settlement has existed since the Iron Age.The village is then mentioned, along with Muxbeare, in the Domesday survey of 1086. From 1098 to 1539 Willand belonged to Taunton Priory, whose monks visited chapels at Muxbeare, Moorston Barton, as well as the Church of St. Mary the Virgin in the Old Village. The present form of St. Mary's dates from the 14th century and the north aisle was added in the early-16th century, a time of regional prosperity due to the wool trade. In the 16th century Willand fell into various private ownerships and continued over the next three centuries as a small rural settlement with the gradual development of private residencies, the employment dominance of agriculture and a degree of rural poverty illustrated by local donations for the poor of the parish. This began to change after 1st May 1844, when the Exeter-Taunton section of the mainline railway was opened along with the now-disused station at Tiverton 'Junction', followed by the Tiverton (1848) and Hemyock (1872) branch lines. Many residents became employed in the railway, while the favorable position of Willand within the regional transport network encouraged the arrival of various industries, initially the Duchess of Devonshire Dairy Co. in 1880 and most notably Lloyd Maunder's wholesale meat poultry and egg business in 1913. Simultaneously Willand developed socially and politically with official provision for education and the founding of parochial organisations, even a lending library and Men's Reading Club in the 1890s. During the 20th century industry and transport has stimulated a succession of residential developments that have increased in frequency and scale since the building of the M5 motorway and nearby Junction 27 and have dramatically changed the physical appearance and social makeup of the village.