It is at the southern extremity of Dartmoor, a National Park of England and Wales and lies along the A38 "Devon Expressway" road.

The area surrounding Ivybridge is varied and complex, including river valleys, farmland and dense woodland.

[5] Although the first mention of Ivybridge came in 1280 when it was described as "dowry of land on the west side of the River Erme, by the Ivy Bridge.

For Westminster elections, the town forms part of the county constituency of South West Devon.

The main road in and out of the town (the A38) allows fast access to its nearby city Plymouth for many of Ivybridge's commuters.

There is also an area of woodland called Longtimber Woods to the north of the town, which attracts many walkers along its riverside path.

Throughout most of the town the rock is Old Red Sandstone (correction:this should read ‘heat-altered slates), (sedimentary) from the Devonian period.

Along the River Erme large boulders and rocks can be found deposited on its meandering path brought all the way from Dartmoor; the Ivy Bridge itself is made out of Granite.

Over the past decades the town has been shaped by its two most essential pieces of infrastructure: the railway line to the north and the A38 dual carriageway to the south.

The annual mean temperature is approximately 11 °C (52 °F) and shows a seasonal and a diurnal variation, but due to the modifying effect of the sea the range is less than in most other parts of the British Isles.

[15] The climate of South West England has a favoured location with respect to the Azores high pressure when it extends its influence north-eastwards towards the British Isles, particularly in summer.

The Atlantic depressions are more vigorous in autumn and winter and most of the rain which falls in those seasons in the south-west is from this source.

The predominant wind direction is from the south-west[17] and, as a result, the air quality in Ivybridge may be reduced by the (proposed) construction of an incinerator southwest of the town (at the New England Quarry) with possible implications for health.

[1] The United Kingdom Census 2011 was carried out by the Office for National Statistics in England and Wales, on Sunday, 27 March 2011.

Later development of the town relied on both the River Erme and the railway, which was built in the latter part of the Industrial Revolution of the United Kingdom.

The Two Moors Way, which crosses Dartmoor and Exmoor starts in Ivybridge and finishes in Lynmouth on the North Devon coast.

The shopping area is mainly along Fore Street and Glanvilles Mill and provides many jobs and services for the town, although the local schools combine to be the biggest employers.

There are some out of town jobs at the Tesco Extra superstore at Lee Mill and Endsleigh Garden & Leisure (Wyevale).

The town has six traditional public houses: The Sportsmans, the Trehill Arms, the Exchange, the Old Smithy, the Duke of Cornwall and the Imperial.

The operational line alongside was built by Sir James Charles Inglis opened in 1894 for the Great Western Railway.

In recent years another memorial has also been built nearby commemorating the lives of American servicemen stationed in and near the town in 1943–1944, many of whom died on Omaha Beach on D-Day.

The Watermark is one of the town's modern landmarks, which began construction in 2007 and was completed in March 2008 at a cost of £1.4 million.

[25] Ivybridge has long been a staging post on the Exeter to Plymouth road dating back to the 13th century and the "Ivy Bridge" was the only way over the River Erme at the time.

[26] It is operated by Great Western Railway who run links to London Paddington via Exeter and also south west to Cornwall.

The station is advertised as a Park and Ride for the nearby city of Plymouth, although the level of service is infrequent and sporadic.

The town has a bus service (Gold) to Plymouth, Totnes, Paignton and Torquay operated by Stagecoach South West.

[27] The school has a very large catchment area which stretches from Shaugh Prior on Dartmoor, to Bigbury on the coast and covers many of the villages in the South Hams such as Ugborough, Modbury and Yealmpton.

Notable people from the community college include sports teacher Michaela Breeze who won a gold medal weightlifting in the 2002 Commonwealth Games for Wales and won another gold medal in the 2006 Commonwealth Games.,[28][29] Nigel Martin (footballer) was a pupil, Chris Bell, a retired rugby union player with Leeds, Harlequins, Sale Sharks and Wasps, and the school's former principal – Geoffrey Rees now retired, who was given a CBE for his services to education.

[36] The town is served by the local newspaper, Ivybridge & South Brent Gazette which publishes on Fridays.

An engraving of a painting of the river by Thomas Allom, together with a poetical illustration by Letitia Elizabeth Landon set to music by Henry Russell, were published in Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1835.