On the 21st of March 2015 I opened my email inbox to find amongst the usual spam the following message: “Dear Tim, I’m a big fan of your Legendary Dartmoor site, and was fascinated to read about your discovery of the Skunk Farm! Could we possibly have a chat about …

Over the years there have been many kinds of farms established on Dartmoor and in latter years have been concerned with various non-native breeds. Probably the most unexpected was one that appeared in the early 1920s and involved skunk breeding. Normally the skunk is probably one of the last animals …

I’ll to thee a Simnel Bring ‘Gainst thou go’st a-Mothering So that, when she blesseth three, Half that blessing thou’lt give me. Robert Herrick As with many other parts of the country one Easter tradition that has long been held on Dartmoor is that of the Simnel Cake although its …

Dartmoor can boast many strange animals both real and fictional, over the past few years we have had the ‘beast’ of Dartmoor, piranha fish and now there are orange sheep. On Thursday (14.04.2011) I called in at the Little Chef near Okehampton and met a sheep farmer who asked me …

Authors – Simon Dell & John Bright Title – Dartmoor’s Sett Makers’ Bankers Format – Paperback (80 pages) Publishers – The Dartmoor Company ISBN 978-09555150-1-9 Price – £5 Strictly speaking this is not a new book as it was published towards the back end of 2008, it is just that …

In a vacant moment the thought came to me as to why Dartmoor does not have a patron saint. Granted if one looks back into pre-Christian times there is the old pagan god – Old Crockern who looks after the moor. In Christian times there are numerous church dedications to …

As much of Dartmoor is and has been owned by the Duchy of Cornwall it will be no surprise that various Princes of Wales have visited their lands. The present Prince of Wales regularly visits the moor but seldom does this make the national press. This however has not always …

With the numerous farms and hamlets scattered across Dartmoor one of the essential services was that provided by the ‘Roundsman’. These men would bring vital supplies to people’s door, often saving their customers an arduous journey to the local towns or villages. The roundsmen delivered every sort of  commodity from …

Dartmoor never has and never will be the easiest place to travel around especially in bad weather. Devonshire as a whole has the most mileage of roads of all the counties in Britain. It is literally criss-crossed with roads, lanes and tracks and it seems Dartmoor has its fair share …

On the 14th, 15th and 16th the bi-annual National Parks Conference was hosted by the Dartmoor National Park Authority and was held at The Bovey Castle. Normally these affairs hold little interest for the general public and attract little media attention. However, 2015 was an exception thanks to one speaker …