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 …

This was another short ‘trundle’ back to the same area that was visited on the Mistery Tour but with a stark contrast – I could actually see where I was going. It may have been only about 4 miles but it was one of those Dartmoor days that you will …

On many occasions when walking the moor the solitude and the silence has been broken by either a slow rhythmic ‘womping’ noise or a deep guttural ‘cronking’ both emanating from above and which announce the presence of a raven or a ‘sheep vulture’ as it is called on Dartmoor. Look …

One would probably not associate Dartmoor with raspberries and to be truthful it has only just squeezed into this section, but believe it or not there is a reference to a ‘raspberry garden’. High on the northern fen nestled at just over 1,700 ft (524m) is a small hollow that …

You have planned a visit to Dartmoor and amazingly it turns out to be a wet, miserable day, what do you do? Even worse, you are down on holiday and even more amazing the rain is bucketing down, the kids are grizzly, the wife is giving you ‘evils’ because she …

Many sources state that the rabbit was not an original native of Britain and that they were introduced by the Normans. There are now several reports that this was not so and perhaps re-introduced should be the correct term. Archaeological excavations at Boxgrove in West Sussex revealed rabbit remains that …

Dartmoor Prison has always had the reputation as being a dark foreboding place from which there is no escape. To do so would mean risking life and limb amongst the quaking bogs of the moor. However, recent research on some newspapers of the 1800’s has revealed that not everybody was …

Anybody that regularly walks on Dartmoor cannot help noticing that cattle and sheep can usually be seen around the same vicinity time after time. These encounters can be on the commons or up on the high moors throughout the grazing seasons. Additionally the vegetation where the livestock are located is …