“Smallest of villages is Gidleigh, As we turn the corner we see within an area of a few square yards the whole church-town. There is a ruined castle adjoining the dilapidated manor-house, close hugged by the little church, with a tower unusually slim when compared with its brethren. And beyond …

When is a castle not a castle? When it’s Gidleigh Castle! Although marked as, ‘Castle (remains of)’ on the OS map this is not strictly true because as the National Monuments Records explains: ‘The castle probably originated as a small fortified manor house in approximately 1300. The only remaining part …

Today, having had one of those days when you wished you had taken a ‘duvet day’ I came home and checked my emails to find the following: ‘Think the site is great and dip into it all the time. Wandered if you were going to do an article on the …

The ‘Queen of the Moor’ is a majestic tor high in the wastes of the northern fen where she rules over all she surveys. The ‘Queen of the Moor’ is commonly know as Fur tor and comprises of several outcrops. Many will argue that this is the remotest tor on …

Now here is a challenge for anybody who has not been to Fuge’s Post and does not know what it looks like. Pick a wet, foggy day, equip yourself with a map and a grid reference of SX 57153 81962 and go and find it. That was exactly what I …

There are numerous mires and bogs on Dartmoor, several of them can be treacherous places to wander into but of them all Fox Tor Mires is (undeservedly) the most notorious. It has been said that the mires are twenty feet deep and have sucked many a man and beast down …

Before the Dartmoor hills you leave, – Come taste the ale of Richard Cleave, Or if your spirits you would cheer, – Then try the spirits he sells here, – If hungry there is Dartmoor fare, – The sauce shall be the Dartmoor air, – And if fatigued and seeking …

One of the perils of walking across the moor at night is possibility of meeting with the pixies or as the moorfolk call them ‘piskies’. There are numerous stories of unfortunate people that have met them and become ‘piskie led‘. This is where the mischievous piskies envelop the traveller in …

Fingle Bridge, its very name sounds like something straight from the pages of a fable story, does it not conjure up images of piskies, woodland spirits, or witchcraft? I would imagine that Fingle Bridge has been on the tourist route since the early 1800’s and the move towards the picturesque …

Just outside of Princetown there is what looks like a small circular enclosure, this is Fice’s Well. If legend is to be believed it has stood here for 437 years and the spring was the source of salvation for John Fitz. One day he and his wife were riding on …