On Tuesday 16th October volunteers met at Mardon Down to continue clearance work, at the invitation of the Commoners.  Mardon Down has many archaeological remains dating from pre-history right up to the second world war when the Down was occupied for about a year by an American regiment.     One group worked on clearing…

Seventeen DPA members and friends met at the Pork Hill car park on Tuesday 25th September for the walk up Cox Tor Hill and the return between the tor and Roos and the Staple Tors.  The weather was excellent- blue sky and sunshine all morning.     The photograph above shows a somewhat zoomed photograph of…

On Sunday 16th September, the DPA had a visit to the replica Neolithic / Bronze Age roundhouse at Lower Merripit, outside Postbridge. I believe there were about 27 of us and following an introductory chat outside the farm house, we walked a short distance to the roundhouse.  Lower Merripit is one of the oldest farms on…

If it’s the 2nd Tuesday in September, then it’s Widecombe Fair ….. every year. The DPA had its usual presence, near the Main Ring. There is a lot involved with the fair – the first order of the day is to make sure that the DPA stand is set up and presented as temptingly as…

  With 7 DPA volunteers and 17 DWT (Devon Wildlife Trust) volunteers the bracken was raked from Pudsham Meadows in record time this year.  There was plenty of time for resting and chatting as well as hard work! The story is mostly in the photo-captions.                      …

Once more, the sun has orbited to reach the point of Summer Bank Holiday Monday, on 27th of August, and the DPA attended the Lustleigh Show again. Regular DPA volunteers for these events, namely Val Barns, Derek Collins, Claude Williams and Keith & Berni Ryan were joined by Alison Clish-Green. There are no long blocks of text below,…

The 41st Dartmoor Folk Festival was held 10-12th August, at South Zeal, near Okehampton. As usual, there was an impressive programme: to quote from their web site – “fantastic weekend of concerts, ceilidhs, workshops, song and music sessions, children’s festival, craft displays, folk service, Dartmoor ramble and much more.” The weather could have been kinder. After…

There were eight volunteers for the bracken-cutting day at Pudsham Meadows on 7th August. They achieved a great deal of work, helped by the cooler weather than of late.  There are various reasons for cutting the bracken but as a control measure, repeated cutting (and pulling) reduces its vigour and enables other species in these meadows…

A one-day scything course for DPA volunteers was held at Pudsham on 1 August 2018.     The trainer in this traditional skill was Chris Riley of Pratensis Countryside Services       It wasn’t long before the budding scythesmen and women were undertaking their first attempts.       A major aspect of scything,…

On Monday 25th June, twenty-five of us set off from the car park at Cadover Bridge to walk the length of Wigford Down to Dewerstone Hill and then back to the highpoint of the Down with its robbed cairns before returning down the slope back to the car park. The weather was as forecast, “wall-to-wall”…