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”…

Thirty DPA and Devon Wildlife Trust volunteers gathered at Pudsham Meadows for the annual orchid count on 13th June.  The weather and the flowering season were in our favour this year.   Pairs and small groups each surveyed one species in one field.       We came up with the grand total of 3664…

On Friday 25th May, under a sky of mostly white cloud, eighteen of us met at Pork Hill car park to walk over Barn Hill, down to Windy Post, over Feather Tor and its quarrying artefacts, on to Pew (Pu) Tor and its stone workers’ “keep out” markers. Then, to Heckwood Tor Quarry and on to see…

We were so lucky.   6th May was hot and sunny with clear views over the north of Dartmoor.  14  walkers left the car park by the house that used to be the Rising Sun pub, on the old A30 near South Zeal.    The first stop was the chimney which had served Ramsley Mine until the…

The DPA monthly short walks seem to come around quite quickly. On Wednesday morning, 25th April, twenty-four of us met at Swallerton Gate car park to set off at 10 o’clock.  While enjoying the conviviality of the occasion, having arrived over half an hour early, I suddenly realised 10 am had passed!   Our first…

On Sunday 25th March, 38 DPA members and non-members met at Four Winds car park for the walk to Great Mis Tor. The weather was as favourable as any of us could have wished for. Many of the photographs below were taken on a reconnoitring mission in good weather a few days after the March snow and…

Despite a weather forecast the night before of continuous heavy rain seven brave souls turned up for the work party at Pudsham Meadows.  Two redundant sheds and some old fencing were removed.  Derek Collins who had to oversee operations from the APY wagon due to temporary incapacity said “sheds and fence seemed to evaporate before…