Local Attractions

To understand more about Dartmoor, The Museum of Dartmoor Life at Oakhampton may be a good place to start. The Dartmoor Visitors Centres at Postbridge, Princetown and Haytor are also good sources of information. The Legendary Dartmoor website details all manner of locations for traditional events, folktales and ghostly goings-on including the Dunsford ghost. There was an old story around Dunsford, that when a dwelling was left unoccupied a ghost would come down the chimney and take up residence in the house!

Talking of hauntings, if ghost hunting is more your thing, at The National Trust’s Lydford Gorge, a lady in a flowing white gown will appear in ghostly form to save you from a watery grave should you chance to fall into the river. Also owned by the National Trust, Buckland Abbey was once the home of Sir Francis Drake who is now believed to haunt the Abbey. Among local haunted inns we can recommend are The Three Crowns at Chagford with a ghostly soldier creeping up the hallway in the dead of night, and at The Cridford Inn, Trusham, where a nun and a Civil War cavalier are said to haunt the premises!

It is our usual habit to take our first cup of tea of the day down to the bank of the River Teign which runs along the end of our garden. One morning recently, we saw not one, but two kingfishers; a rare sighting! They nest close by but are rarely seen. That iridescent turquoise plumage glinting in the morning sun, sets you up for the day! Another magnificent, though infrequent visitor early in the morning is the elegant grey heron.

Also, usually resident, are a pair of dippers, the emblem of the Devon Wildlife Trust. Their underwater feeding antics fascinate. They are joined by the balletic antics of the wagtails, pied, grey and, in the summer months, yellow wagtails who winter in Africa. Finally, our troupe of dabbling mallard ducks appear, working their way along the river looking for food.