Woke earlier this morning and Jill and I went for a walk to the top of the village and back via the public footpath through the fields to the main road. Saw a pheasant who was rather startled to see us.
Skyped Bradley, Christine, Aylee and Nate – Aylee played us a tune on the piano; Nate quite chatty. Also Skyped Damian, Sarah and Christopher - Christopher busy having his dinner.
Headed off for a drive just before lunch. First to Moretonhampstead about 6 miles away. Moretonhampstead is a busy little village that began as a small Saxon settlement around A.D. 700. It is notable for having the longest one-word name of any place in England. Lots of old buildings were built of stone (one, Almshouses, was built in 1637 and still looked in pretty good condition).
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| Downtown Moretonhampstead |
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The Dancing Tree |
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| Almshouses 1637 |
Also saw the very interesting Dancing Tree (Cross Tree) which is growing on a granite walled plinth. The old elm (that the current tree replaced in 1903) had its branches pollarded to give a punch bowl shape so that it could support a wooden platform. Musicians played from this platform while people danced in the streets below (and sometimes on the platform). None of that there now, just the tree.
National Parks in England are quite different to those in Australia. People live and work within the national park and the farms, villages and towns are protected along with the landscape and wildlife – obviously a bit different to the way they are managed in Australia.
Dartmoor National Park is an area of moorland covering 954 square kilometres (although the area around its edges and in Dunsford is not actually moorland – mainly woodland and farmland.) The moorland is capped with many exposed granite hilltops known as tors, providing habitats for Dartmoor wildlife. The highest point is High Willhays, 621 m (2,037 ft) above sea level. The entire area is rich in antiquities and archaeology. We plan to do some exploring of the national park over the next few weeks.
From Moretonhampstead, we drove on to Lustleigh to have lunch at the Cleave Public House, a lovely old pub that had been recommended by Roger. Went for a walk in the village and saw many more thatched roofed stone house (granite stone) some built in the early 1600s. We looked for an alternative route back to the pub but ended up in a nature reserve on the wrong side of the creek – a nice little adventure.
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| Cleave Public House, Lustleigh |
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| Thatched stone cottages, Lustleigh |
On to Bovey Tracey. Was now 5 o’clock and most things were closed (more so because it was Sunday) but from what we saw it is a town we need to return to. Back to Dunsford along the Teign valley.
