Upcoming events
Discover Dartmoor’s Rainforests: Introduction to Temperate Rainforest Okehampton
Introduction to Temperate Rainforest — Okehampton
We look at the overall composition of rainforest: the trees that give it structure and the plants that make up the ground layer. By the end of the day you will be confident identifying the commonest trees and other plants, and have a good understanding of the elements that make up a healthy rainforest. Our route takes us beside the beautiful, tumbling West Okement river to a rainforest Site of Special Scientific Interest.
Discover Dartmoor’s Rainforests: The Bovey Valley
Discover Dartmoor’s Rainforests: The Bovey Valley — Focus on lichens
We drop down into the wooded valley and remain in the woodlands for most of the day, crossing the river at Foxworthy and back over it at the old clam bridge (there’s a new bridge beside it for the less brave).
Our focus will be to an extent on lichens: extraordinary composite organisms with a vital role in colonising and nutrient cycling. The range of growth forms is astonishing, from the showy beard lichens like String-of Sausages to the flat crusts which, when viewed through a hand lens, reveal fruiting bodies like barnacles, jam tarts and writing.
Discover Dartmoor’s Rainforests: Shaugh Bridge
Discover Dartmoor’s Rainforests: Shaugh Bridge — Focus on mosses
We walk beside the lovely River Meavy before climbing up through the woods to Dewerstone Rock and a moorland stretch with fine views to drop down to Cadover Bridge, returning to Shaugh along the wooded bank of the Plym.
The woodland sections abound in luxuriant mats of rainforest mosses and their cousins, the liverworts. These plants are descended from the very first to venture out of the sea, colonising the land and creating the oxygen that allowed animals to follow. You will learn a little more about the importance of these easily overlooked plants, and start to pick out a few common species.
Discover Dartmoor’s Rainforests: Black-a-Tor Copse
Discover Dartmoor’s Rainforests: Black-a-Tor Copse — Upland oakwood
Black-a-Tor Copse is one of three upland woodlands on Dartmoor, the most famous of which is Wistman’s Wood. Black-a-Tor Copse is more remote and hence less damaged by a high number of visitors. We will nonetheless pick a careful route to avoid harming this fragile environment, home to rare plants and upland birds; it even has a lichen found nowhere else in Britain.
We will ponder why its stunted oak trees are the ‘wrong species’ and whether this is indeed a remnant of the original wildwood that covered Britain at the end of the last Ice Age.
Bronze Age Burials: Whitehorse Hill
Two circular walks, one to Whitehorse Hill and the other to Cut Hill, the locations of remote Bronze Age stone graves, known as cists.
The Whitehorse Hill cist was excavated in 2011 to reveal exquisite contents preserved in peat for millenia. It was not certain that the stones on Cut Hill were a cist until they were excavated in August 2024. Pieces of shaped and cut wood were found within the stones, and the remainder of the contents were removed for painstaking analysis, with the full findings yet to be revealed.
Both cists came to light as the peat they had been buried in eroded, as a result of historic peat cutting. Dartmoor’s degraded peatlands are now being restored and we can inspect some of this work en route. These are fairly challenging walks made worthwhile by their remote peatland beauty, the stone rows and other prehistoric monuments we pass, and, if we are blest with fine weather, stunning views across the north moor.
Bronze Age Burials: Cut Hill
Two circular walks, one to Whitehorse Hill and the other to Cut Hill, the locations of remote Bronze Age stone graves, known as cists.
The Whitehorse Hill cist was excavated in 2011 to reveal exquisite contents preserved in peat for millenia. It was not certain that the stones on Cut Hill were a cist until they were excavated in August 2024. Pieces of shaped and cut wood were found within the stones, and the remainder of the contents were removed for painstaking analysis, with the full findings yet to be revealed.
Both cists came to light as the peat they had been buried in eroded, as a result of historic peat cutting. Dartmoor’s degraded peatlands are now being restored and we can inspect some of this work en route. These are fairly challenging walks made worthwhile by their remote peatland beauty, the stone rows and other prehistoric monuments we pass, and, if we are blest with fine weather, stunning views across the north moor.
Discover Dartmoor’s Rainforests: Dart Valley
Discover Dartmoor’s Rainforests: Dart Valley — Focus on filmy ferns
This is a very pretty route and a little shorter and easier than the rest in this series, though it does have a section of very stony path which we will take slowly. It dips down into the Dart Valley, before following a fairly level path through the trees.
We get a chance to see an uncommon rainforest plant on this walk: the exquisite filmy fern. Its fronds are only an inch long and translucent; if you haven’t seen them before (and even if you have!), you are in for a treat.
Pony Power
Pony Power
Ponies have lived on Dartmoor for thousands of years and the way they eat, trample and – yes, importantly – poo affects what grows here. At Bellever a herd of Dartmoor ponies is busy ‘conservation grazing’; we will explore the results of their hard work and see if we can spot them. Climbing up to the top of Bellever Tor will give us the best chance of seeing these beautiful ponies, and some fantastic views.
Suitable for ages 7 years and above.
Introduction to mosses, ferns and lichens
We slow down to take a closer look at ‘lower plants’; the mosses, ferns and lichens we might otherwise stride past (and yes, lichens aren’t technically plants). These primitive organisms were vital to the evolution of life on earth and continue to play essential ecological roles. You will appreciate their variety and beauty so much more, especially as you see their detail with the aid of a hand lens.
Am I in a rainforest?
Yes, Britain has rainforests! But is this one? That’s what we aim to find out. We learn why some south-west woodlands are temperate rainforests rich in biodiversity that support rare plants and animals, and feel rather magical. Enter a world of trees clothed in green moss; ferns creeping along their branches, and lichens adorning their twiggy tips. We explore what makes these woodlands so precious and develop our appreciation of this very special habitat.
Pony Power
Pony Power
Ponies have lived on Dartmoor for thousands of years and the way they eat, trample and – yes, importantly – poo affects what grows here. At Bellever a herd of Dartmoor ponies is busy ‘conservation grazing’; we will explore the results of their hard work and see if we can spot them. Climbing up to the top of Bellever Tor will give us the best chance of seeing these beautiful ponies, and some fantastic views.
Suitable for ages 7 years and above.
Introduction to mosses, ferns and lichens
We slow down to take a closer look at ‘lower plants’; the mosses, ferns and lichens we might otherwise stride past (and yes, lichens aren’t technically plants). These primitive organisms were vital to the evolution of life on earth and continue to play essential ecological roles. You will appreciate their variety and beauty so much more, especially as you see their detail with the aid of a hand lens.
Am I in a rainforest?
Yes, Britain has rainforests! But is this one? That’s what we aim to find out. We learn why some south-west woodlands are temperate rainforests rich in biodiversity that support rare plants and animals, and feel rather magical. Enter a world of trees clothed in green moss; ferns creeping along their branches, and lichens adorning their twiggy tips. We explore what makes these woodlands so precious and develop our appreciation of this very special habitat.
Pony Power
Pony Power
Ponies have lived on Dartmoor for thousands of years and the way they eat, trample and – yes, importantly – poo affects what grows here. At Bellever a herd of Dartmoor ponies is busy ‘conservation grazing’; we will explore the results of their hard work and see if we can spot them. Climbing up to the top of Bellever Tor will give us the best chance of seeing these beautiful ponies, and some fantastic views.
Suitable for ages 7 years and above.
Whitehorse Hill Bronze Age burial
A circular walk to the remote Bronze Age cist – a stone grave – recently excavated to reveal contents preserved in peat for millennia.
Marvellous mosses
Easy to overlook, moss-like plants were the first life to move out of the oceans and populate the land. Without these humble plants, you would not be here! They form an important part of many habitats and some of the most luxuriant and easy to identify are found in our temperate rainforests.
Am I in a rainforest?
Yes, Britain has rainforests! But is this one? That’s what we aim to find out. We learn why some south-west woodlands are temperate rainforests rich in biodiversity that support rare plants and animals, and feel rather magical. Enter a world of trees clothed in green moss; ferns creeping along their branches, and lichens adorning their twiggy tips. We explore what makes these woodlands so precious and develop our appreciation of this very special habitat.
Introduction to mosses, ferns and lichens
We slow down to take a closer look at ‘lower plants’; the mosses, ferns and lichens we might otherwise stride past (and yes, lichens aren’t technically plants). These primitive organisms were vital to the evolution of life on earth and continue to play essential ecological roles. You will appreciate their variety and beauty so much more, especially as you see their detail with the aid of a hand lens.
Am I in a rainforest?
Yes, Britain has rainforests! But is this one? That’s what we aim to find out. We learn why some south-west woodlands are temperate rainforests rich in biodiversity that support rare plants and animals, and feel rather magical. Enter a world of trees clothed in green moss; ferns creeping along their branches, and lichens adorning their twiggy tips. We explore what makes these woodlands so precious and develop our appreciation of this very special habitat.
Pony Power
Pony Power
Ponies have lived on Dartmoor for thousands of years and the way they eat, trample and – yes, importantly – poo affects what grows here. At Bellever a herd of Dartmoor ponies is busy ‘conservation grazing’; we will explore the results of their hard work and see if we can spot them. Climbing up to the top of Bellever Tor will give us the best chance of seeing these beautiful ponies, and some fantastic views.
Suitable for ages 7 years and above.
Pony Power
Pony Power
Ponies have lived on Dartmoor for thousands of years and the way they eat, trample and – yes, importantly – poo affects what grows here. At Bellever a herd of Dartmoor ponies is busy ‘conservation grazing’; we will explore the results of their hard work and see if we can spot them. Climbing up to the top of Bellever Tor will give us the best chance of seeing these beautiful ponies, and some fantastic views.
Suitable for ages 7 years and above.
Introduction to mosses, ferns and lichens
We slow down to take a closer look at ‘lower plants’; the mosses, ferns and lichens we might otherwise stride past (and yes, lichens aren’t technically plants). These primitive organisms were vital to the evolution of life on earth and continue to play essential ecological roles. You will appreciate their variety and beauty so much more, especially as you see their detail with the aid of a hand lens.
Am I in a rainforest?
Yes, Britain has rainforests! But is this one? That’s what we aim to find out. We learn why some south-west woodlands are temperate rainforests rich in biodiversity that support rare plants and animals, and feel rather magical. Enter a world of trees clothed in green moss; ferns creeping along their branches, and lichens adorning their twiggy tips. We explore what makes these woodlands so precious and develop our appreciation of this very special habitat.
Introduction to Mosses, Ferns and Lichens
We slow down to take a closer look at ‘lower plants’; the mosses, ferns and lichens we might otherwise stride past (and yes, lichens aren’t technically plants). These primitive organisms were vital to the evolution of life on earth and continue to play essential ecological roles. You will appreciate their variety and beauty so much more, especially as you see their detail with the aid of a hand lens.
Introduction to Mosses, Ferns and Lichens
Dartmoor Pony Heritage Trust Events led by Geri at Bellever, Postbridge
We slow down to take a closer look at ‘lower plants’; the mosses, ferns and lichens we might otherwise stride past. You will begin learning how to identify them and almost certainly be captivated by their variety and beauty.
Aimed at adults but under 18’s with an adult interest in the subject are welcome.
Ponies, People & Place
Dartmoor Pony Heritage Trust Events led by Geri at Bellever, Postbridge
Dartmoor’s mosaic of habitats – heaths, bogs, grasslands and woods – may look wild but has been moulded by people and their livestock for millennia. Evidence abounds at Bellever of how people have lived and farmed through the ages, transforming woodland into heath and heath into grassland. Today, conservation grazing by Dartmoor ponies is recreating heath at Bellever and bog-building mosses are returning. We explore these habitats, viewing Dartmoor from an ecological perspective, and climb Bellever Tor from where we’ll have the best chance of sighting the ponies hard at work grazing.
Suitable for ages 12 years and above.
Laughter Tor and Bellever Tor
Dartmoor Pony Heritage Trust Events led by Geri at Bellever, Postbridge
This walk takes in much that our site at Bellever has to offer: wonderful moorland, fantastic views (weather permitting!) from the tops of the tors, and prehistoric sites. At the furthest point of our walk is a remote standing stone; we return via Bronze Age settlements and burial sites, and a stone row.
Under 18’s able to walk 7 miles are welcome.
Moorland Walk from Okehampton Station
We walk beside the wooded East Okement river to reach the open moors and Nine Maidens stone circle. We climb the boulder-strewn Belstone Tors where evidence of granite quarrying is still visible and continue along a ridge with fantastic views in all directions (weather permitting!) We descend through fine heathland and beside valley mires to complete our circular walk. This walk takes in natural history, pre-history and history, but above all it’s a delightful route showcasing much of what makes Dartmoor so special.
Exploring Heathland at Laughter Tor
Dartmoor Pony Heritage Trust Events led by Geri at Bellever, Postbridge
Laughter Tor and the area around it are classified in Natural England’s Priority Habitat Inventory as Upland Heathland and are an excellent example of dwarf shrub heath, abounding in bilberry, western gorse and heathers. We visit in high summer when the heathers are at their finest.
Aimed at adults but under 18’s with an adult interest in the subject are welcome.
Pony Power
Dartmoor Pony Heritage Trust Events led by Geri at Bellever, Postbridge
Ponies have lived on Dartmoor for thousands of years and the way they eat, trample and – yes, importantly – poo affects what grows here. At Bellever a herd of Dartmoor ponies is busy ‘conservation grazing’; we will explore the results of their hard work and see if we can spot them. Climbing up to the top of Bellever Tor will give us the best chance of seeing these beautiful ponies, and some fantastic views.
Suitable for ages 7 years and above.
Woodland Walk from Okehampton Station
We walk to a beautiful woodland - a fine example of 'temperate rain forest’. Here we take time to learn about this precious habitat and to study some of its amazing biodiversity, including luxuriant mats of globally rare mosses and lichens.
Moorland Walk from Okehampton Station
We walk beside the wooded East Okement river to reach the open moors and Nine Maidens stone circle. We climb the boulder-strewn Belstone Tors where evidence of granite quarrying is still visible and continue along a ridge with fantastic views in all directions (weather permitting!) We descend through fine heathland and beside valley mires to complete our circular walk. This walk takes in natural history, pre-history and history, but above all it’s a delightful route showcasing much of what makes Dartmoor so special.
Woodland Walk from Okehampton Station
We walk to a beautiful woodland - a fine example of 'temperate rain forest’. Here we take time to learn about this precious habitat and to study some of its amazing biodiversity, including luxuriant mats of globally rare mosses and lichens.
Introduction to Mosses, Ferns and Lichens
Dartmoor Pony Heritage Trust Events led by Geri at Bellever, Postbridge
We slow down to take a closer look at ‘lower plants’; the mosses, ferns and lichens we might otherwise stride past. You will begin learning how to identify them and almost certainly be captivated by their variety and beauty.
Aimed at adults but under 18’s with an adult interest in the subject are welcome.
Introduction to Mosses, Ferns and Lichens
We slow down to take a closer look at ‘lower plants’; the mosses, ferns and lichens we might otherwise stride past (and yes, lichens aren’t technically plants). These primitive organisms were vital to the evolution of life on earth and continue to play essential ecological roles. You will appreciate their variety and beauty so much more, especially as you see their detail with the aid of a hand lens.
Laughter Tor and Bellever Tor
Dartmoor Pony Heritage Trust Events led by Geri at Bellever, Postbridge
This walk takes in much that our site at Bellever has to offer: wonderful moorland, fantastic views (weather permitting!) from the tops of the tors, and prehistoric sites. At the furthest point of our walk is a remote standing stone; we return via Bronze Age settlements and burial sites, and a stone row.
Under 18’s able to walk 7 miles are welcome.
Ponies, People & Place
Dartmoor Pony Heritage Trust Events led by Geri at Bellever, Postbridge
Dartmoor’s mosaic of habitats – heaths, bogs, grasslands and woods – may look wild but has been moulded by people and their livestock for millennia. Evidence abounds at Bellever of how people have lived and farmed through the ages, transforming woodland into heath and heath into grassland. Today, conservation grazing by Dartmoor ponies is recreating heath at Bellever and bog-building mosses are returning. We explore these habitats, viewing Dartmoor from an ecological perspective, and climb Bellever Tor from where we’ll have the best chance of sighting the ponies hard at work grazing.
Suitable for ages 12 years and above.