Dartmoor Preservation Association

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Dartmoor Preservation Association

Official 'Friends of Dartmoor', keeping Dartmoor wild and free since 1883 Our members are active in helping to preserve artefacts and to improve habitats.

The DPA was founded in 1883 amidst concerns that land management of Dartmoor by the Duchy of Cornwall was threatening to extinguish the ancient rights of commoners on the moor. Interest in Dartmoor’s landscape, archaeology and natural history had been rapidly increasing through the latter half of the nineteenth century and the formation of a watchdog organisation seemed to be a prudent step to take. Although the way that Dartmoor is managed has changed beyond recognition since those early days, the DPA still maintains a strong interest in archaeology and the ecology of the moor. We also maintain a watchful eye on proposed development in the area. The creation of Dartmoor National Park in 1951 provided a strong assurance of the degree of protection to be afforded to this area. These days, the DPA maintains a strong and close relationship with the Dartmoor National Park Authority and seeks to act in the capacity of “critical friend”. Through our relationships with DNPA and many other local organisations we influence the formulation of policy to manage Dartmoor and participate in actions to conserve its special qualities for posterity. The DPA became a registered charity in 1963.

03/11/2026

Join the Dartmoor Hill Farm Project for a practical workshop to help identify waxcap and other fungi and their role in grassland management.

11th November, 10 - 2pm
Great Houndtor Farm, Manaton
Pasty lunch included

Book via [email protected]

30/10/2026

On this day, 75 years ago, Dartmoor was designated as a National Park. To celebrate this special anniversary, we have teamed up with Dartmoor National Park and National Trust Dartmoor to create the fantastic Dartmoor Challenge Badge. It's no coincidence that the first person to complete all 6 activities claimed their badge today!

The Dartmoor Preservation Association have been fighting to keep Dartmoor wild and free for 143 years, and now we warmly invite everyone to mark 75 years of access by getting to know the National Park even better.

Can you count all the stones in Scorhill stone circle? Could tell the story of Bowerman's nose? Do you know where Widow Ann kept her toads? Learn about Dartmoor’s history, legends and landscape as you complete activities in the new Dartmoor Challenge Badge, a free resource for all ages. There are 36 exciting activities to choose from, each with full instructions and printable resources, and anyone who completes 6 of them can claim their very own sew on badge to wear with pride.

Start earning your own badge now: https://dartmoorpreservation.co.uk/dartmoor-challenge-badge/

29/10/2026

Could you help shape the future of our National Parks?

For 75 years, Campaign for National Parks have brought people together to protect these extraordinary places and ensure they are richer in nature and welcoming to everyone. Now, they are looking for 2-3 new Trustees to help write the next chapter of their story.

They would particularly like to hear from people with experience in:
📢 Advocacy, raising profile via social media, communications and external engagement
📈 Business operations, with the ability to interpret financial information
💸 Strategic fundraising, including individual giving

Previous Trustee experience is not essential, and they warmly welcome applications from people from a wide range of backgrounds and experiences, and will offer a full induction and support.

📅 Approximately 1 day per month
📍 Hybrid: online, London and National Parks
🕙 Apply by 7 December 2026

Find out more here 👉 https://charisma.maglr.com/cnp-trustees/cover-page

27/10/2026

The University of Plymouth are hosting free drop in activity sessions at Cadover Bridge this half term. Join them on the 26th, 27th and 28th of October to get hands on with Dartmoor's rivers!

Join the team for relaxed, creative workshops exploring people's relationship with Dartmoor’s rivers. Through a combination of gentle outdoor exploration and hands-on activities, visitors can learn to look at the river through all their senses, share stories and memories, explore what is known about river health, and imagine how they might care for these places in the future.

Activities may include creating a sensory river map, taking photographs, sharing stories, exploring maps and ecological information, and imagining the river’s future. There are no right or wrong answers, and no specialist knowledge or artistic experience is needed to take part. No need to book, just turn up.

25/10/2026

A new £250,000 community grants fund is giving people and organisations in and around Princetown the chance to turn local ideas into practical projects and that strengthen village life and create long-term benefit for the community.

The fund has been created by the Duchy of Cornwall, following conversations with residents, community groups and local partners, to understand what people want for the future of Princetown. It is focused on supporting the ideas, energy and creativity that already exist within the village. Conversations with the community revealed a strong shared ambition for Princetown’s future and the fund is designed to help local people take practical steps towards that vision by supporting projects that bring people together, celebrate what makes Princetown distinctive and create lasting benefit.

Applicants can apply for two types of grants.

Small Grants are available from £500 to £5,999 for smaller-scale projects, including ideas that expand the reach of an existing group or activity. There will be a monthly rolling assessment panel for these grants, up until 28th February 2027.

The large grants programme will be for amounts from £6,000 to £40,000 and is for larger projects that reach significant numbers of people in Princetown and continue to have an impact after the funding ends. The deadline for this fund is 15th December 2026.

Find out more, and apply, here: https://www.devoncommunities.org.uk/projects/princetown-community-grants-fund-2026-27

📷 Duchy of Cornwall

24/10/2026

Celebrating a year of our fantastic Wild Words magazine being published, we collaborated with Moorland Guides to run a weekend residential for creatives in the heart of Dartmoor. The aim was to help creative activists, changemakers and storytellers to recharge and deepen their connection with the land. With Dartmoor firmly rooted in their practice, be that writing, art or movement, we hoped to empower them to inspire love and respect for this special landscape. Twelve people joined us at Karuna Retreat Centre in Widecombe-on-the-Moor, coming from both nearby and across the country.

During the weekend, participants had the chance to take part in a wild sounds walk with performance artist Avoca, an archaeobotany walk with medical herbalist Jenny Carden, sacred map making with author Helen Bruce, greenwood whittling with Nick Murphy and a complementary massage session with Jo Redwood. Everyone also enjoyed fresh homecooked meals, prepared each day by the onsite chef.

A participant said: ‘I was touched by the thoughtfulness of everybody at the retreat. Sharing the time and space with other creative people was fantastic and it will be really interesting to see what comes out of it. I would definitely like to do another retreat in the future.’

The DPA are delighted to have worked with Moorland Guides to offer this residential at cost price, and with partially funded places, making it accessible for creatives who may have encountered financial barriers to similar opportunities. We hope that the themes of connection, respect and reciprocity continue to inform and shape creative work, reaching people who are ready for their first encounter with Dartmoor.

📷 Hannah Durdin

23/10/2026

Autumn is a season of abundance in Pudsham Hay Meadows, with the hedgerows full of berries and the various grasses and herbs dispersing seeds from dried seed heads. Following on from our bracken cut and rake, in the late summer, it is now time to prepare the land for our annual visit from Dartmoor ponies. For our October workday, the focus was on pushing back scrub edges and invasive sapling removal.

Using strimmers, volunteers trimmed back thick bramble, which was beginning to encroach onto the meadow from the edges of the two larger fields. This will allow more light to the meadow edges, increasing habitat for flowering herbs and native orchids. Some bramble was left at the very edges, as it offers useful habitat for small mammals and birds, who can hide from predators in the tangle and also feed on the berries in the autumn. Pushing back the bramble had the added bonus of uncovering our field shelter in Sylvia’s field, which the ponies are sure to appreciate on the wettest days.

We run year round workdays on our land and are always delighted to have new people join our team of enthusiastic volunteers. There are a range of jobs, suitable for a range of levels of fitness and ability, and all equipment and training is provided. Fancy joining us in taking care of these beautiful meadows? Find a full list of upcoming workdays on our website.

📷 Sylvia Hamilton

22/10/2026

After a very dry summer, with drought conditions declared for much of England, the fungi of Dartmoor have been working to catch up.

With the rain finally returning, both summer and autumn fruiting fungi have appeared in abundance in forests and fields, all of them racing to spread their spores before the first frost. We were very lucky to have local Medical Herbalist and Mycotherapist Jenny Carden join us for a partner walk, where she helped us search for, and identify, fungi.

We found a range of Russula mushrooms on the forest floor, which come in a wide range of colours, including a pale red and a sooty purple variety, known as a charcoal burner. One way to help identify these types of mushroom is to try peeling back the skin, which comes away in various amounts, depending on the variety. Other mushrooms had the striking feature of bruising blue when touched.

Cordyceps (see the photo of two orange arms) has a fascinating life cycle. It begins with the spores of this specialist fungi infecting an insect, in this case a moth caterpillar, which then buries itself in the leaf litter to pupate, but is instead consumed by the growing cordyceps fungus, which eventually produces fruiting bodies above ground, ready to begin the cycle again.

Many of the fungi we encountered were edible, although we talked at length about how some species can mimic others, such as in the case of chanterelles and false chanterelles. There can also be a broad range of colour and shape variation within species, so Jenny recommended carrying an illustrated guide out on walks if anyone wanted to become more confident with their identification.

21/10/2026

Dartmoor is home to a vast array of rare and fascinating plants, from ancient oak woodlands to creeping heather and bilberry, but some of its tiniest plants might be the most fascinating of all. Bryophytes are non flowering plants which include hornworts, liverworts and mosses, that have adapted to thrive in a broad range of environments. Although they can be found almost everywhere, from lawns to sand dunes, they do particularly well in Devon’s mild and wet climate, with around two thirds of the 1,100 UK species of bryophytes present in the county.

Despite being small, these plants play an important role within Dartmoor’s environment. They hold water after rainfall, absorb carbon and help in the creation of peat bogs, which in turn offer vital habitat for microorganisms and other specialist plants. Being sensitive to air and water pollution, they’re also an indicator of a healthy environment, with a diverse selection of healthy bryophytes suggesting that the surrounding habitat is in good condition.

Key habitats for bryophytes include acidic peat bogs, mires and temperate rainforests, all of which can be found on Dartmoor. On DPA owned land at High House Waste we have a mosaic of these types of habitat and we’re working with our Ecologist, Albert Knott, to preserve and enhance biodiversity. Gaining a clear understanding of the type and spread of bryophytes we have present helps us to make decisions about land management, including in our humid Atlantic oak woodland, which provides ideal conditions for scarce oceanic bryophytes.

On the 16th of October Devon Bryophyte Group joined local DNPA ranger, the Natural England Senior Reserve Manager and Albert Knott for a visit to High House Waste and adjacent land in the river catchment. One of the aims was to visit the upper reaches of the Broadall Lake stream, which were not part of Sharon Pilkington’s earlier visit. The group were impressed by the presence, or interest, of bryophytes on willow dominated reaches. They also identified areas where possible management could be carried out, without affecting the interest.

📷 Albert Knott

20/10/2026

A grant from the DPA's Public Access Fund has helped children from Ashburton Primary School connect with their local woodland and help Pine Martens to thrive. The ‘My Patch for Pine Martens: Young Guardians of Ausewell Woods’ project brings 62 children from years 1-5 out to Ausewell Woods to learn about trees, wildlife and woodland conservation.

Each child has their own 5m patch of woodland, and they have now completed a summer and autumn visit to the site. The artwork that the children have created as part of the project is currently on display in the Ashburton Arts Centre.

Project leader, Alex Scholefield, said: 'This project has meant so much to children, parents, and the teachers – it is an incredible gift we have given them all. Thanks to Ausewell woods too for giving the children so much to see, learn and love!'

📷 Alex Scholefield

Address

Old Duchy Hotel
Princetown
PL206QF

Website

https://linktr.ee/dartmoordpa

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