Adventures on Harford Moor (11th May 2024)
On a sunny Saturday in May, the Art and Energy team headed off to explore the wonderful Hangershell on Harford Moor, Dartmoor. Joined by a group of over 30 people including peatland experts and a wellbeing group from inner city Plymouth who had travelled by public transport to join us for the day.
The group gathered at Ivybridge train station, just on the edge of the Dartmoor National Park boundary and followed the footpaths up to Harford Moor. We stopped at the old stone circle site - a Bronze Age settlement, for a rest and bite to eat. Here we listened to John Howell, Harford Moor landowner, telling us all about the land and how it is managed, he spoke about the archaeology of Harford Moor including the Bronze Age settlements and the remnants of the old mining industry and railway line. John also spoke a little about the peatland and soils of Dartmoor sharing his professional soil scientist expertise.
Next, we heard from farmer Philip French of nearby Corringdon Farm, Philip is a Commoner with rights to graze livestock on Dartmoor. Philip spoke to the group about his livestock and the joys and challenges of farming on this special place, we learnt that when Philip was a child the farmers would have used ponies to travel the land but now Philip uses a quad bike which is much more efficient! Philip grazes cattle and sheep on Dartmoor, we heard about the challenges of making sure the animals only graze certain areas of the moor when there are no fences to restrain them! New technology is in development which allows farmers to purchase collars for cattle which restrict their movements to the permitted areas using satellite technology, music and electrical charge - this is very clever and exciting to see in the future but currently very expensive compared to the cost of the animals. It’s also less successful for sheep because their wool insulates the animal from the electrical charge!
Onwards to Hangershell we journeyed - enjoying the view and listening to the calling skylarks as we went, some of our younger participants with hands full of favourite stones they found along the way.
We reached Hangershell with good time and good spirits, it was time for tea and cake which was enjoyed by all. Once rested, the creative materials came out and the group could enjoy making pompoms for The Mossy Carpet and/or embroidering with natural wools on to sections of natural local fleece. We also used mulched moss (sourced from Harford Moor) to decorate a piece of natural fleece which was then placed in the landscape to slow the flow of water and to become a substrate for the moss to grow on and thus help to restore the peatland habitat.
Our thanks to everyone who joined us on the day and to the Wellbeing Warriors from The Tree Project CIC for bringing a group of youngsters from inner city Plymouth to take part. Thanks to John Howell, landowner and Philip French, farmer for speaking to our group. Thanks to Naomi Gatis and Kirsty from the University of Exeter and Jane Akerman from the IUCN UK Peatland Programme for joining us on the day.
Finally, grateful thanks to our funders for allowing us to offer this event free of charge: Devon Environment Foundation and Foundation for Common Land.
