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The Dartmoor National Park Authority |
| Conservation, sustainable development |
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The Dartmoor National Park Authority, created in 1974, is committed to the conservation, sustainable development, understanding and enjoyment of the area. Since we moved here we have found the authority officers we have met and dealt with extremely helpful and supportive. The web site tells how the moor is looked after, sustained and developed and there is a great section on visitor information. There is also an Online shop where you can purchase maps, guide books and trail guides prior to your visit if you wish. Read about the very important Dartmoor Hill Farm Project, Dartmoor wouldn't be what it is without the farmers and their livestock.
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Park Information Centres
The DNPA are responsible for the several excellent information centres around the moor all manned by knowledgeable and helpful personnel and they publish the free "Dartmoor National Park Visitor Guide", copies of which we always have here at Beeechwood.
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"Tranquil heaven! thank you so much for your hospitality. Sincere thanks" - B & G, London
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Farming on Dartmoor
You may not have expected to find anything about farms on a web site selling accommodation but they are an extremely important part of our lives up here.
In brief, the moor looks the way it does because of man's activity here over 4000 years or so but it is the farming activity now that keeps it that way. The trees and wooded areas have, for the most part gone many years ago and the vegetation that we have now has to be kept in check, that is done mainly by the animals that are put out onto the moors to graze from April through to the end of October. Without them the gorse would grow ever higher and thicker giving the grasses and heathers no chance and blocking our access to many areas we enjoy. Farmers also use "swaling", the deliberate burning of gorse and scrub, to control the vegetation. |
Quite simply, without the farms Dartmoor would not stay the way we want it to for very long. At Beechwood we work with and support the farms around us whenever we can. The hill farmers all have beef cattle, sheep and ponies. |
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| We buy beef and lamb directly from Runnage & Pizwell Farms, organic mutton from Dury farm. We offer grazing to Higher Merripit Farm and Kenny cuts and bales our hay for us too. |
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