Showing off

As well as the National Trust attending the larger shows such as the Devon County, we here on Dartmoor are also attending more local shows than ever before. Had you been at either the Open Day at Bicton college or at Dunsford show you would have seen us "flying the flag" (we are actually trying to acquire a flag to fly at the moment).

You can also catch up with us at the Okehampton Show, Chagford Show and Lustleigh Show throughout August.

It is imporatant to go to these smaller shows, as the people we meet there are our neighbours, tenants and local supporters/users/critics. It is essential that we are there to show what we are doing on Dartmoor and to answer questions from people who wish to take the opportunity to quiz us.

We normally have a shop, childrens activities, rural products for sale and of course our recruiter to make National Trust members of all those suitably impressed by what we are about, and of course just to dispense information by the bucketload.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Find out about your surname!

The National Trust in partnership with University College London has launched a surname profiler - where does your surname come from and how many people share it.

Interested? Yes - well press here to go the the National Trust Names website - it really quick and easy to use.

Look at the stars in the Teign Valley

Enjoy the great outdoors at night and discover the fascinating mysteries of the universe above.
We’ve put together seven downloadable guides to star gazing in the countryside, including moon and constellation charts, a podcast and a photo gallery, plus a wealth of other information on this exciting subject.

One of the seven guides is for the Teign Valley on Dartmoor click here for the guide and here for the star map. You can download the podcast here

It’s a popular time for star gazing; our walks coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo's discovery of the subject and the International Year of Astronomy 2009 (IYA 2009) is using this as the perfect chance to put together a global celebration of the social and cultural benefits that astronomy has offered us over the ages. So, this is a great opportunity for you to reach for the stars and discover for yourself what’s out there in the vast expanse of space.

The IYA 2009 is a chance for people to experience astronomy first hand, with over 140 countries taking part in regional, national and international events. Have a look at their website for handy tips on star gazing, information on the constellations, planets and our moon, plus the chance to get involved yourself.

Beautiful Butterflies

Late July into August is one of the best times to see butterflies on the National Trust's Castle Drogo Estate on the edge of Dartmoor. A range of species can be seen at this time of year including the Meadow Brown, Speckled Wood, Marbled White, the pretty little Gatekeeper, Grayling, the less common Wall, but best of all is the handsome Silver Washed Fritillary.

This proud beast can be seen flying along the woodland edges and feeding on bramble flowers in any patch of sun next to paths and open areas. Being one of the largest butterflies to be seen in this country it is a strong flier and provides quite a spectacle when a number gather on a good feeding site. Looking like slivers of amber they dart and spiral at speed shining in the rays of the sun.

If you are really lucky you may see their mating flight. The male has pheromone scented scales on his under wing and will pursue his chosen mate, fly past above and shower her with his fragrant aphrodisiac. He will then drop down in front of her, fall back and repeat the fly past. This wonderful dance of love can sometimes be seen in sun lit open areas in the Teign Valley at this time of year. Good luck!

Butterflies including the Silver Washed Frittillary can be seen on most of the walks around the National Trust's Castle Drogo Gardens and the wider estate in the Teign valley.

Eight accountants in the outdoors

National Trust Finance Dept. Training Day

A group of eight from NT Finance and ISS, Lanhydrock, spent a day working with the South East Dartmoor wardens at Hembury Woods and Parke Estate, Bovey Tracey.


They braved the weather in a vain search for ragwort, not finding very much. Fortunately this didn’t reflect upon their ability to spot the noxious yellow weed, more the fact that this year there isn’t the normal plague of it.

One member of the team was observed digging for buried treasure whilst his colleague did a rain dance to occupy himself.

They subsequently abandoned the dig and planted what they assumed to be a tree only to discover that the warden later hung a gate on it.

After a brief rest for refreshment lubricated only (almost) by a Team Brief, they all continued to Parke, Bovey Tracey where the wardens had laid on further diversions. Here they tirelessly raked grass from the cut green manure in the newly restored Walled Garden (whilst certain leaders conversed earnestly on matters of great importance in the background )

A separate task involved barrowing endless quantities of woodchip to mulch a potential flower bed.

The work was much appreciated by the wardens and all other offers of similar kindness will be gratefully received.

Hugging trees helps reduce carbon footprint

As part of the building works at Castle Drogo this winter a new wood chip fired boiler was installed to replace the old oil fired one, this will greatly reduce the National Trusts carbon footprint. To make the carbon saving as great as possible our aim is to fuel the boiler with wood chip supplied from the Drogo Estate thus reducing transport costs to a minimum.

This is a great opportunity not only to use renewable energy but also to help achive the National Trusts conservation and landscape objectives. To begin with the conifer plantations will be removed over time and the best logs sold to produce sawn timber and the smaller poor quality logs chipped for the boiler.



So that we can keep a steady supply of chip we need to know exactly how much wood we have we can then time the tree felling to allow time for the wood to dry out and be ready to chip when the boiler needs it. Earlier in the year me and my staff and volunteers were out measuring the trees. This involves using a 'girthing tape' a clever tape that when used to measure the girth of the tree gives you the diameter of the tree in centimetres. As many of the trees are 40 to 50cm (16'' to 2ft) in diameter this means you have to give the tree a big hug to get the tape all the way round so we had hugged over 300 trees by the end of each day.



Using the measurements from the tree hugging and some more of the tree heights calculations are done using tables produced by the Forestry Commission to give the volume in cubic meters (m3) of timber in the wood. I now know that there are about 5000m3 of logs for sawn timber and 3000m3 of logs for chip (1m3 is about the same as 1 tonne depending on how wet the wood is) as the Castle Drogo boiler will need about 250 tonnes of wood a year this will keep it going for the next 10 years.



For the medium to long term plan and the conservation benefits look out for further posts.



Mick Jones
National Trust Warden, North Dartmoor

Exhibition at Widecombe National Trust shop

Pauline Hearn machine embroidery exhibition

1st July - 30th September 2009

This is a very exciting exhibition of acrylic painted fabrics with machine embroidery over the top. Pauline Hearn has been exhibiting her pictures in our shop now for 4 years.

This exhibition will be on daily from 1st July until 30th September - one month longer than in previous years due to the great demand for her pictures.

The exhibition has got off to a good start with 2 of her original pictures selling within the first few day.

So hurry - so you don't miss the wonderful variety of her pictures.

The shop is open for you to enter free to exhibition daily from 10.30 am to 5.00 pm

Orienteering at Parke

Orienteering involves using a specially drawn coloured map, with considerable detail and information, to navigate your way round a course with designated control points.

On the route, there are markers in the places that correspond to the points on the map. You have to mark your control card at each control point with a unique code to prove you have visited the control.

The winner of the competition is the one who has taken the shortest time to visit the control points in numerical order. Fast running alone does not make you a winner. You must also choose the best route between the control points and find the markers without wasting unnecessary time.

Four new courses have recently been set up at Parke in Bovey Tracey in partnership with the Devon Orienteering.

You can get more information on the Parke orienteering courses here. You can also download the maps for the course here too. They are free from here and it is also free to use.