Bringing Dartmoor Back To Life - Community Workshops

Cotton Grass near Cut Hill

June and July has been a busy time for the team here at Dartmoor Nature Alliance. As a part of our Bringing Dartmoor Back to Life project (read more about it here), we have been meeting with community members across Dartmoor, to find out what the challenges and opportunities are for nature on Dartmoor. 

We held two workshops at Holne Village hall, as well as a ‘walk and talk’ at Challacombe Farm. We created an environment where people could speak freely, as individuals, allowing us to get deep into the weeds of what is going on here. This led to frank and inspiring conversations, with a real focus on how we move forward together.

We covered topics such as what our connection with Dartmoor is, our vision for the future, who has power on Dartmoor, and who perhaps should have more or less. We were generously given the Duchy of Cornwall and the Central Dartmoor Farm Cluster’s vision for Dartmoor as a focus for discussions, allowing us to discuss points around farming techniques, peat restoration, as well as looking beyond the high moor, the valleys and the in-bye land to the towns and villages on Dartmoor too.

We talked rivers and moorland, pine martens and sheep, locals and visitors, forestry and farming. There was grief at what has been lost, and those on the brink, like curlew. We pushed ourselves to see beyond just clawing back a bit of what has been lost, to what there could be, in a future where nature on Dartmoor is thriving, and so are we.

Through the three days of speaking with locals that love nature, it became clear that people desperately want change. People can feel disempowered by the politics of Dartmoor, but all of these ideas, thoughts and questions will be distilled into a call to action for change, that empowers everyone to make change happen.

This will be accompanied by incredible artwork from Alicia Hayden, a new folksong from Kimwei, a story sound feature from Lisa Schneidau and an immersive soundscape from Tony Whitehead, bringing to life the vision of a nature-rich Dartmoor, and exploring our connection to this place through the life that we share it with.

We will be announcing the launch of our call to action soon, so sign up to our newsletter here to find out more.

A big thanks to Devon Environment Foundation for their funding for this project. We’re proud to be a part of a network of changemakers in Devon, working for nature.