Belstone, Okehampton, Devon - Bed and Breakfast B&B - North Dartmoor

 

What's On

Enjoy all that Dartmoor has to offer at a quieter time of year without the crowds. Many local attractions have special events put on in the run up to Christmas. Apart from the stunning walking, riding and sightseeing opportunities (detailed under Location and Places of Interest)why not do a spot of :-

Shopping - Visit nearby Tavistock (voted Best Market Town 2005) with its popular Pannier Market (open every day except Sunday and Mondays), the Farmers market (voted Best in the Southwest - on the 2nd and 4th Saturday in the month, check for details ) offering a wonderful selection of mouth watering local produce and wonder around the wealth of small independant shops. Okehampton also has its own Farmers Market on the 3rd Saturday of each month. For the serious shopaholics Exeter boasts a wonderful new shopping complex with all the high street names and a wealth of new bars and cafes.

Eating -After a busy day what better way to unwind than by returning to The Barton and relaxing by the woodburning stove, perhaps with a cream tea (available on request). Finish the day off by visiting one of the nearby local pubs offering hearty home cooked food and cosy fires.

 

Dartmoor
Covering an area of 368 sq miles this is the largest and wildest area of open country in the southern England. By virtue of its outstanding natural beauty it is one of the National Parks of England and Wales.

A large part of this moor is made up of granite, an igneous rock which was intruded some 295 million years ago. Once known as Dartmoor forest, for it was covered by English Oak woodland it was reserved as a royal hunting ground. With thousands of years of farming, house and shipbuilding the woodland is now much depleted, but a few small areas still have ancient woodland cover.

The landscape is of great archaeological importance, with over 10,000 entries on the County Sites and Monuments Register. There are over 1,000 Scheduled Ancient Monuments and this figure rises each year. Prehistoric evidence is everywhere to be seen from standing stones, stone rows, barrows and kistvaens. Later farming, quarrying and tin mining dramatically changed the landscape, over printing an archaeological heritage to the area. There are also over 2,500 buildings which are Listed because of their architectural or historic interest.