Blog Dartmoor, Devon, England.

Tavistock was market town of the year and we were using it as a base to walk and travel around west Devon and Cornwall. It my family's home territory and we try to get back there at least once a year. This time it was April.

Tavistock is an old stannary (tin) town and its centre has not changed much over the years. The pannier market, its name comes from the panniers or baskets that the farmers' wives brought their produce to sell, is held weekly in the original building, although arts and crafts are as much part of business as chickens and vegetables.

On the first good day we started a walk from Dartmoor Prison, in Princetown, grim building built in 1809 to house French and American prisoners of war. Our plan was to walk for two hours and return for lunch at the Plume of Feathers pub, the best in Princetown.

We set off for Postbridge, a five mile trek across the open moorland. Not everyone likes its bleakness, but the views of the tors (granite hills) and colours of the heather are extraordinary. We tramped across springy and boggy grass, past sheep and the famous wild ponies before finally collapsing on the clapper bridge in Postbridge. These bridges made of huge slabs of granite are unique to Dartmoor and were constructed in the 13th and 14th centuries by medieval tin workers and farmers as crossings over the many small rivers that criss-cross the moorland.

No sooner had we arrived than the heavens opened. Within minutes we were soaked and so we headed for shelter. The Warren House Inn beckoned. A ploughman's lunch and a glass of cider gave us energy for the walk back to Princetown.