country holidays tavistock
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There are now but few trees on Dartmoor, except the lonely wood of Wistman, but immense trunks of oak and other trees have often been dug up in the peaty bogs and marshes in many of the romantic dells, as well as on some of the higher table lands. The peat is got extensively for fuel, and the heaths and commons afford good pasturage for sheep and cattle during summer.
The delicacy and flavour imported to the flesh of the sheep by the sweet herbage of the moor is so highly prized, that Dartmoor mutton is sent to London and other distant markets. Wistman , or Wiseman's Wood, is about a mile north of Two Bridges, on a lofty and steep acclivity rising from the western bank of the river Dart, opposite Bairdown. It is supposed to have been one of the sacred groves of the Druids. The ascent to it is strewn all over with immense masses of granite, partly covered by a grove of dwarf oaks, so stunted in their growth by sweeping winds, that few are more than ten or twelve feet high, though their branches spread far and wide, and are twisted in the most fantastic manner, and in some places festooned with ivy, and other creeping plants. Their trunk and arms are embedded is a thick covering of velvet moss, and the view down the valley from some of the bare rocks is truly sublime. Crockerntor, celebrated as the place where the ancient stannary parliaments were held, is about a mile from Two Bridges. On the summit of this tor, the chief miners of Devon were formerly obliged to meet, and hold the stannary court
On entering the moor from Newton Abbot, is Haytor, and the extensive granite works. In ancient times it was called Solar-tor, being dedicated by the Druids to the worship of the sun. On the top of the loftiest peak is one of the rock basins found in many of the granite-crowned tors of Dartmoor. Looking hence into the wild solitude of the forest, are seen dark masses of granite piled on either side; huge blocks of the same, scattered on the brows of the hills; and in the distance are seen tor upon tor, each capped with irregular masses of granite, assuming the most grotesque forms. But turning his back to the moor, the spectator sees a magnificent panorama of one of the loveliest and most fertile parts of Devon; - the Teign flowing at his feet through a rich and beautiful valley, the Exe opening out its wide estuary towards the ocean; and, in the extreme distance, the blue waters of the channel, with the noble outline of shore from Berry Head to the coast of Dorsetshire.
The secluded and romantic vale of Lustleigh, the Cleave, Becky Falls, Hountor, and the cromlechs, rocking stone, and other druidical remains, near Drewsteignton. Some of the streams in the heart of the forest are crossed by ancient British Bridges, of the most primitive construction, each consisting of several piers, composed of massive pieces of granite rock, placed one above another, and each pier connected with the neighbouring one by an enormous slab of moorstone; thus forming a solid footway, which has borne for ages the rush of winter torrents, and the shock of time.