Dartmoor

[Bruno Schroder]

Dartmoor, in Devon, is a very special place: 60.000 ha of nature left (almost) unchanged for several thousand years. If you pay attention to the valleys and find one with a gentle slope, a spring and the right orientation towards the sun, you are very likely to find in the ferns remnants of villages abandoned 2000 years ago. It is still used now as open grazing land for horses, the Dartmoor poney, sheeps and cows. I'm in the area every 6 months and spend 2 or 3 days there every time.

[Jacques Pochoy]

Wonderful landscapes, time seems to have stopped :-)

[Frank Fremerey]

Depending on what you call "natural" consider taking away the sheep and cattle to let the "natural" plant cover grow back which used to be forest.

For me the book "Feral" by George Monbiot was an eye opener to understand that many landscapes we consider "natural" or "wild" are in fact overgrazed erosion patterns that once were Atlantic Rain forests.

From that background I see in  the second picture with a certain pleasure how these wind bent trees fight to survive against the alien invasive species "sheep" introduced only a few thousand years ago to destroy most of Britains landscapes. In new Zealand sheep were only introduced in the 18th century and had similar devastating effect.

[Bruno Schroder]

Thank you Jacques
Frank: I'm glad you like the tree

[John Geerts]

Impressive, looks like a great place to be and to re-visit.

[elsa hoffmann]

Funny, when I look at the second image (green one), I thought - this place could date back centuries. It has a feel to it

[Bruno Schroder]

It really dates back centuries indeed. We literally picnicked several times in the remnants of a hut in a 3000 years old settlement.

[Bruno Schroder]

More sheeps, same tree.

[Akira]

Beautiful landscapes, Bruno.  It would be really nice spend some time there, forgetting about the internet.

Is the stone wall in the second image the remnant of the village abandoned 2000 years ago?  I wonder why there is no village there anymore.

[Bruno Schroder]

Akira, this wall is from a miner's village abandoned in 19th century. Neolithic remnants are circular, the so called hut circles. It took us a while to think about square fields and houses 

Stay tuned for more pics, I'm digging into my files.

[Akira]

Thanks for the further info.  Yes, I'll stay tuned!

[Bruno Schroder]

End of summer flowering can be quite spectacular.