ALL AT ASHBURTON ARTS CENTRE, 15, WEST STREET, ASHBURTON TQ13 7DT, SATURDAY 24 MAY 2025
09:30 – 10:30 : DARTMOOR: OPEN TO ALL? Who really holds the power on Dartmoor?
As a National Park, Dartmoor is supposed to be accessible to all , and until recently was the only place in the country you could wild camp freely. But a recent court case has thrown all that into doubt. Can we feel confident about being able to access Southern England’s biggest wilderness in future? In the opening discussion of the Dartmoor Tors Festival join a panel of eminent historians, writers, social scientists and campaigners, including Guy Shrubsole from Right to Roam, and Lewis Winks from The Stars are for Everyone, to talk about the past, present and future of this contested landscape. BOOK TICKETS HERE
11:00 – 12:00 ROCK IDOLS: DARTMOOR’S EXTRAORDINARY TORS
Fantastical yet natural, Dartmoor’s 280-million-year-old tors are among the most iconic landmarks in Southern Britain. Victorian antiquarians described them as ‘rock idols’, believing them to be stone deities worshipped by the Druids. Thousands of years before that, they inspired our ancestors who built ceremonial stone rows and circles aligned on them. In their new book, Rock Idols, Dartmoor locals Alex Murdin and Sophie Pierce pay homage to these flamboyant forms in words and drawings. They will be joined by acclaimed author Wyl Menmuir whose best-selling books bring us to closer understanding of the elemental forces of the natural world and who is writing a new book The Spirit of Stone, due out next year. Book tickets HERE
12:30 – 13:30 THE SECRETS OF CUT HILL AND PILES HILL
One of the most exciting archaeological discoveries on Dartmoor in recent years, the Cut Hill bronze age burial kist was excavated in August 2024. Get the very latest exclusive updates as its secrets are gradually decoded by Dartmoor National Park archaeologist Lee Bray in a talk for Dartmoor Tors Festival. He will also be talking about their fascinating work at Piles Hill recently where a surface made of quartz was unearthed underneath a Bronze Age stone row. BOOK TICKETS HERE
14:00 – 15:00 BEYOND HUMAN: LANDSCAPE’s EMOTIONAL RESONANCE Readings and conversation with Sean Borodale, Fiona Williams and Caspar Walsh (chair).
What role does place play in human stories? And how can our emotional response to wild landscapes deepen our lives and those of the other beings which share our planet? From caves and rivers, to moors and marshes, join writers whose work is deeply rooted in British locations for readings and a conversation about our relationship with the landscapes that surround us. BOOK TICKETS HERE
15:30 – 16:30 DARTMOOR IS THE ARTIST : SO SHOULN’T WE BE GIVING DARTMOOR MORE RESPECT FOR ITS CREATIVITY?
We are all familiar with the idea of landscape painting; for over 200 years Dartmoor’s wild landscapes have been portrayed by artists like J M Turner, William Widgery and many others that came after. But how much real credit can they take for copying something already there ?
Surely Dartmoor, with its atmospheric lighting, dramatic stone scenery and cast of hundreds of characters has been the original artist all along? Through visual presentation and conversation find out how Dartmoor, and other places, have been leading the way for some of the most interesting human artists making art today – Lore & Land, Garry Fabian Miller, Matthew Shaw and Mark Jessett. BOOK TICKETS HERE