Bodmin Moor

Bodmin Moor near Davidstow

Crowdy reservior at dawn

Davistow Moor is the northernmost part of Bodmin Moor, famous for its creamery producing both Davidstow Cheddar and the ironically named Cathedral City cheeses (Davidstow Moor having neither a cathedral or anything resembling a city).

RAF Davidstow Moor was an airbase from late 1942 until 1945. The airfield was closed in December 1945 to become a motor racing circuit, known as Davidstow Circuit. In the early 1950s three Formula One races were held there (the Cornwall MRC Formula 1 Races) including the first success for the Lotus marque. Today the main control tower is still clearly visible on the airfield. A Davistow Airfield and Cornwall at War Museum has been set up to commemorate the work and people of RAF Davidstow Moor.

Crowdy reservoir, fed by run-off and drainage from surrounding moorland, is situated within the Bodmin Moor Site of Special Scientific Interest. The banks, except around the Nature Reserve, are open for walking and picnicking and a bird hide, open to all visitors, is a pleasant 20 minute walk, from the car park along the north bank. There are often Nearctic waders in autumn and spectacular flocks of starlings around Davidstow in the winter. The lake is stocked with rainbow and brown trout. Provided you have a rod licence you can fish for free by spinning, fly or bait. In recognition of the high conservation value of this lake, no other activities, apart from free wilderness trout angling, take place at this location.

The road to Roughtor

Dawn over Roughtor

Roughtor

Roughtor and the slightly higher Brown Willy sit side by side just south of Davidstow Moor. Roughtor can be reached by the road from Camelford and there is a small car park from which you can walk up the slopes to the summit.

The summit of Roughtor is encircled by a series of rough Neolithic stone walls which link natural outcrops to form a tor enclosure. Also on the summit are the foundations of a mediaeval chapel built into the side of one of the larger cairns.

To the north-west of Roughtor ridge on the approach from the car park, in open grassy moorland, is a settlement of over 120 hut circles, small enclosures and fragments of field systems. Laid out in a broad north-south band, the majority of the round houses are linked by the stony banks of a series of six small irregular enclosures. Excavations have shown these to date from the early-mid Bronze Age.

On the southern slopes of Roughtor just off the track from St Breward, there is a stone circle and nearby the remains of a large number of hut circles. The houses and the small enclosures probably represent an economy based on stock rearing with perhaps a little cultivation of cereals, whilst the extensive field system represents a time when farming was predominant.

Altarnun

Altarnun in Autumn

To the North East of Bodmin Moor is the pretty village of Altarnun. The name of the village is a corruption of "Altar of St Nonna"; the church is known as "Cathedral of the moors" due to its impressive 109ft tall tower. The Old Rectory near the church was featured by Daphne Du Maurier in Jamaica Inn.

The Rising Sun Inn just outside Altarnun is a 16th Century Inn built originally as a farmhouse. The pub serves local food and real ales from the award-winning Penpont Brewery in Altarnun which uses springwater drawn from the moor. There are two open fires in winter.

The 15th Century St Nonna church has an amazing collection of carved pew-ends from about 1520 (including one that mentions the artist - Robert Daye), a striking Norman font, with the original colour still visible and 15th century Rood screen. On the the huge tower you can still see the deep padlocks that once held its scaffolding in place. A 6th century Celtic Cross stands in the churchyard from the time before the Celtic Cornwall had been conquered by the Anglo Saxons.

On Leskernick Hill near Altarnun is the remains of a Bronze Age settlement which originally had over 44 round houses with two stone circles nearby.

Bodmin Moor near St Breward

Old Inn at St Breward

Fireplace at The Old Inn

The village of St Breward is on the North West of Bodmin moor and the parish covers Roughtor and Brown Willy. The name of the village is said by some to come from the 6th century Cornish Saint Branwalader and others from a 13th century bishop of Exeter; previously the village was called Simonward after, legend tells, the brewer to King Arthur's household.

The Old Inn in St Breward dates back to the 11th Century when it provided shelter for the monks who built the neighbouring church and is Cornwall's highest Inn. The pub serves home-made food made with fresh local produce and beer brewed locally including Sharp's brewery at Rock and Penpont brewery at Altarnun. There is an open fire in winter in the 11th Century granite fireplace.

St Breward church also claims to be the highest in the county and has a tall tower easily seen for miles around. It dates from the middle ages (1278).

A number of lanes run from St Breward into the middle of the moor which are an excellent for moorland walks and to see some of the prehistoric remains:

• There are stone circles at Stannon and Fernacre
• King Arthur's Hall is on King Arthur's Downs near Casehill. Historians pour scorn on the King Arthur connotations, but are unsure of its exact purpose. Many think due to the standing stones it was a ceremonial site, but some suggest it may have had an altogether more practical purpose - as a cattle compound.

Jubilee Rock

Decorated screen in the church

Blisland lies on the western flank of the Moor. Unlike other Cornish villages, the houses are grouped around a village green indicating Saxon origins. There are 7 pagan Wayside Crosses in Blisland (out of 360 in Cornwall). One is near the village post office, and another on the road leading to Bodmin, halfway down the hill before the bridge.

The Blisland Inn is renowned for real ales winning the CAMRA National Pub of the Year in 2001 - there are at least 6 real ales on tap at any one time. The landlord has had his own wooden barrels made by a retired cooper which he sends to the local brewery to fill.

Blisland is also a good place for a number of walks:

• The Camel Trail starts at Poley's Bridge on the road from Blisland to St Tudy.
• Jubilee Rock near Pendrift is a natural granite boulder carved with Britannia, royalty, and nobel coats of arms by Lieutenant John Rogers in 1809/10 and updated on special occasions with new carvings (take the road signposted to Pendrift, at a cross roads take the road marked 'through road', then at the end of the road walk right up the hill past the cottages, through a gate, and bear left, then right. It can be tricky to find!)
• The Trippet stones just off the track to Hawk's Tor farm an attractive true circle of stones with a modern boundary stone in the centre. Like many other stone circles, its name implies dancing and this may be a "folk memory" of one of the original functions of such sites.
• Lavethan Wood (managed by the Woodland Trust) lies just south Blisland on the North-facing slopes of a river valley. It is designated a Planted Ancient Woodland Site and an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Blisland church is impressively ornate. Thought to be on the site of a Saxon church, it was a slate and granite Norman building, but was rebuilt in the perpendicular style in the 15th century (and restored in the 19th). It is unique in being dedicated to St Protus (known locally as St Pratt) and St Hyacinth who were brothers martyred in the late 3rd century AD. No one knows why this church was dedicated to them in the 15th century. If you have the chance to visit on 22nd September there is a feast day procession to St Pratt's Cross and Holy Well.

The Jamaica Inn near Bolventor is a coaching inn built in 1750 that was made famous by Daphne du Marier in her book of the same name. Weary travellers using the turnpike between Launceston and Bodmin would stay at the Inn after having crossed the wild and treacherous moor. The Jamaica Inn is said by some to be founded by a retired Jamaican settler - whose 'bold venture' of building an inn may have given Bolventor its name. Others think the Inn may have got its name because it did a considerable trade in rum! Attached to the pub is a museum dedicated to Cornish Smuggling and Daphne du Marier.

On the southern part of the moor near Bolventor is Dozmary Pool, Cornwall's only natural inland lake which has no visible inlets, and is fed by rivulets underneath the heathland peat. Locals once said it was bottomless, but in the 19th century this was proved to be false when the bottom was revealed during a drought. Another legend was that the giant Treheage was made to drain it using a limpet shell - a task he achieved with such vigour that he flooded St Neot. Tennyson's famous poem on the "Mort d'Arthur" featured Loe Pool as the location for a ghostly hand rising from a lake to grasp Arthur's sword Excalibur, but many people claim that Dozmary Pool is a more likely location for the legend.

On the other (north) side of the A30 from Jamaica Inn is Priddacomb Downs (Cornwall Wildlife Trust) - a reserve of over 200 acres of open moorland lying with views of Brown Willy and Roughtor.

To the south of the A30, the Loveny nature reserve is an important ornithological site which includes Colliford Lake (Bodmin Moor's largest Reservoir) and surrounding moorland. It is jointly owned between the Cornwall Wildlife Trust and the Cornwall Birdwatching and Preservation Society.

Beech Avenue at Golitha Falls

Golitha Falls

Forest at Golitha Falls

St Neot is the southernmoust part of Bodmin Moor set within an area of outstanding natural beauty and special scientific interest, just south of Colliford Lake. The village was originally founded on wool, tin and slate.

The London Inn in St Neot was origally a coaching inn on the route to the capital. It serves real ales and a good range of home-cooked food. There is free WiFi and in winter there is an open fire.

At the Golitha Falls National Nature Reserve, the River Fowey cascades through a pretty valley covered in a mixture of ancient woodland and a beech avenue. A circular path of about 1km runs around the reserve. There is also a shorter paved route of about 400m.

In Spring, the valley is carpeted with bluebells and in Autumn the trees are vivid colours. In Summer look out for woodland butterflies such as the orange and black silver-washed fritilliary; the males are attracted to orange items including car indicators and sainsburys' carrier bags!

More info

• Satellite map of Golitha Falls
• Golitha Falls Nature Reserve website
• Slideshow of Golitha Falls pictures on YouTube

Cheesewring near Minions

Horse grazing on Bodmin Moor

Minions is a small village on the south-east corner of Bodmin Moor, with most of the village being over 300m it claims to be the highest village in Cornwall, rivalling St Breward. The area surrounding Minions is beautiful countryside offering a wealth of archaeological interest from early Bronze Age to the Tin and Copper Mining which finished early in the last century. One of the engine houses of the South Pheonix mine has been converted into the Minions heritage centre which inteprets the history of the surrounding landscape.

A number of prehistoric sites are nearby:

• The Hurlers and The Pipers Bronze Age stone circles - the legend is that the three stone circles of the Hurlers are teams of sportsmen, turned to stone for playing hurling on a Sunday and the nearby two Pipers standing stones provided the musical accompaniment
• The Cheesewring on Stowes Hill is a tor topped with a natural rock formation of granite slabs created by glaciation and erosion over many thousands of years. It looks like a "cheesewring", a press-like device that was previously used to make cheese.
• King Doniert's Stone (two fragments of a larger stone originally topped with wooden cross) dates from the 9th Century and commemorates the death of Dungarth the King of Cornwall who drowned in the River Fowey near Golitha Falls at about the time when the Anglo-Saxons were gaining control of eastern Cornwall.
• Trethevy Quoit is a 4000 year old burial chamber

Close to Trethevy Quoit is the Crow's Nest Inn in the tiny village itself called "Crows Nest". It is a pretty 17th Century building which became an alehouse when the nearby Glasgow Mine was set up and the miners received some of their pay in beer. They serve home-made food and there is an open fire in winter.

At Siblyback Lake (South West Lakes Trust) to the west of Minions there are miles of walks and some excellent bird watching. There is a hide though it's quite old so you're more likely to find birds inside it.

• Terrain map of Bodmin Moor
• Wikipedia page on Bodmin Moor