Cornwood Shoot DEVON

In 1540, the poet and antiquary John Leland made a grand progression through the West Country and commented that “Dartmore is muche a wilde morish and forest ground”, which summed it up rather well. Now one of the most famous and most visited areas in southern Britain, Dartmoor attracts around 11m visitors annually, who remarkably find it little changed. Variously managed by the Duchy of Cornwall, the Ministry of Defence, the Forestry Commission, the National Trust, South West Water and a raft of private landowners, it is 368 square miles of granite tors and peat deposits, which provide scenic splendour but a tough farming environment. Designated a National Park in 1951, it is a land of myth and mystery, home to the ubiquitous ponies, a famous prison, a headless horseman, hellhounds, ring ouzels and the world’s largest land slug, the ash black.

The southern extremity of Dartmoor is bounded by the A38 trunk road linking Exeter and Plymouth. About 12 miles east of Plymouth are the sprawling developments of Lee Mill and Ivybridge and to the north of these and extending upwards into the shoulder of the moor sit the 10,000 acres of the Cornwood Estate. Around 6,500 acres form the basis of the shoot, drawn