| Ashburton and Broadpark Ashburton lies on the southern slopes of Dartmoor situated roughly half way between Plymouth and Exeter. A ancient stannary town dates from Saxon times recorded in the Domesday Book (1086) as Essebretone. Spanning the centuries are many beautiful and intriguing buildings. Today, Ashburton is a blend of its richly historic past and its bustling, market-town present. Ashburton's nearest tor on Dartmoor is Buckland Beacon, from this high point there is a magnificent panorama of deep and wooded valleys, with the River Dart winding away towards Dartmeet and the wild moorland hills beyond. Buckland Beacon is 1281 feet above sea level. A local stonemason has cut the Ten Commandments into the granite rock. Ashburton Carnival is one of the oldest, (possibly the oldest, surviving in Devon.) Written records date it back to 1891 but it is believed to have been started in the mid 1880s. |
| Buckfast and Buckfastleigh Set on the southern edge of the Dartmoor National Park surrounded by woods and meadows, the quiet town of Buckfastleigh is best known for the near by Buckfast Abbey and the South Devon Valley Railway. In the town's churchyard are the ruins of an old 'chantry' chapel and the strange mausoleum erected over the tomb of Richard Carbell in 1677. A community of monks was established at Buckfast before the Norman Conquest. There is a gap in their presence from 1539 (when the buildings were abandoned due to the dissolution of the Monasteries) until 1882, when a group of French monks discovered the sight and established a small community. Today the Abbey is financially self supporting through the various activities of the monks. The Abbey is also famous for producing Benedictine honey,and it's most famous product is the Buckfast Tonic Wine, made from a secret formula and sold throughout the Country |
| Holne A romantically beautiful little village, nestling in lee of Holne Moor, known to the locals a ‘Two Moors Way’. Purched on the south-western side of the River Dart valley on the southeastern slopes of the Dartmoor National Park. Holne Chase, which extends about two miles into Dartmoor Forest, amidst some of the most magnificent scenery in Devon, where the Dart is seen foaming over its rocky bed, between steep and shelving banks, and lofty wooded hills. Commanding the Dart valley, is a perfect earthwork, roughly circular in shape, with a single rampart and ditch. It is probably of late Iron Age date. On the high moorland in the West of the parish are hut-circles and tumuli. The farmstead of Stoke was a Domesday manor. The Dart is crossed near Holne by two good medieval bridges. |
