Country diary: a Dartmoor walk takes me back to my moment as a child star

Merrivale, West Dartmoor: The tors here are magnets for spry youths as the rest of us admire the view to BodminCloud shadows race across the summery moor and hilltop tors. Away from the carpark on Whitchurch Common, yellow tormentil stars the greened-up turf, and prickly tussocks shield the pink bell heather and fresh molinia. Southward, above the granite moorstone marked with old cut marks, Pew Tor draws in spry youths to clamber among the boulders and leaning capstones. Staider folk shelter from the wind and admire the view across the Tavy and Tamar valleys, towards the distant Bodmin Moor.Scattered across the expanses of rough grazing are red-marked, shorn white sheep and, by Vixen Tor, near a patch of boggy cotton grass, a herd of pregnant ponies and a few foals stand at ease. This tor, set above dark green woodland, can appear like the Sphinx, but notices - including "Bull roaming" - remind that its stone-walled enclosure is in-bye land with no right of public access. Continue reading...