Map Coordinates: 50.577N; 3.961W
Photographs from the Primordial Woodland that lies due North of the hamlet of Two Bridges in central Dartmoor. April 5&6 2018.
Set on a remote Dartmoor hillside, this little patch of ancient forest still holds as one of Dartmoor’s most impressive natural attractions. Looking at the map and realising the trail to the nearest point of the wood is a good 2 miles; I’d thought that this would filter out the majority of trippers. Not so, this place proved popular and very much on the visitor circuit.
The track as seen from the car park opposite the Two Bridges Hotel.
The view of the ‘old bridge’ at Two Bridges. According to ancient maps, about 220 years old. In those days Dartmoor and its tiny settlements must have been a world away from the rest of Devon and beyond. Even with ‘A’ roads and traffic management, this place was impassable [due to heavy snow], for several days in the ‘Spring’ month of March 2018. Years ago people just got cut off, and coped; I guess. No need to get out when you were used to such isolation.
Wistman’s – Seen at its best when the spring light greens up the moss before the canopy leaves start to obscure the daylight.
More or less the same spot as seen in June of 2017 showing just how much the ‘living green’ dulls during the drier summer months.
Primarily the tree cover is made up of Oak, although there are Rowans, Ash and Hollies dotted around the woodland. Looking at website information about Wistman’s, it seems that the forest is as old as the hills [not figuratively speaking], and a prime site for other flora – especially the epiphytic mosses, lichens and microberries.
End
Below: West Dart River at Hexworthy June 2016
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