Outdoors & Active

Out and About with Tavistock Ramblers

An easy 4½-mile walk with John Noblet of Tavistock Ramblers, with great views to blow the winter cobwebs away.

The granite quarries around Princetown were a major source of employment up until the 1930s and a few, such as one at Merrivale, continued until the 1990s. There was a whole community here with houses for workers’ families, a chapel and a school. This walk, mostly on old tramway and railway tracks, visits the two larger quarries whilst enjoying superb views as far as the sea. Start at the small parking area at the end of the track to Yellowmeade Farm on the Tavistock to Princetown road almost opposite the old pump house building. (SX567750) 1. Walk along the track towards Yellowmeade Farm with views to the west towards the Cornish hills of Bodmin Moor. Soon, you see two conifers rather out of place in this moorland landscape - this was the site of a row of cottages for quarry workers. The track to a small quarry on the right is still visible.

Pass the entrance to Yellowmeade Farm and the granite sleepers for the old tramway are obvious as the huge waste tip (known as Big Tip) for Foggintor quarry grows closer. Opposite Big Tip and the remains of the row of cottages is one of the entrances to the quarry. If you venture in, take heed of the warning sign as the quarry is flooded. There are remains of more ruined buildings, loading platforms and spoil heaps before reaching another entrance to the quarry workings. The track is sometimes flooded here but only for a short distance.

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2. On a bend, just after the last spoil tip, bear right on a grassy path towards Swell Tor. Cross a tramway siding in a cutting and then the former Princetown branch line. Continue ahead before taking the second of two grassy paths on the left (another tramway siding) that contours around Swell Tor. 3. Walk above one small quarry and then bear left on a grassy path just before a lone hawthorn tree. (However, continue ahead for another 100m to reach a high-level viewpoint where you can look down into Swell Tor quarry. From here there are great views towards Plymouth Sound and the bridges over the Tavy and Tamar rivers). Walk down the hillside to meet a further track which bears right towards a ruined workshop building. Here is the main entrance/exit to the quarry workings. 4. Continue past more ruins and loading platforms to reach one of the best known relics of the quarries. On the side of the track are a row of huge corbels destined for the widening of London Bridge (the one now in Arizona) in 1903 but never delivered.

The siding meets the Princetown branch line and goes gently uphill around King’s Tor. Just after a bridge, notice the line of the original horse drawn tramway on the left. The curve was too sharp for the later steam trains but avoided the need to dig a cutting. There is a good view of the extent of the Foggintor quarry ahead. 5. Turn left at the point where we crossed the line of the old railway on the way out. Retrace your steps back to the start. Tavistock Ramblers normally walk on Saturdays and Sundays and some Wednesdays. Usually there is variety of walks from short strolls to all-day hikes. However, with the likelihood of continuing Covid 19 restrictions there will possibly be some alterations to the planned programme of walks. Check the Tavistock Ramblers website at www.tavistockramblers.org.uk for the up-to-date situation and for a selection of local self-guided walks to enjoy.

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A Book of Round Yer - the world starting in Horrabridge

Editor Chris Benfield says in his introduction: There have been local histories and memoirs, but not a consumer guide as you might call it. Seemed to us there was a vacancy for a reappraisal of this solid little village, along with a bit of a guide to understanding round yer if you just moved in. At the time we started, everything looked rosy. The Leaping Salmon and the Walkhampton Inn were refurbished and refreshing the night life. The London Inn was settled in to stay the course with its respected local landlord on a new lease. Wildwood Arts was flourishing, on Chapel Lane. The football club was thriving and working on plans for a new clubhouse. All those reasons for optimism are still here but, the only thing that is clear is that it will be some time yet before anything is clear.

The 70-page collection of essays and pictures includes illustrations by the doyen of the Horrabridge artists community, Robin Armstrong, and by professional photographer Maxwell Law, who also lives locally and blogs as Maxwell Dailypics Law. The picture on the cover of the book is of Bearsdown Tor, near Princetown, painted by Yelverton artist Shirley Kirkcaldy. Chris Benfield was born in Sidmouth and worked in newspapers for 45 years, ‘on the far northern fringes of the old Fleet Street’, before retiring to Horrabridge, which he knew a little from being a junior reporter on the Tavistock Times in 1969. His wife is from Torbay and they moved ‘home’ seven years ago, after he took redundancy from the Yorkshire Post in Leeds. He ended up publishing a local online newspaper, The Horrabridge Times, which has been published weekly for more than three years and has a couple of hundred regular readers, plus extra visitors amounting to about 1800 readers a month. And that led into talking with village historians, fishermen and naturalists.

Round Yer can be ordered through Horrabridge shops, some local pubs and Book Stop in Tavistock. Mail order can be arranged online through a new store link on the Horrabridge Times website at horrabridgetimes.net/index.php/store-2 (postage £2).

Book recommendations for winter & spring

By Katya Church of Book Stop, Tavistock

The Thursday Murder Club

By Richard Osman Richard Osman’s bestselling debut novel is an absolute joy to read from start to finish, and the ideal companion for the chilly days and nights still ahead of us. Set in a retirement village in Kent, we are introduced to Elizabeth, Ibrahim, Ron and Joyce - an unlikely group of friends who meet weekly to discuss and attempt to solve cold cases. Their meetings have remained purely in the hypothetical realm until a murder takes place in the village, and the friends spring into action to aid and often surpass the police in their enquiries. Hilarious, clever and often very touching, The Thursday Murder Club proves Osman to be a wonderful new voice in crime fiction. Penguin, £14.99

More recommended reads from Book Stop:

A Promised Land by Barack Obama Baracks presidential memoirs; £35

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig Wonderful new fiction. Which life will Nora choose from the library? £16.99

Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake Fascinating read about the secret life of fungi; £20 The Mermaid of Black Conch by Monique Roffey Recently announced Costa Novel Award Winner 2020; £9.99

The Voyage of the Sparrowhawk by Natasha Farrant

Recently announced Costa

Children’s Winner 2020; £7.99

Guidelines permitting, we will maintain our ‘click and collect’ and mail order service throughout lockdown periods. Call us on 01822 617244, email bookstoptavistock@ gmail.com or order online at uk. bookshop.org/shop/bookstoptavistock

Step into Learning

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Never too late to learn!

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