Horsing around on Dartmoor…

Image courtesy of Babeny Stables

“Descending from White Hill on a summer evening with the sun going down behind Steeperton Tor, down to Taw Marsh riding a sun-bronzed Chester and then galloping the whole stretch to the River Taw, dodging cattle and sheep and springing over gullies and rocks until we stop, at last, in the cool water.”

That’s how our Help Desk Manager, David Hall, a keen rider, recalls one of his memorable outings on Dartmoor. 

It’s easy to spend hours, indeed days, exploring the moor. And now there’s the added pull to the south-western slopes of Dartmoor where scenes from Steven Spielberg’s film of Michael Morpurgo’s renowned novel, War Horse, were shot, predominantly around Meavy and Sheepstor.

We’ve over 90 excellent holiday cottages on Dartmoor and we’re lucky to have a number of places to stay near the film locations:

300 yards from the Royal Oak pub (where many of the film crew regularly lunched) in the pretty hamlet of Meavy, the quaint Acorn Cottage was totally refurbished in 2011 and features quiet, serene meadow and woodland views at the back; equally convenient for high moors or the town.

Just half a mile from Dousland, on a quiet lane and surrounded by a working farm, is The Old Byre, a smart, contemporary detached cottage next to the owners’ former farmhouse. Breakfast on fresh eggs from the farm’s free-range chickens, then head out for one of the Dartmoor National Park Authority’s Guided Walks around some of War Horse’s filming locations.

The Barn, Yelverton, is a beautifully converted, ‘upside down’, 17th century detached stone barn within extensive grounds and gardens. Walking and cycling are great ways to immerse yourself in the landscape but perhaps you’ll be inspired by the film to experience Dartmoor on horseback? There are lots of opportunities to ride on Dartmoor. 

Dartmoor is a fascinating place to visit at any time of year, so we hope you’ll come and create your own magical memories – and perhaps capture your favourite landscape scenes on film? We’d love to see your photos, so feel free to post them on our Facebook wall.

Helpful Holidays supports Farms for City Children…

We’re lucky enough to live and work in glorious Devon and many of our customers enjoy getting away from the hustle and bustle of city life to spend time in the beautiful West Country. We sincerely believe just being in the countryside is good for you. With that in mind, Helpful Holidays has again chosen to support Farms for City Children as its charity of the year. 

Farms for City Children was founded by children’s author Michael Morpurgo and his wife Clare at Nethercott Farm in Devon in 1976. 

The charity’s aim is to enrich the lives of children from urban areas, who may not know where their food comes from and have limited opportunities to get up close to animals, by giving them the chance to spend a week living and working on a real farm in the heart of the countryside. 

It’s an intense, ‘learning through doing’ experience of a different life and 75,000 children have taken part since it started.

The charity now has three working farms, including Nethercott, a huge Victorian manor house with beautiful grounds and amazing views towards Dartmoor. Whilst very full during term time, its house (sleeps 48) is available to our holidaymakers in the school holidays.

The three farms offer a warm, friendly environment, plentiful home cooking and comfortable accommodation, including classroom, library, quiet room and games room. 

The jobs on the farm are rotated so that everyone gets at least two goes at  activities such as feeding livestock, mucking out, grooming horses and donkeys, assisting at milking time and tending the kitchen gardens – as well as more seasonal tasks like apple-pressing and lambing! The children learn about the food chain, caring for animals and the land and the importance of teamwork; the overall experience has a heart-warming impact on their self-esteem and outlook on life.

You may have heard a lot about Michael Morpurgo recently - his book ‘War Horse’ has been the inspiration for both a successful West End play and a soon-to-be-released film directed by Steven Spielberg (filmed in part on Dartmoor). 

Morpurgo describes his own inspiration for the story when a young boy with a stammer visited Nethercott in 1978, and befriended a horse on the farm:

“He was talking to the horse, one to one, about what he had done on the farm that day. No stutter – words flowing out of him. I summoned his teachers and we hid in the vegetable garden to watch them. I was very, very moved. 

"The boy wasn't being judged or mocked. He trusted this creature. The horse wasn't understanding, but was listening. She knew she must not move away. She must stand there – because that is what friends do."

We hope you'll help us spread the word about this wonderful charity and the excellent work it does. We'll keep you updated on news from the farms and our fundraising efforts during 2012. 

If you’d like to make a donation, visit www.justgiving.com/helpfulholidays at any time or you can also make a contribution when you book a holiday through Helpful Holidays.
 

Spielberg on Dartmoor: “An abundance of natural beauty”

Are you a set-jetter? No, we haven’t got our tongues twisted. Set-jetting is the trend of travelling to destinations that are used as movie locations. And it looks like our very own Dartmoor might be the next set-jetting hotspot!

After extensive filming in Dartmoor, Steven Spielberg's adaptation of Michael Morpurgo's First World War adventure novel for children, War Horse, is due to be released in cinemas in January 2012.

Spielberg praised the beauty of the Dartmoor countryside: "I have never before, in my long and eclectic career, been gifted with such an abundance of natural beauty as I experienced filming War Horse on Dartmoor... And, with two-and-a-half weeks of extensive coverage of landscapes and skies, I hardly scratched the surface of the visual opportunities that were offered to me."

Set against a sweeping canvas of rural England and Europe during the First World War, War Horse begins in Devon with the remarkable friendship between a horse named Joey and a young man called Albert, who tames and trains him.

When they are forcefully parted, the film follows the extraordinary journey of the horse as he moves through the war, changing and inspiring the lives of all those he meets – British cavalry, German soldiers, and a French farmer and his granddaughter – before the story reaches its emotional climax in the heart of No Man’s Land.

Filming on Dartmoor started in August 2010 and locations included the small village of Meavy and near Widecombe-in-the-Moor. Ditsworthy Warren House, an isolated Grade II listed building near Sheepstor, served as the Narracott family's farmhouse.

You can watch the official trailer here:

You can also watch a photo montage of the crew filming on location here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqPlEu4ry0w

We’ve over 80 fabulous holiday cottages on Dartmoor so come and visit this magical place to create your own visual memories and tales to tell.