Latest news with #Dartmoor
New York Times
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- New York Times
New Horror Novels Full of All Types of Hauntings
We Live Here Now Pinborough's WE LIVE HERE NOW (Pine & Cedar, 287 pp., $28.99) starts off like a standard haunted house novel: There's a move to an old place in a remote location, and characters are dealing with the aftermath of something awful. There are creepy noises, unusually cold rooms, a looming raven and more. Yes, a list of clichés — but don't despair because this book quickly morphs into a Pinborough novel: atmospheric, immersive, surprising and as dark as wet tires. Emily suffered a fall that left her in the hospital with a shattered leg and fighting sepsis. After being discharged, she and her husband, Freddie, abandon their home in London and move into Larkin Lodge, a big house in Dartmoor. Like any old building, Larkin Lodge has creaks and drafts, but Emily thinks there's more going on. Books fly off the shelves, a protruding nail vanishes and then reappears, a Ouija board spells an incomplete message, and there's definitely something on the third floor. The house could be haunted, or post-sepsis psychosis could be making Emily hallucinate. More than just a haunted house novel, this is a supernatural psychological thriller. The closing chapters are a master class in twists. There's plenty of spooky stuff here, but what makes the book great is the way Pinborough mixes in Emily's human struggles. 'We Live Here Now' deals with grief, infidelity and dying love, in addition to blackmail, lies and murder. It's an intoxicating mix. This story is urgent and bold until the very end. The Night Birds Golden's THE NIGHT BIRDS (St. Martin's, 289 pp., $28) is a tense, chaotic horror novel that moves like a thriller. The Christabel — a half-sunken boat off the shore of Galveston, Texas — has sat abandoned for more than a century. Nature has reclaimed the vessel, which is now covered in mangroves and has been nicknamed the 'Floating Forest.' Charlie Book, an employee of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, is one of the scientists tasked with studying the strange ship, and he's so dedicated to the boat that he lives on it. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
William... the VERY modern Prince: No wearing ties or 'being polite just because I'm in the room' and stick to WhatsApp - royal's new approach to Duchy of Cornwall as he 'removes ambiguity from discreet organisation'
Prince William has revealed his fresh approach for the Duchy of Cornwall, the estate he inherited from his father upon the King's accession to the throne. In an interview with The Telegraph's Royal Editor Hannah Furness, who spent a day travelling alongside the Prince of Wales, 42, as he visited his tenants, the royal shared how he was modernising the land and property empire. This includes encouraging people involved with the Duchy to speak openly, with the Prince telling his staff to 'please give [everyone] proper authority to say what's really going on. Not being polite because I'm in the room,' ahead of a meeting in Dartmoor. Elsewhere, Matthew Morris, the rural director of the Duchy, revealed how employees 'no longer feel the need to put on a tie when the Duke of Cornwall is in town' - perhaps unlike when Charles - who is often smartly dressed in a full suit - visited. The publication also noted how William will communicate with staff via WhatsApp and ask questions over the social media platform in order to keep updated. But while the Prince is seemingly taking a more modern approach to the estate compared to his father, the pair do share a 'healthy impatience'. Ben Murphy, estate director, admitted that the royal has a 'healthy impatience, as his father did', while secretary Will Bax said the father-of-three is 'pretty ambitious' and 'pretty demanding', which he added, is 'great'. Discussing the Duchy's fresh approach, Bax added that the estate has 'perhaps been a slightly discreet organisation that hasn't really put its head above the parapet very much, that hasn't spoken very publicly about what's important to us'. He added that the Prince - who is looking to improve the estate so it has even more of a positive social impact, while keeping its key community spirit - and his team are 'seeking to remove any ambiguity'. The aim for the Duchy's mission, which is to deliver a positive impact for people, places and the planet, to be more understood by the public comes after the property and land empire, as well as the King's estate, the Duchy of Lancaster were investigated by a Channel 4 Dispatches documentary: The King, The Prince & Their Secret Millions. In the 2024 programme, it was revealed how the the Duchy of Cornwall is profiting from public services. In 2017, it billed Devon county council £300,000 in a 21-year rental deal for a primary school on Dartmoor. Other deals include charging a primary school near Bath £60,000 for a 25-year lease and £189,000 to a secondary school in Cornwall over 30 years to use a farmhouse. The Duchy of Cornwall also charges the military to train on its 67,500 acres of Dartmoor, but the MoD would not disclose the exact bill. That is despite Charles being head of the Armed Forces and William being a lieutenant colonel in the Army. Charities have also paid millions to the duchies to rent a 1960s office block in London next to the MI6 HQ. They include Macmillan Cancer Support and Marie Curie Cancer Care, where Charles is patron, and Comic Relief, which William has promoted. Meanwhile, Charles' property empire, which provides a private income to the monarch, is earning £830,000 a year from renting a two-storey warehouse to Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust in London, bombshell documents revealed. The unprecedented audit of the Duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall, the Prince of Wales's private estate, showed taxpayers are shelling out millions every year to boost the wealth of the senior royals. Charities – even those where the King is patron – are also stumping up millions, the five-month investigation of more than 5,000 landholdings and properties showed. Duchy money is private income for Charles and William on top of the Sovereign Grant. The Duchies are run as commercial enterprises, but pay no capital gains tax nor corporation tax. Both Charles and William do pay income tax, but it is not clear how much. The Duchy of Lancaster, which in 2023 generated £27.4 million for the King, and the Duchy of Cornwall, which raised £23.6 million for William, are not required to pay business taxes. Both estates claim they are not funded by the taxpayer, but the cache of documents obtained by Dispatches and the Sunday Times laid bare the huge income they receive from public services. The Duchy of Cornwall said it is 'a private estate with a commercial imperative... committed to restoring the natural environment', and said it was 'acting in a responsible and sustainable way' on mining. The Duchy of Lancaster said it 'operates as a commercial company' and 'complies with all relevant UK legislation'. The Duchy of Cornwall - a major landowner with 130,000 acres of land - was established in 1337 to provide an income for the heir to the throne. After King Charles ascended the throne in 2023 Prince William took over ownership of the Duchy.
Telegraph
5 days ago
- General
- Telegraph
North vs South Devon: Which region is best?
When I lived in Totnes, I went north only twice in the space of seven years. There seemed to be plenty to do on my doorstep. The big green middle of the county functioned as a barrier. But when I did venture to Lynton, it had a very different feel to places like Bigbury or Brixham. If not quite another country, or county, the light and lie of the land were different, towns and countryside had evolved distinctly, and each coast had created its own leisure offering. I decided to go back and explore both sides as a visitor to see what South Devon stalwarts and North Devon devotees are missing by sticking to tried-and-tested annual routines. Which half of the county do you like best? Let us know in the comments section. Transport Winner: South Devon The GWR prefers the south, with green-liveried trains to London Paddington, Wales and Bristol passing through Plymouth and Exeter, as well as quirky cross-country trains from Paignton to Manchester and the back-door route to London Waterloo. But Dartmoor, the wild heart of the south-central region, is not particularly well serviced by bus and many of the quaintest seaside spots are car-only. The Tarka Line from Exeter to Barnstaple, which is single-track in part (with a token handed to the driver), is a pretty pastoral affair, great for slow travellers.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
‘Losing the right to wild camp on Dartmoor would have been unthinkable'
Jolyon Chesworth is fondly remembering the last time he wild camped on Dartmoor with his family. His children Max and Barney were running around, climbing rocks and swimming in pools. They were, he says, truly free. 'That sense of adventure and connection to the landscape is so important,' says Chesworth. 'The simple act of finding a place to sleep, having something to eat and just chatting together in almost unimaginable space… they absolutely love being on Dartmoor. 'So the potential loss of all these incredible benefits would have been unthinkable.' Yet such a loss was, until last week, something Chesworth and many families like his were preparing for. So they were overjoyed when the Supreme Court backed wild camping on Dartmoor, marking the end of a long argument about whether pitching a tent under the stars in the Devon national park was permissible and, possibly, the start of a wider debate about what public access might mean in other parts of the country. There is no general right to wild camp on most private land in England, but an exception was made for set areas of Dartmoor Commons in 1985. Over the decades, it's become a haven for Duke of Edinburgh's Award trips and the famous Ten Tors challenge. For Chesworth, wild camping in the area has offered 'an opportunity to connect to nature, and to people past, present and future who are doing the same thing'. Campaigners, meanwhile, say the battle raises a wider problem over access rights. The legal wrangle over the park began in 2022, when landowners Alexander and Diana Darwall challenged the right to wild camp on their 4,000-acre estate on Stall Moor. They noted the 'potential harm' caused by campers, including litter, fires and threats to their livestock. But the crux of their case hinged on whether a specific section of the Dartmoor Commons Act 1985 conferred on the public a right to camp there overnight. Campaigners were quick to take note. Lewis Winks, from the group Right to Roam, recalls a handful of activists gathering in a Devon pub shortly afterwards to plot their response. 'We called our campaign The Stars Are for Everyone, because as Devon locals we made use of these wild camping rights regularly – I took my daughter up on Stall Moor and she loved it,' he says. 'It seemed absolutely ludicrous that somebody should be able to snatch that away.' Winks adds there was widespread belief among campaigners that the Darwalls' case would collapse. 'There were many people… who just didn't think Dartmoor was going to be lost,' he says. But it was. In January 2023, a High Court ruling set out that the 1985 Act 'does not confer on the public any right to pitch tents or otherwise make camp overnight on Dartmoor Commons'. 'Any such camping requires the consent of the landowner,' the ruling stated. 'It was at this moment we really saw a lot of people stand up and say, 'this is a tragedy',' says Winks. 'Actually it had far-reaching effects beyond the Darwalls' estate. It meant a loss of wild camping rights across the whole of Dartmoor as they had existed.' A week after the High Court ruling in 2023, thousands of people met on Stall Moor to protest. Meanwhile the Dartmoor National Park Authority (DNPA) had to work quickly with other landowners to put in place agreements to license their land for use by wild campers. Basically, the DNPA had to pay the landowners to allow people to camp. 'It was fairly panicked,' says Winks. 'Long term it would have been unworkable as a system, too, because of all the individual licences. The issue for us was that permission couldn't be a replacement for rights.' Dr Kevin Bishop, chief executive of DNPA, remembers that time slightly differently. 'It was testament to some of the Commons owners that we managed to develop that system so quickly – and it was mainly so we could get Ten Tors to go ahead, which the majority of landowners wanted,' he says. 'There were some who thought that system would be fine going forward, but it was always clear to us that the Commons Act creates a right of access on foot and on horseback for the purpose of open-air recreation. We've always interpreted open-air recreation broadly, whereas the Darwalls didn't.' So the DNPA appealed, with the support of other campaign groups such as the Open Spaces Society (OSS) in 2023. Kate Ashbrook, general secretary of the OSS, knows more about access on Dartmoor than most; in 1985 she was Anthony Steen MP's research assistant as he piloted the Dartmoor Commons Bill through Parliament. 'In every other legislation that grants access, you get a schedule of things that the access doesn't include, and camping is usually listed,' she says. 'So for it not to be listed in the Dartmoor Commons Act was an indication that it should be permitted. For us, it was as simple an argument as that.' The other reason the OSS and others were concerned was that the terminology used in the High Court ruling could have had ramifications way beyond wild camping. It might have led to a situation where open-air recreation on Dartmoor was restricted to activities undertaken while on foot or in the saddle. Bathing, sketching, rock climbing, even bird watching or fishing could have been seen as trespass. As Bishop puts it, at the extreme end of this interpretation, 'you couldn't even have stopped for a picnic'. The general consensus is that some of these interpretations were so farcical, they actually helped the appeal. And in July 2023, the Appeal Court ruled that the law 'confers on members of the public the right to rest or sleep on the Dartmoor Commons, whether by day or night and whether in a tent or otherwise… provided the bylaws are adhered to'. But, in turn, the Darwalls themselves immediately appealed to the Supreme Court, with the first hearings taking place in October 2024. In written submissions their legal representatives said the couple were 'not motivated by a desire to stop camping on Dartmoor'. Instead, they talked of campers not observing the 'leave no trace' rule and campfires leading to habitat destruction. Is there merit in at least some of these arguments? The last time Chesworth was wild camping on Dartmoor, he remembers being woken by fireworks at 3.30am. The next day, his boys picked up the revellers' rubbish on their way back home. 'With this sense of freedom and access comes responsibility and a need for stewardship,' he says. 'One of the reasons I like taking my children out there is that it teaches them that responsibility. It's like school, but more fun. 'What I would say though is that there's a big distinction between wild, backpack camping and fly camping, where people are bringing family tents and disposable barbecues and pitching up at the edge of a car park.' On local forums, there is much speculation that it is 'townies' who are going to Dartmoor with their crates of beer and fireworks and wrecking it. Right to Roam says it is aware that encouraging wider access to natural spaces does come with the potential for abuse. That's why the group developed the concept of 'Wild Service', where responsible access means respecting privacy, crops and nature while seeking to leave a positive trace and practising deep care for the natural world. The Darwalls, for their part, remain unconvinced that access translates to guardianship. The couple said they were 'disappointed' by the Supreme Court's judgment. 'Hollowing out the role of landowners and farmers will not improve the vitality of the Dartmoor Commons,' they said. 'Our aim from the outset was to protect and preserve Dartmoor, its flora and fauna.' Meanwhile, others are keen to see the outcome set a precedent for the rest of England. In opposition, Labour pledged to create a widespread right to roam policy if elected but U-turned after facing opposition from some landowners. The OSS and Right To Roam are now calling on officials to 'step up' and pass an act that can protect and extend public rights of access to nature across England. If wild camping is allowed on Dartmoor, then why not elsewhere, they argue. 'If Darwall vs Dartmoor is to be a truly landmark decision, the Government must act to ensure a right to sleep under the stars applies to all national parks and wild country,' says Ashbrook. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Telegraph
5 days ago
- General
- Telegraph
‘Losing the right to wild camp on Dartmoor would have been unthinkable'
Jolyon Chesworth is fondly remembering the last time he wild camped on Dartmoor with his family. His children Max and Barney were running around, climbing rocks and swimming in pools. They were, he says, truly free. 'That sense of adventure and connection to the landscape is so important,' says Chesworth. 'The simple act of finding a place to sleep, having something to eat and just chatting together in almost unimaginable space… they absolutely love being on Dartmoor. 'So the potential loss of all these incredible benefits would have been unthinkable.' Yet such a loss was, until last week, something Chesworth and many families like his were preparing for. So they were overjoyed when the Supreme Court backed wild camping on Dartmoor, marking the end of a long argument about whether pitching a tent under the stars in the Devon national park was permissible and, possibly, the start of a wider debate about what public access might mean in other parts of the country. There is no general right to wild camp on most private land in England, but an exception was made for set areas of Dartmoor Commons in 1985. Over the decades, it's become a haven for Duke of Edinburgh's Award trips and the famous Ten Tors challenge. For Chesworth, wild camping in the area has offered 'an opportunity to connect to nature, and to people past, present and future who are doing the same thing'. Campaigners, meanwhile, say the battle raises a wider problem over access rights. The legal wrangle over the park began in 2022, when landowners Alexander and Diana Darwall challenged the right to wild camp on their 4,000-acre estate on Stall Moor. They noted the 'potential harm' caused by campers, including litter, fires and threats to their livestock. But the crux of their case hinged on whether a specific section of the Dartmoor Commons Act 1985 conferred on the public a right to camp there overnight. Campaigners were quick to take note. Lewis Winks, from the group Right to Roam, recalls a handful of activists gathering in a Devon pub shortly afterwards to plot their response. 'We called our campaign The Stars Are for Everyone, because as Devon locals we made use of these wild camping rights regularly – I took my daughter up on Stall Moor and she loved it,' he says. 'It seemed absolutely ludicrous that somebody should be able to snatch that away.' Winks adds there was widespread belief among campaigners that the Darwalls' case would collapse. 'There were many people… who just didn't think Dartmoor was going to be lost,' he says. But it was. In January 2023, a High Court ruling set out that the 1985 Act 'does not confer on the public any right to pitch tents or otherwise make camp overnight on Dartmoor Commons'. 'Any such camping requires the consent of the landowner,' the ruling stated. 'It was at this moment we really saw a lot of people stand up and say, 'this is a tragedy',' says Winks. 'Actually it had far-reaching effects beyond the Darwalls' estate. It meant a loss of wild camping rights across the whole of Dartmoor as they had existed.' A week after the High Court ruling in 2023, thousands of people met on Stall Moor to protest. Meanwhile the Dartmoor National Park Authority (DNPA) had to work quickly with other landowners to put in place agreements to license their land for use by wild campers. Basically, the DNPA had to pay the landowners to allow people to camp. 'It was fairly panicked,' says Winks. 'Long term it would have been unworkable as a system, too, because of all the individual licences. The issue for us was that permission couldn't be a replacement for rights.' Dr Kevin Bishop, chief executive of DNPA, remembers that time slightly differently. 'It was testament to some of the Commons owners that we managed to develop that system so quickly – and it was mainly so we could get Ten Tors to go ahead, which the majority of landowners wanted,' he says. 'There were some who thought that system would be fine going forward, but it was always clear to us that the Commons Act creates a right of access on foot and on horseback for the purpose of open-air recreation. We've always interpreted open-air recreation broadly, whereas the Darwalls didn't.' So the DNPA appealed, with the support of other campaign groups such as the Open Spaces Society (OSS) in 2023. Kate Ashbrook, general secretary of the OSS, knows more about access on Dartmoor than most; in 1985 she was Anthony Steen MP's research assistant as he piloted the Dartmoor Commons Bill through Parliament. 'In every other legislation that grants access, you get a schedule of things that the access doesn't include, and camping is usually listed,' she says. 'So for it not to be listed in the Dartmoor Commons Act was an indication that it should be permitted. For us, it was as simple an argument as that.' The other reason the OSS and others were concerned was that the terminology used in the High Court ruling could have had ramifications way beyond wild camping. It might have led to a situation where open-air recreation on Dartmoor was restricted to activities undertaken while on foot or in the saddle. Bathing, sketching, rock climbing, even bird watching or fishing could have been seen as trespass. As Bishop puts it, at the extreme end of this interpretation, 'you couldn't even have stopped for a picnic'. The general consensus is that some of these interpretations were so farcical, they actually helped the appeal. And in July 2023, the Appeal Court ruled that the law 'confers on members of the public the right to rest or sleep on the Dartmoor Commons, whether by day or night and whether in a tent or otherwise… provided the bylaws are adhered to'. But, in turn, the Darwalls themselves immediately appealed to the Supreme Court, with the first hearings taking place in October 2024. In written submissions their legal representatives said the couple were 'not motivated by a desire to stop camping on Dartmoor'. Instead, they talked of campers not observing the 'leave no trace' rule and campfires leading to habitat destruction. Is there merit in at least some of these arguments? The last time Chesworth was wild camping on Dartmoor, he remembers being woken by fireworks at 3.30am. The next day, his boys picked up the revellers' rubbish on their way back home. 'With this sense of freedom and access comes responsibility and a need for stewardship,' he says. 'One of the reasons I like taking my children out there is that it teaches them that responsibility. It's like school, but more fun. 'What I would say though is that there's a big distinction between wild, backpack camping and fly camping, where people are bringing family tents and disposable barbecues and pitching up at the edge of a car park.' On local forums, there is much speculation that it is 'townies' who are going to Dartmoor with their crates of beer and fireworks and wrecking it. Right to Roam says it is aware that encouraging wider access to natural spaces does come with the potential for abuse. That's why the group developed the concept of 'Wild Service', where responsible access means respecting privacy, crops and nature while seeking to leave a positive trace and practising deep care for the natural world. The Darwalls, for their part, remain unconvinced that access translates to guardianship. The couple said they were 'disappointed' by the Supreme Court's judgment. 'Hollowing out the role of landowners and farmers will not improve the vitality of the Dartmoor Commons,' they said. 'Our aim from the outset was to protect and preserve Dartmoor, its flora and fauna.' Meanwhile, others are keen to see the outcome set a precedent for the rest of England. In opposition, Labour pledged to create a widespread right to roam policy if elected but U-turned after facing opposition from some landowners. The OSS and Right To Roam are now calling on officials to 'step up' and pass an act that can protect and extend public rights of access to nature across England. If wild camping is allowed on Dartmoor, then why not elsewhere, they argue. 'If Darwall vs Dartmoor is to be a truly landmark decision, the Government must act to ensure a right to sleep under the stars applies to all national parks and wild country,' says Ashbrook.
