Scorhill Stone Circle and Kestor

Another day, another ramble on trusty Dartmoor with the family. Starting with the usual gathering of ideas from our “Dartmoor short walks for all the family” book.  A book by Crimson in their short walks series, a very well used and trusted family favourite of ours. These Crimson books include all the essential family information, including picnic areas, where to get refreshments along the way, and toilets! Quite handy, but we do try to gather all the essential picnic foods and drinks from home before going out on our adventures on the Moor. This walk took us to the north moor, near Gidleigh. We parked up then walked onto the Moor and down to the Scorhill stone circle.  

A very impressive stone circle of around 30 large stones with a diameter of around 28 meters. Doughnuts were our Sunday treat today, having already had our lunch, we sat in the middle of the circle for a little dose of sugar before we attempted the hill up to Kestor.  We actually forgot the carrier for our youngest daughter on this occasion and ended up with a mostly empty buggy coming along with us. Luckily it was the light weight buggy that was left in the car and not the industrial all weather pod, that I use in the week for the school run. This isn’t a particularly buggy friendly route so I would advise a carrier on this one, I would actually advise a carrier for anything on Dartmoor… But needs must and off we went up the hill!  The lovely Kestor is a great tor with an amazing view from all angles.  It’s also hiding a hidden secret at the top, a small pool of water known as a rock basin. 

For those of you who like a bit of more about the legends of Dartmoor, this basin was said to have been used to catch the blood from those who had been sacrificed by the Druids. That I’m afraid is the extent of my knowledge, as that’s what it said in the book! There is though a great website, http://www.legendarydartmoor.co.uk with lots more information.  So with our sugar rush coming to an end, and a few more quick snaps to remember the day, we headed back down to our car. 

All in all our bimble was around 2 hours… A perfect little adventure to wear out the kids before dinner and satisfy our need for a bit of fresh air. 

Highly recommend as always. 

L x