Belstone

Surrounded by the magnificent scenery of the Dartmoor National Park, Belstone is a picturesque village with a triangular village green, complete with stocks and a stone commemorating the coronation of George V, and a church dating back to the 13th century.

A path from Belstone village leads up to the ancient standing stone circle known as the Nine Stones, although there are actually well over a dozen of them. Local folklore asserts that these stones under Belstone Tor were formed when a group of maidens was discovered dancing on the Sabbath and turned to stone. The problem with this story is that the stone circle was in place long before the arrival of Christianity in England. It is also claimed that the mysterious stones change position when the clock strikes noon. What is certain is that the view across mid Devon from this site is quite breathtaking.

Another path from Belstone leads south to a spot on the northern edge of Dartmoor where the ashes of the Poet Laureate Ted Hughes were scattered and where a granite stone was placed to his memory. 

For lovers of solitude, this is memorable country, unforgettably evoked by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in The Hound of the Baskervilles. Recalling the villain’s fate in that book, walkers should beware of the notorious “feather beds” – deep bogs signalled by a quaking cover of brilliant green moss.