Cornwall and Devon Walks with Julia Bradbury episode 3: Julia is walking in Dartmoor National Park, one of the last great wildernesses in the UK on a seven-mile circular walk from the iconic Hay Tor.
In this uplifting travel series, Julia Bradbury heads off the beaten track as she explores Cornwall and Devon by foot, meeting the people who live and work in these two spectacular counties and sampling some of the West Country’s legendary fare.
Cornwall and Devon Walks with Julia Bradbury episode 3
Dartmoor National Park
Dartmoor National Park is a vast moorland in the county of Devon, in southwest England. Trails wind through valleys with Neolithic tombs, Bronze Age stone circles and abandoned medieval farmhouses. The area is dotted with villages, including Princetown, home to Dartmoor Prison used during the Napoleonic Wars. Dartmoor ponies roam its craggy landscape, defined by forests, rivers, wetlands and tors (rock formations).
Dartmoor is an upland area in southern Devon, England. The moorland and surrounding land has been protected by National Park status since 1951. Dartmoor National Park covers 954 km2 (368 sq mi).
The granite which forms the uplands dates from the Carboniferous Period of geological history. The landscape consists of moorland capped with many exposed granite hilltops known as tors, providing habitats for Dartmoor wildlife. The highest point is High Willhays, 621 m (2,037 ft) above sea level. The entire area is rich in antiquities and archaeology. Dartmoor National Park is managed by the Dartmoor National Park Authority, whose 22 members are drawn from Devon County Council, local district councils and Government.
Parts of Dartmoor have been used as military firing ranges for over 200 years. The public is granted extensive land access rights on Dartmoor (including restricted access to the firing ranges) and it is a popular tourist destination.
Julia Bradbury
Julia Michele Bradbury is an Irish-born English television presenter, employed by the BBC and ITV, specialising in documentaries and consumer affairs.
She is best known for co-presenting the BBC One programme Countryfile with Matt Baker from 2004 until 2014. She also presented Watchdog (2005–2009) and Planet Earth Live (2012) for the BBC and Take on the Twisters (2013), The Wonder of Britain (2015), Britain’s Best Walks (2017), Cornwall and Devon Walks (2021) and The Greek Islands with Julia Bradbury for ITV
Bradbury’s father Michael Bradbury, a Derbyshire-born, steel and engineering industry marketing director and Greek mother were in the Republic of Ireland when Bradbury was born. The family returned to Britain, where she grew up in an old rectory and attended primary school in Edith Weston, Rutland, followed by King Edward VII School in Sheffield, where her father worked for British Steel Corporation and her mother ran a fashion business. Bradbury attended acting classes, and took part as a child in the Crucible Theatre’s stage production of Peter Pan, starring Joanne Whalley and Paula Wilcox.