The Beacon Directory - Farm and Garden
Contact information for local organisations and groups, places, parish Councils, trusts & charities, activities and annual events for Belstone, South Tawton, South Zeal and Sticklepath.
Information can be altered or added to at any time, including groups not listed here, by contacting info.thebeacononline@gmail.com
Belstone Commoners' Association
Contact Secretary Jenny Gibbons
01837 840282
https://belstonevillage.net/commoners/
Belstone Common consists of the Outer Common (which includes moorland encompassing Watchet Hill and tors such as Belstone, Higher and Scarey Tor) and the Inner Common (which includes open areas within the village of Belstone (many verges, Brenamoor Common, Skaigh Valley north of the Taw and the Great Green.) The Outer Common is owned by the Duchy of Cornwall, and the Inner Common by the Lord of the Manor, Michael Reddaway.
Public rights in relation to Common Land are merely to cross it by foot or by horse. Commoners have additional rights, the most significant being to graze livestock there. It is a property right, that is, it is passed on through ownership of particular houses or fields which for hundreds of years have allowed people to take benefit from land despite it being privately owned. Since the Inner Common includes areas of the village, Belstone is unusual in that cattle and sheep have the right to graze and move freely within the village itself. Visitors therefore should expect to see them on the roads and footpaths, together with ponies that might have wandered in from the Moor.
Most modern-day Commoners choose not to graze animals on Common Land, but their agreement not to do so or to limit the numbers they do graze is the basis of payments currently being made by government agencies under conservation agreements. The moorland area of Belstone Common is located within North Dartmoor Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and annual payments are received and divided amongst grazier and non-grazier Commoners, but these depend on specific conservation targets being reached. Commoners therefore join together to try to deliver required outcomes and to protect their own traditional rights.
North Dartmoor Garden Club
Regular monthly meetings in Belstone Village Hall from September to April.
Contact Keith Badman
01837 82701
Okehampton Beekeepers (Okehampton Branch of Devon Beekeepers’ Association)
Contact Will Pyne (Okehampton Beekeepers’ Branch Secretary)
Okehampton Beekeepers is one of the eleven branches of Devon Beekeepers’ Association. Devon Beekeepers is affiliated to the BBKA (British Beekeepers’ Association) which is the National body for England and Wales. The Okehampton Branch area extends roughly from Winkleigh to Moretonhampstead (N to S) and from Crediton to Lewtrenchard (E to W). Okehampton Branch has about 100 members. Our seasonal activities are divided into a winter programme from October to March, of six monthly evening meetings from 7:30 pm to 9 pm at Whiddon Down Village Hall, an annual evening dinner generally held in early April at a pub or golf club, followed by our summer programme of apiary visits. At these, a group of members visit one of our member’s apiaries to participate in inspections of active colonies of bees. There are typically five or six of these arranged from May to September each summer.
Okehampton Branch also has a presence at Devon County Show’s Bee Marquee and we also run our own Honey Show from our own Marquee at Okehampton Show in early August. We also run an eight session Basic Beekeeping Training Course of eight two hour evening sessions held at fortnightly intervals from January to April at the start of the year, from Whiddon Down Village Hall.
South Tawton Commoners' Association
Contact Steve Francis
01837 840557