Location notes - Dartmoor Bluebells

“A piece of heaven here below, creation at its best on show, with perfume drifting on the breeze, to guide us through this deep blue sea”

Elizabeth Mason - Bluebell Woods

I find it incredible that a landscape as harsh and wild as Dartmoor, also plays host to some of the UK’s most stunning bluebell displays. This delicate herald of spring is normally associated with ancient woodlands and hedgerows (of which Dartmoor has plenty), but here on the moor, they thrive on open moorland and pasture in vast and awe-inspiring numbers.

I wanted to get this blog post out now, because witnessing the Dartmoor bluebells has to be one of the greatest seasonal delights found anywhere in the National Park. As with all of my blog posts, the content tends to be aimed at photographers, but because photography is basically a nice walk with a camera, I hope it might also appeal and inspire walkers, families and adventurers too.

Planning to shoot bluebells on Dartmoor requires just two considerations – where to see them and when to go. Whilst it is true that you find them in most of the moor’s hedgerows and river valleys, here they are limited to just a sprinkling. For the real carpets of purple and blue, you have to head out onto the open moor. For this blog post, I’m going to point you to the three locations that I have always found the most rewarding, but I’d love to hear from you if you have a favourite site too.

The question of when to shoot bluebells is relatively straightforward. Moorland bluebells typically flower about a month later that their lowland cousins. So, whilst you might see them out in early April in the parks and gardens off the moor, on Dartmoor they don’t tend to make an appearance until mid and sometimes late May. Of course, nothing in nature operates to a strict timetable, but I shoot them every year and looking back over my shots from the last 5 years, they seem to have peaked between the third and fourth week of May fairly reliably (a date range of between the 15^th and 31^st May to be exact!). If you are local enough to get on the moor easily, I would recommend you start scouting locations early in May and keep an eye on how they are progressing, but if you can only get there once, aim for the middle to latter part of the month and you should be OK.

So where are the best displays found?

Everyone will have their favourite spots and locations, and so as with everything on Dartmoor, it pays to explore. For me, there are three locations that I believe are really worth your while – each presents the photographer with a different challenge, but all prove extremely rewarding.

First up is probably the best-known bluebell location - Emsworthy Mire.  Emsworthy is an absolute treasure trove for the photographer, with vast seas of bluebells swamping the ancient field system, framed within dry-stone walls and lapping against the centrepiece for almost every shot, a Saxon stone barn. This barn holds a special place in my heart, as in my real job I am responsible for its upkeep and I’m part of an organisation that protects and conserves the whole site. Emsworthy is one of my very favourite locations all year round and to do it justice, I’ll do a separate blog post on it another time.

Its popularity is, however, a double-edged sword. It’s popular because the bluebell display is so impressive, but that popularity comes at a price. It’s an absolute honeypot in May, with photographers travelling great distances to capture it. I’ve been there for sunrise in the past (which is around 5am at that time of year) and literally had to jostle amongst crowds of photographers for space – keeping them out of shot becomes a real challenge! Despite my love of the site, I do find the options for composition quite restrictive at this time of year. This is because you almost definitely want to take the classic shot with the barn in the background and the bluebells in the fore, but this limits your options – ancient Beech trees mean that you can’t really shoot facing south and facing east (at the rear of the barn) the composition is dull and nowhere near as dramatic. This means you can only really shoot facing west (at the front of the barn) or possibly facing north across the bluebell field.

If you shoot facing the front of the barn, your options are to either get into the meadow and shoot up close or to stay on the outside and shoot over the dry-stone wall. The former works well if you to get quite low to the ground amongst the bluebells and experiment with depth of field, whilst the latter lets you use the walls as interesting leading lines, giving your shot a bit more variety. Both work well.

Leading lines are also possible when shooting facing north. Here, you are likely to get best results by being further back from the barn and taking a wider shot of the bluebell field (something like What3Words location - abacus.untruth.dress ). Livestock and the hoards of visitors do make paths through the flowers and nice lines emerge that draw the eye through the shot. The time of day plays a very big part at Emsworthy too. It is entirely possible to get a decent shot at sunrise, but I don’t like it because by the time the rising sun has cleared Saddle Tor (behind the fields to the east), golden hour has past and the light is harsh with little interest in the sky.  For me, sunset works better, with the dying light giving the field an extra glow. Of course, the downside with sunset is that it can be a busier time of day, but in all honesty, it is always busy so you really just have to ride your luck and make the most of the situation.

I’ve never actually tried it, but I have seen some nice shots taken much further back, from the verges of the B3387 that runs between Saddle Tor and Widecombe (try What3Words location - bought.movements.household). Here, photographers successfully use long lenses to give a sense of compression to the shot and allowing for more of a sense of space and freedom that you cant get when you are up too close to the fields or barn. This would also be a good tactic to avoid the crowds of visitors too, so maybe I’ll try it myself this year!

Emsworthy is a nature reserve managed by Devon Wildlife Trust. One of the real joys is that it consistently one of the best spots to hear and see Cuckoos, and their appearance always seems to coincide with the arrival of the bluebells. Curlews love the wet ground of the mire too, and a visit really is a sensory experience with the delicate perfume of the blooms mixing with the lonely cry of the curlew and the familiar call of the cuckoo heralding a moorland spring. Please do respect the delicate natural balance of Emsworthy if you visit. Its easy to get lost, trying to capture your best angle and these delicate little flowers can easily get trampled. Stick to the paths, don’t leave any litter, close the gates and always respect the other visitors too.

The bluebell field isn’t really visible from the road, but it is easy to find. Just park in the Saddle Tor car park (What3Words location - shifts.boomer.mountains) and you will see a dry stone wall running away on the left hand side. Follow the wall a short distance down the slope and you will come to a gate with a Devon Wildlife Trust sign (What3Words location - muted.push.myths). Go through the gate and head down to the barn. You can’t miss it!

For a greater sense of freedom and for more options in your compositions, the next location you should check out, is Holwell Lawn. Its only about a mile from Emsworthy on the Manaton road. Take the B3387 and turn off at Harefoot Cross signed for Manaton and Hound Tor. After about a mile the road descends down a gentle slope and you cross a cattle grid. Park immediately on your left (I recommend What3Words location -approach.prude.bypasses)  and Holwell Lawn is across the road on your right (alternatively you can walk there from Emsworthy – the Devon Wildlife Trust information board will show you the route)

Holwell Lawn is owned by the Pony Club and is regularly used for meets. A public footpath runs through it and the whole site is very accessible but again, like with Emsworthy, should be respected and treated with great care.

Whereas the bluebells at Emsworthy are largely confined to one meadow In front of the barn (and to some extent the meadow beyond too), the display at Holwell is spread over a far greater area. The strength of Holwell for the photographer is the expansive backdrop – vast carpets of purple and blue stretch away towards the Becka Brook valley, with the iconic skyline of Haytor and Saddle Tor beyond. Because the space is far greater here, it is much easier to get away from the crowds too and you don’t feel anywhere near as restricted. There are plenty of options to shoot foreground interest by using granite clitter, stone walls or the many trees and shrubs that grow all around the site. Like with Emsworthy, numerous paths are forged through the bluebells and so there are plenty of opportunities for leading lines in your shot. This really is a place to take your time, to wander, explore and to find a composition or view that works best for you. It’s a wonderful place to just walk as well, and a nice circular route along well defined paths, takes you in an easterly direction to Greator Rocks and Hound Tor beyond – all of which are also carpeted in bluebells too and present you with a wilder feeling than you get in the slightly artificial settings of Emsworthy or Holwell. I love this site and it remains my favourite for bluebell photography.

Timing again is important. Holwell is the opposite of Emsworthy, with sunrise working much better here, as there is nothing to obstruct the rising sun, leaving the lawn beautifully lit at dawn - the fresh clean air combined with a little dew really makes the colours pop. If you are very lucky, you can time your shoot to coincide with a pinky / purple dawn sky, which, when combined with the blue carpet beneath looks amazing. I’ve only captured it once, but it is one of my favourite shots. Sunset doesn’t work so well here. In May, the setting sun is still quite low, and I’ve found you lose it quickly behind Chinkwell Tor leaving the lawn in shadow. The only downside at Holwell is that there are a number of jumps used by the pony club dotted all around. They aren’t the most photogenic and can rather ruin a shot, so you may need to be creative in your positioning (or have good photo editing software back home!). If the bluebells bloom in late May, I do find they start to compete with the young bracken. It’s not strictly a problem as the vibrant green gives a nice contrast, but it can make your shot look messy. Again, some careful positioning and framing should allow you to avoid the worst of it but do keep it in mind.

For something completely different, my last location is certainly worth a visit. On the road between Widecombe and Moretonhampstead, just before Headland Warren Farm and Grimspound, lies Challacombe Down. The road cuts a path through the valley bottom, with Hameldown on the eastern slope and Challacombe on the west, and it is here that a unique bluebell display can be found. Challacombe was farmed in medieval times, using a strip field system in which long narrow fields were cut into the hillside. Although now defunct, the terraces that were created remain visible and at this time of year become adorned with bluebells, casting huge lines of purple and blue across the valley. This location is very quiet – indeed I’ve never met anyone up there, so you’ll almost certainly have it to yourself, even in peak flowering season. Its less accessible than the other two sites, but paths are clearly visible. I actually find that being up close, you lose the effect of the terraces, so personally I tend to shoot from the road looking west to maximise the lines of blooms. There is a handy space to park at What3Words location -recipient.frost.signified,  and I’ve got some great shots from the roadside verge there. Challacombe is completely shaded at sunset, so you really need to shoot in the morning or early afternoon. Finding your composition is all part of the fun, but I have enjoyed using a 300mm lens and either isolating some of the mature trees amongst lines of bluebells, or using the long diagonal dry-stone wall that runs at the northern extremity of the valley to cut right through my shot – the contrast between contained bluebell strips on one side and wild untamed moorland on the other working extremely well.

As we leave Challacombe, we come to the end of this post on Dartmoor’s bluebells. As I say, these locations are just the ones that have worked for me and I hope that even if you aren’t a photographer, they have given you some ideas on where to go for a breathtaking spring walk. To be honest, even a stroll with a smartphone camera will guarantee you some great shots.  There really are no rules to how best to shoot these sites, just give some thought to the position of the sun (shade really does ruin a bluebell scene!) and be prepared for the crowds at some of the busier sites. And finally, one more time, I cant stress enough how important it is to respect these sites and their flowers. They are used so heavily at this time of year, that irreversible damage could easily be caused to the delicate ecosystems. Please tread lightly, stay on the paths and help to preserve this amazing natural display for everyone.