We can help you with press ideas, press releases and media visits. We are a non funded membership organisation and we work on behalf of our members and in partnership with Dartmoor National Park Authority. Our aims include increasing awareness of our beautiful area and to encourage our visitors to stay longer. We are delighted to work in partnership with the press to help us achieve our aims. As a result of this we have devised our Visit Dartmoor Press Charter to show our support to the media.

Visit Dartmoor Press Charter 

• We offer a free service to assist in organising media visits
• We can supply the press with press stories and ideas and up to date press releases
• We can help give advice and introductions to our business on Dartmoor to help you manage your own press visit
• We can offer support and help with images and connect you with our excellent local photographers
• We can support your stories through our own social media channels

In return we ask for a guaranteed mention and a link back to www.visitdartmoor.co.uk
Please keep coming back to see what Visit Dartmoor has been up to. We regularly facilitate press and media visits, send news items and editorial to magazines, newspapers and websites, as well as working with TV companies to source locations, activities, interviews and accommodation.

If you have a specific media enquiry, we will be very happy to supply further details and information, as well as providing images where possible.

We have a selection of hi-res Dartmoor landscape images available for the press to use CLICK HERE for the pdf. If you require any of the images please email simon@visitdartmoor.co.uk for the files.

If high quality images of outdoor activities on Dartmoor are required, please email simon@visitdartmoor.co.uk to request which ones you would like. We have riding, cycling, walking and climbing images by Malcolm Snelgrove of Wild Tor Media.

For media enquiries please contact
Jenny How jenny@visitdartmoor.co.uk
01837 659224

Dartmoor feature for Country Walking magazine

We were delighted to work with Jenny Walters from Country Walking to arrange a trip for her to explore the Tarka Trail on North Dartmoor. Visit Dartmoor members Mark and Lesley kindly agreed to provide accommodation and a hearty breakfast at their Meadowlea Guesthouse in Okehampton. Visit Dartmoor is based in Okehampton, Jen lives in Belstone and walks her dog on the moor there every day, so this was a particularly fun trip to organise! You can read the fascinating article below.

 

The Times newspaper

This summer we arranged a wonderful trip to Dartmoor for author S.K.Tremayne, when he stayed at Gidleigh Park, Two Bridges and Boringdon Hall. We’ve worked with this lovely chap before, organising a quiet retreat on the moor when he was actually writing his fab book! The result was a brilliant article in The Times.

We also had great fun arranging an exciting competition to celebrate the launch of his book, working with Harper-Collins Publishers and Stylist Magazine.  The prize was a stay at Two Bridges Hotel, ‘Hound of the Baskervilles Tour' with Unique Devon Tours and a two course dinner at Ilsington Country House Hotel. We had over 8000 entires!

 

A Good Walk’ series - Times newspaper, Weekend section, Outdoor pages

"We've just had a marvellous stay at Ugborough. Thank you so much for setting this up. The pub was just exactly what two tired walkers wanted (and rarely get!). Good welcome, good beer, delicious food and a bed so comfortable we overslept. We walked in sun shine, with views to the coast, easy to find paths and lots of added interest, including a warty toad and an old notched cross.” Christopher & Jane Somerville - Travel Writers.

 

Visit Dartmoor to welcome more overseas visitors thanks to funding win

Visit Dartmoor has been appointed to help spearhead a campaign to drive more foreign visitors to Devon as part of the Government’s £40 million Discover England Fund.

The official tourism organisation for Dartmoor National Park, Visit Dartmoor has secured funding to help local businesses attract international visitors under the Make Great Memories in England’s National Parks project. The £1 million, two-year collaboration between the UK’s national parks will deliver a joined-up, branded collection of signature experiences along with a business support and trade marketing strategy to develop bookable tourism product. Initially, the project will work with the travel trade to target the Australian and German markets.

Under the campaign Visit Dartmoor will work as Business Engagement Facilitator supporting Dartmoor National Park, setting up workshops and training sessions for local businesses. The new role will involve working in partnership with Jo Butler of Jo Butler Consulting, who successfully bid to deliver the project’s training and business support for both Dartmoor and Exmoor national parks.

“We are absolutely delighted, this is the first time that we have won anything on such a big scale and it’s fantastic to see Dartmoor getting the recognition it deserves as one of England’s key attractions,” said Jenny How, Director of Visit Dartmoor. “As a small member organisation with finite resources this will make a massive difference, providing a significant boost to both Dartmoor and Devon tourism.”

Jo Butler added: “This is fantastic news and I’m excited to be working in partnership with both Dartmoor and Exmoor to help deliver the project. We are lucky to live in such a beautiful part of the world and I’m looking forward to helping local businesses compete on a global scale.”

England’s National Parks attract over 94 million visitors a year. They are major contributors to the tourism economy, currently accounting for more than £4bn of visitor spending, almost a quarter of spending on rural tourism. 

About the Discover England Fund

In November 2015 the Government announced a £40 million Discover England Fund to deliver world-class bookable tourism products, joined up across geographies and/or themes; including integrated transport solutions to provide an end-to-end customer experience. The Fund supports the growth of one of England’s most valuable export industries, inbound tourism, ensuring the UK stays competitive in the rapidly growing global tourism industry.

 

Visit Dartmoor launches group itineraries

Visit Dartmoor, the official tourism organisation for Dartmoor National Park, has launched a range of itineraries aimed at group travel, making one of the last great wildernesses in the UK more accessible to all.

Situated at the heart of Devon, Dartmoor is an ancient landscape of stunning views, awe inspiring granite tors, deep wooded valleys with fast flowing rivers, and rugged, wide open spaces. Steeped in history, Dartmoor also offers visitors the opportunity to enjoy absolute peace and quiet. The new series of itineraries showcase the most group-friendly hotels, highlighting top nearby attractions and activities.

Focusing on different themes and areas of the moor, each of the new itineraries could be used to enjoy a taste of Dartmoor on a wider tour of the South West, or could be combined as part of a longer visit to the National Park. The new itineraries include:

Active Breaks – Featuring bespoke guided cycling tours and walking.

National Trust – Turning the spotlight on two of Dartmoor’s fascinating National Trust attractions, Finch Foundry, the last water powered forge in England; and Lydford Gorge with its famous White Lady Waterfall.

Castle & Garden – Featuring Castle Drogo and Stone Lane Gardens with its mystical sculpture exhibition.

History & Heritage – Taking in the ancient stannary town of Tavistock and 700-year-old Buckland Abbey as well as the historic St Michael and All Angels church.

Arts & Crafts – Including a visit to the Devon Guild of Craftsmen, House of Marbles and Teign Valley Glass.

Announcing the launch, Jo Butler, Visit Dartmoor Director said:

 

“Dartmoor is known for its stunning wilderness but visitors don’t always appreciate how much there is to do or know where to start. The concept behind the new itineraries was simply making Dartmoor easier to explore.

“This is the first year we have done anything targeting the UK group travel trade and group organisers. The itineraries have been really well received, both by Visit Dartmoor members and buyers at the recent South West Group Travel Fair.

 

“We will be developing a Dartmoor Folklore itinerary later in the year and will also be launching a new Group Travel section on the website. This will give more itinerary ideas, info on coach parking as well as venues that welcome groups.”

 

Richard Drysdale, Visitor Services Manager for Dartmoor National Park Authority, said:

 

"Dartmoor is too often visited and seen from afar rather than explored. These new itineraries allow groups to get to the heart of Dartmoor and understand what makes it such a fantastic place to visit and why it is a National Park – a jewel in the crown for the South West. We are delighted that Visit Dartmoor have developed these itineraries and look forward to working with them further on welcoming groups to Dartmoor".

 

Mysterious Dartmoor 

Eerie mists, ancient tors — get back to nature at its mystical wildes - Sunday Times Travel

As national parks go, it ’s not the biggest: you can drive across it in an hour, and see the best of it in a weekend. But by car or on foot (or, ideally, both) it ’s a real adventure: savage moorland, misty mires, Stone Age barrows, and eerie granite tors (from the Celtic for tower). Enigmatic and intriguing — welcome to southern England’s last true wilderness. By Sean Thomas

READ MORE

 

Mode & Tendances magazine

We thoroughly enjoyed working with French magazine 'Mode & Tendances’ to showcase Dartmoor to their readership. Thanks to Rick Turner and Alex Graeme for supplying the lovely images too! Let’s hope it inspires lots of French visitors to come and enjoy Dartmoor.

 

Dartmoor Panorama - The Moorlander

Malcolm Snelgrove – Visit Dartmoor Ambassador

We hear from Malcolm Snelgrove –Ambassador for Visit Dartmoor, Outdoor Lifestyle Photographer and & Brand Champion for Trail Outdoor.

Visit Dartmoor visits the Dartmoor ponies!

Last Friday, one of Devon’s favourite radio and TV presenters Judi Spiers joined some 35 Visit Dartmoor members to meet the ponies and people at the Dartmoor Pony Heritage Trust Centre, located in the National Trust’s property at Parke, in Bovey Tracey. Visit Dartmoor is the Tourism Delivery Partner to Dartmoor National Park Authority, run by Jenny How and Simon Lloyd. READ MORE

The Alliance Bulletin… Read more on page 7

Providing key information in a no-frills format for professionals who travel to write, edit, broadcast or create images.

Visit Dartmoor has appointed professional photographer Malcolm Snelgrove as a dedicated ambassador to help promote the National Park as a visitor destination.

 

Plymouth Herald… Read more

Dartmoor ponies to join new Ten Tors challenge.

 

Western Morning News…

Moor assignment for photographer.

 

Worcester News… Read more

A delight for dogs on Dartmoor.

Winter is a perfect time for the grand tor Read more

The low-angled light brings out Dartmoor’s brooding beauty and downright spookiness, as Mark Rowe discovers.         

Your Dog Magazine… Read more

An extract from the November issue of Your Dog Magazine, and many thanks for your assistance with that.

 

Winter Fun on Dartmoor… Read more

The launch of the Dartmoor Business Network… Read more

  

Visit Dartmoor team grows and new projects… Read more

  

 

Visit Dartmoor - Chinese name changing

On Simon Bates Breakfast Show Jenny from Visit Dartmoor was interviewed by Simon Bates

LISTEN HERE

Visit Dartmoor - Chinese name changing

Okehampton Times

  

Visit Dartmoor had a request from Countryfile

At the end of April Visit Dartmoor had a request from a Countryfile researcher at the BBC asking if we could suggest somewhere for them to base the show on Dartmoor, and also to come up with some ideas for activities for John Craven to get involved with. Many emails, telephone calls and weeks later…..you can see the results:

The viewing figures for the working landscape compilation, which went out on a very sunny evening in the summer (which really has an impact) were:
Peak 5.4 million (average 5.1) which was the second highest share of the day at 27.3% of the available audience.

The seasons have a surprising effect on viewer numbers. We are always 5 million plus, but in the summer and especially on sunny evenings when fewer bums are on sofas we do notice a difference. This Sunday for example we averaged 6.9m and peaked at 8 with a whopping 34% share, which is a sign that we are moving towards winter when we regularly get 8mil viewers.

Natural Health Magazine

Journalist Jini Reddy contacted me to ask if I could arrange accommodation for her during the time she would be visiting Sue Blagburn at Adventures with Horses to research the feature she was due to write for Natural Health Magazine.

Hannah and Luke came up with the goods at Lowertown Farm, as we knew they would, which was particularly great for Jini as Hannah is an experienced and knowledgable equestrienne. 

A little later, Jini also needed some images for her book when it was published by Bradt, and I was very happy to put her in touch with the lovely Rachel Burch, who is a gifted photographer on Dartmoor.

This is why we love assisting with the many requests we receive from media and press, it always results in great coverage and raised awareness of Dartmoor!

Devon Business & Professional Life

Click on the image above to see the pdf version.

Puzzle Quest South West

Click on the image above to see the pdf version.

  

Visit Dartmoor ranked 4th in the UK

The first English Tourism Social Media Index, a league table which grades 126 regional tourism bodies in England according to social media performance by their official channels has announced their results and the DP 2013/4 marketing campaign is ranked 4th

This, as well as the other exceptional results  (all shown below) that we achieved in 2013/14 with the Dartmoor Active Holidays campaign shows what can be achieved with a modest budget and high levels of expertise.

Rank	Region	Score
1	VisitWiltshire	74.2
2	Visit Cornwall	73.4
3	VisitLondon	73.1
4	Visit Dartmoor	70.9
5	Visit Thanet	70.3
6	Visit Norfolk	69.6
7	Destination Milton Keynes	67.5
8	Visit Peak District & Derbyshire	67.4
9	Visit Forest of Dean & Wye Valley	66.6
10	Visit Greenwich	66.4

Source: www.englishtourism.socialmediaindex.co.uk

The Index is compiled by measuring the social media performance of each tourism body based, not just on an algorithm, but a team of five people who looked at nine social networks. 

  

Visit Dartmoor Launch December 2014

The meeting at the award winning Princetown Visitor Centre last night to hear the Dartmoor Partnership Board explain the reasons for the business to be wound down, and for the launch of Visit Dartmoor went very well.

A short welcome by Kevin Bishop, Chief Executive Dartmoor National Park (National Park Officer) was followed by an address from Jonathon Hall, Company Secretary Dartmoor Partnership. He explained how and why it had been necessary to take drastic action very quickly, in order to avoid insolvency which would have caused massive problems to everyone, most of all the members. He made reference to the fact that Stella West-Harling M.B.E. is forming a Dartmoor Strategic Partnership from a very wide band of Dartmoor organisations and businesses to work together and utilise each others contacts and networks to gain maximum exposure for any Dartmoor based initiatives. Visit Dartmoor will be part of this group, so will hear first hand of any opportunities for our members.

Then it was our turn. I briefly outlined who we are, how and why we have formed this new company to become the new Official Dartmoor Tourism Organisation, and some of our plans for the future. We have produced leaflets and posters with all this information on as well, which were given to the attending guests, along with a copy of our latest issue of Active Dartmoor magazine.  (Click here to read the magazine)

We then invited questions from the audience, which was enthusiastically responded to!

One of the main questions was how are we different, and why will we succeed where the Partnership failed. The main points we have in our favour are our long experience of marketing Dartmoor, supporting Dartmoor businesses, a huge Social  Media following, and that we are a small, privately owned non-profit company. We already run two other very successful businesses, which means that for this first year we can support ourselves while we build the business up, using all the facilities and resources we have in-house. All profits at the end of each year will be reinvested into a fund with the sole purpose of further supporting Dartmoor businesses, and promoting Dartmoor to the wider world.

We announced that we will be launching a brand new website by the end of February, which will be very easy to use for everyone, and a vast improvement on the current site. We WILL maintain the domain name and our Google ranking, as both domain names will be directed back to the new site, this is extremely important!

Finally, other members of the closing Board (Andy Bradford of Brimpts Farm, Tom Stratton from Duchy of Cornwall)  introduced themselves and made the point that they were open to comments and questions while Luscombes drinks were consumed and Fox Tor Cafe mince pies enjoyed!

We were very touched by extremely supportive comments during the meeting itself, from Dave Openshaw of Fox Tor Cafe, Tony Cobley, who is an extremely talented photographer, Adrian Colston, General Manager, National Trust Dartmoor, Richard Drysdale Visitor Services Manager for Dartmoor National Park. We were also really pleased to have Maurice Retallick supporting us, he is the Deputy Chairman, Dartmoor National Park.

We then had a general mingling and networking session where we were able to meet lots of old and new friends, arranged meetings, and listened to ideas and suggestions by members.

We will always be very happy to receive feedback, questions and suggestions, so please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

jenny@visitdartmoor.co.uk