The moorland stretch is covered by DARTMOOR, and the border country area by BUCKFAST ABBEY, we will therefore start this guide section at Totnes.
If you are interested in history, Totnes is the place to spend time. People have lived here since Neolithic times about 6000 years ago, but the town's documented history begins in the 10th century when the fort was established by the Saxons.
On tuesdays (May to Sept.) the locals, shopkeepers, and stallholders, dress in Elizabethan costumes for a unique market day.
For over 900 years, sailors have set out to sail the world, in times of peace and war, on trading adventures, and to settle new lands:
In the 16th century, Totnes ranked among the 20 richest towns in the England, and over 60 hpuses from this period remain in the main street.
To-day, Totnes remains deeply in touch with it's history, but is also a lively creative community which, along with DARTINGTON, rightly claims to be at the centre of the South Devon arts scene.
Totnes is a town where shopping's like it used to be (small shops in quaint street and lanes) and where historic England still reigns.
The high street is full of shops that are unique to Totnes and original in outlook: hand-made shoes, crafts and toys; speciality food shops selling some of Devon's best local produce, much organically grown;
wholefood and healthfood stores; alternative medicine and therapy clinics; bookshops (new and secondhand); galleries and art/crafts; antiques; and the shop of 1000 teddybears.
Between Totnes and Dartmouth there are many interesting villages along the river banks: Sharpham; Tuckenhay; Stoke Gabriel; and Dittisham. The visitor could easily spend a week just investigating the eight miles of this river.
Tuckenhay - a tiny hamlet with a big industrial history dating from 1550. At times: 15 lime kilns; a rope works; a corn mill; and a paper mill. Paper, manufactured from 1829 to 1962,
was exported to all the continents of the world. The speciality paper was used for the banknotes of many currencies, and for the Proclamation of the Coronation of Elizabeth II.
To-day, it is impossible to imagine this beautiful hamlet, on the banks of Bow Creek, as an industrial centre.
Dittisham - The ham was settled in 765 by a Saxon named Dida. The village was sited on the top of the hill overlooking the Dart, and it is here that you will find St George's Church.
Dedicated in 1333, the church boasts a redstone font dating from Norman times. Lower "Ditts-ham" nestles on the shore, and you can enjoy a pint at the Ferry Boat Inn whilst watching the ferry ply it's trade.
Just downstream is "Anchor Stone" where reputedly, Sir Walter Raleigh sat to smoke his pipe.
Dartmouth lies at the mouth of the River Dart, a spectacular deep water estuary, and is one of the great historic towns of England.
Dartmouth was visited by the Phoenicians and later by the Romans. The first recorded reference to Dartmouth is made in the records of Shaftesbury Abbey in 883AD.
Many of the town's twelve art galleries are housed in historic buildings.
The Dartmouth Royal Regatta was established in 1840 and remains the centre-piece of the summer's celebration.
