Adrian Partridge

Adrian holds the Mountain Leader (summer) award and has completed the training for the winter award. He has been walking on Dartmoor for over 45 years during which time he has enjoyed sharing his enthusiasm for the landscape with scouts, school groups, family and friends. Adrian has been a member of the Dartmoor Rescue Group since 1985 and currently specialises in training navigation with the team. He has been a Dartmoor National Park Guide since 2005 and particularly focuses on longer walks and walks with an archaeological interest. Adrian runs his own hillwalking business “Hillwise”, freelances as an expedition leader in the developing world for World Challenge, and works as a steersman for Canoe Adventures 12 man Voyageur canoes on the tidal Dart.

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Amanda Head

Amanda was born and grew up in London, but caught the hill walking bug after taking part in Ten Tors in 1977. She then spent the next 12 years escaping whenever possible to the Lake District, Peaks, Brecon Beacons and Snowdonia, whilst trying to find a suitable job in the South West so that she could get back to Dartmoor. In 1989 she finally made the move to South Devon and now lives with her family near Newton Abbot. A career change 15 years ago took Amanda into teaching Geography and Outdoor Education, where she has great fun exploring everywhere from the local area with the youngest children to parts of Africa with the older ones, and all via Dartmoor with as many youngsters as possible. Dartmoor offers a never-ending supply of outdoor experiences and no matter how familiar it is, there is always something new to discover and share. Amanda is also an Assistant Scout Leader with a very active group and helps to run bush-craft activities and frequent hike camps throughout the UK as well as regular trips to the Swiss Alps. Amanda joined Moorland Guides in 2012.

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Andrew Thompson

Andrew Thompson is an archaeologist and historian who has spent his working life exploring, explaining and interpreting the history and heritage of South West England.

He has over 25 years’ experience teaching, lecturing and leading history and archaeology guided walks and tours. Andrew believes passionately in bringing history and heritage to life so that they are accessible to people of all ages and backgrounds. He has worked with a wide range of organisations including National Trust, U3As, history societies, young archaeology clubs, cubs and brownies, youth and community groups, schools, lifelong learning providers and universities.

Andrew is based in the market town of Tavistock which is a gateway to the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape World Heritage Site. He is a consultant to the Tavistock World Heritage Site Key Centre Steering Group for whom he recently produced an interpretation strategy. He has also been commissioned by the Tamar Valley Mining Heritage Project to produce interpretation panels in the town.

Andrew combines freelance work with managing the Museum of Dartmoor Life.

Website

Chris Bourne

Chris Bourne has been involved with outdoor activities since a young age when his dad would take the family camping, with open fire cooking, usually in the woodlands or moorland. This then progressed with cubs, scouts, ventures, and as a leader. Many an expedition camping trip was soon to follow and undertaken with his growing family as they came along and now it’s often with his grand children. Chris is married to Brenda and lives in Okehampton Devon. They have four children who are all married and have 9 grand children.
He is a Wild Country Assessor for the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, (DofE) both here in the UK and Overseas. He is Chairman of the local DofE Committee and runs the Open Award Group with other leaders. He is also a Tutor and Course Director for the Award for Supervisors and Assessors.
With the Award he has taken groups regularly to South Africa for their Residential Project and Expedition at Gold Level as well as here in the UK with all three levels of Bronze Silver and Gold participants.
He has led and supervised groups on Dartmoor, Exmoor, Bodmin Moor, The Brecon Beacons, The Lake District, The North York Moors, Snowdonia, The Scotland Glens and Mountains, In France on their footpath network and in the Pyrenees, In South Africa in the Baviaanskloof Mega Wilderness Reserve, The Groot Vaders Bosch World Heritage Site, Landeberg Mountains and the Drakenberg Mountains
He runs Pegasus Outdoor Ventures, which have been developing and evolving since Oct 2006 where he has become more directly involved with environmental education and awareness.
He leases and manages woodlands under a Land Management Plan in conjunction with the Forestry Commission on behalf of the landowners, it is here where the Bushcraft, Woodcraft, Survival Skills, Earth Walk and Environmental events and programmes mainly take place, working with groups, schools, other organisations, families and individuals.
He and Pegasus Outdoor Ventures are organisational members of the Institute of Outdoor Learning and Special Interest Group members for Bushcraft and Survival Skills, where he serves on the executive committee he is also a member of the Special Interest Group for Forest Schools. Pegasus Outdoor Ventures are also members of the Council for Learning Outside of the Classroom.
He is a qualified assessor and internal verifier for Lantra Awards, Land Based Activities and also deliveries programmes for teachers, care workers and play leaders to help them grow in confidence and safety awareness in the outdoor woodland environment.
The woodlands are a designated Learning Destination where children can add to their Passport for learning, see www. Childrensuniversity.co.uk. The Children’s University (CU) Trust offers 7 to 14 year olds (and 5 to 6 year olds with their families) exciting and innovative learning activities and experiences outside normal school hours. If you are a child, parent/carer, school or potentialpartner organisation this is the place to start.
Pegasus Outdoor Ventures are an Approved Provider for the John Muir Award. See http://www.jmt.org/jmaward-home.asp The John Muir Award is an environmental award scheme focused on wild places. It encourages awareness and responsibility for the natural environment, in a spirit of fun, adventure and exploration
The three Levels of the John Muir Award – Discovery Level, Explorer Level and Conserver Level – encourage a progressive involvement.
• Discovery Award (Introductory Level) 4 days (or equivalent) minimum time commitment
• Explorer Award (Intermediate Level) 8 days (or equivalent) minimum time commitment
• Conserver Award (Advanced Level) 20 days (or equivalent) minimum time commitment, over at least 6 months
The same four Challenges are repeated for each Level, with increased involvement in terms of time, activity, responsibility and ownership.
These awards are often integrated into the activities offered as a min- series or programme of events.

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Colin and Heather Ridgers

After settling in Plymouth in the late 1970s, Heather and Colin discovered the many interests and the satisfaction of moorland walking. Their interests have ranged from plotting the different types of orchids growing upon the moor to surreptitiously watching baby foxes outside their dens in the spring.

Utilising expertise gained during his long service as a Royal Marine, Colin joined the Dartmoor Rescue Group in 1980. He is still an active member of the Group to this day and for thirty years has assisted in the Group’s provision of safety cover for the Ten Tors Expedition. For 14 years he acted as one of the Group’s Search Co-ordinators during searches for lost persons both on and off the moor. In 2002, was awarded the Queen’s Jubilee Medal for services to the emergency services.

In their capacity as Voluntary Wardens for the Dartmoor National Park, Heather and Colin have assisted the full time rangers for over fifteen years in many differing moorland tasks ranging from visitor surveys to dry stone walling. In addition to having several articles published in the Dartmoor Magazine they are currently researching and recording the remains of vermin traps used when rabbits were farmed on Dartmoor.

Colin has been a Guided Walks leader for the National Park during both summer and winter for over twenty years; in this he has been ably assisted by Heather who has accompanied him on all his walks and acted as a second guide.

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David Payne

Although Dave was born in London, he became a local man when his parents moved to the West Country in the late 1940’s. He had many trips onto Dartmoor in his youth when he was in the scouts. Some of his early memories were visiting Cornwood China Clay works in the early 1950’s, where his father worked as an engineer. Dave studied zoology, botany and geology as a student, and following graduation, worked as a field geologist for Blue Circle Group and ECC Quarries (now Aggregate Industries). He moved into quarry management and operated many quarries in Devon and Cornwall and was involved in quarry design for planning permission submission at several locations. Dave was one of the founding members of Dartmoor Railway and eventually became Safety Director for British American Railway Services (BARS) before retirement in 2010. The railway operations encompassed Dartmoor Railway, Weardale Railway, Devon and Cornwall Railway and RMS Locotec, a railway contracting business.

Dave obtained the Walking Group Leader (WGL) qualification in 2007.

Dave has been a leader for HF Holidays since 2007, Dartmoor Pony Heritage Trust since 2012 and a Dartmoor National Guide since 2009.

During his walking career, Dave has had experience in the Derbyshire Peak District, Yorkshire Dales, Lake District, Scotland, Brecon Beacons, Exmoor, SW Coastal Paths, the Cotswolds, Snowdonia, Co. Donegal, France, Austria, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Canada, South Africa and the West Indies.

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Debbie Jenkin

Debbie Jenkin was born and raised in Yorkshire, moving to Devon in the 1970s where she formed an immediate attachment with Dartmoor, similar in many ways to her native North York Moors. Working as a primary school teacher, she and her husband and children moved to Dartmoor in 1990 when her passion for the moor grew. She began leading groups for walks on the moor and qualified as a Moorland Leader, joining the pool of Dartmoor National Park guides in 2002, where her guiding work included school groups, foreign students, navigation courses and walks for all ages and abilities. She joined “Moorland Guides” from its launch in 2011. She remains fascinated by Dartmoor, its history and archaeology, geology and wildlife, and has a delight in its legends, which, like many folk-lore stories handed down through time, are often woven into factual events.

Debbie also loves walking in other wild places in Britain, such as the Lake District, the Yorkshire Dales, Scotland, Wales and Northumberland. She has written a number of walking guide books for hotels in Devon.

Debbie loves Dartmoor in all its moods and in it, finds refreshment of spirit and a place to escape to. She says that, “to be in a position to show this jewel to others, is a huge privilege.”

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Emma Cunis

‘Dartmoor’s Daughter’ Emma Cunis focuses on nature connection to improve physical health and emotional wellbeing. She offers guided walks and a wide range of activities for adults, families and children including learning how to dowse days, painting and sketching afternoons, foraging mornings, mindfulness walks, navigation days, tracking games, and nature trails. Clients report a deep sense of nurturing as well as enjoyment, fun and learning.

Emma’s maternal family has loved and lived near Dartmoor for generations. Her grandmother introduced her first husband Eric Hemery to Dartmoor in the 1950s where he set up and offered guided walks and pony treks then wrote a series of well regarded books including ‘High Dartmoor’ described as ‘the bible for anyone who has the spirit of Dartmoor’.

Emma is a qualified Hill & Moorland Leader and has the accompanying Outdoor First Aid certificate. She is a Member of Moorland Guides. Her previous 20 years corporate career ensures a professionalism in dealing with different client groups as well as experience in working with multi-cultural groups, organising events, leading teams, and presentation skills.

Heiko Jancke

Heiko moved from Luxembourg to England in 1983. He caught the hillwalking bug after a holiday with his family in the Lake District the same year and has since walked extensively in The Scottish Highlands, The Lake District, Snowdonia,Peak District and Dartmoor.He has a wide knowledge of the History, Prehistory, Archeology as well as the Industry and wildlife of Dartmoor. He has joined the Moorland Guides and assists the French and German speaking groups and schools, when a skilled interpreter is needed.

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Ian Johnstone

Ian was born at Hampton Court in Surrey and grew up in west London near Heathrow airport. Whilst at school he started the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme, gaining his gold Award in 1969. It was this that started his fondness for Dartmoor as his expeditions were done here. After completing gold Ian went on to become an assessor for the D of E expeditions in 1971. He started teaching in a primary school near Heathrow and moved to Devon to be near Dartmoor in 1976. It wasn’t long before he joined the Rescue Group and the DNP guides – in 1978.

He is now semi-retired, enjoying some supply teaching, running his own living history business for schools and guiding. His particular interests are archaeology of all types and legends, but his walks always include flora, fauna and geology- anything to do with the moor.

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Inge Page

Inge has recently joined Moorland Guides and gained her Walk Group Leader qualification. She lives in Ashburton and has spent many years exploring accessible and interesting routes on Dartmoor. She has set up Dartmoor Walks This Way which offers made-to-measure walks for people wanting to explore the quieter and less obvious parts of the moor -www.dartmoorwalksthisway.co.uk.

Inge worked for 17 years at Schumacher College in Dartington where she was responsible for planning and managing their renowned short course programme. She developed the Earth Pilgrim courses which took participants out onto Dartmoor in the company of Satish Kumar, one of the College founders, to experience wild nature and reflect on the way our relationship to the natural world affects how we live in these challenging times (http://www.schumachercollege.org.uk/courses/earth-pilgrim-2012). Her experiences leading groups during these courses, as well as taking other small groups out on an informal basis, made her realise how few people, even those living quite locally, venture beyond a few obvious areas on Dartmoor and thus miss out on its unique character and beauty.

Inge is a fluent German speaker and therefore interested in working with and developing connections with groups from the German-speaking world.

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Mike Jeffery

Mike was born, bred and lives on Dartmoor, he has just retired as a boiler engineer. He holds Walking Group Leader and, National Navigation Bronze Silver and Gold awards Mike has always had a keen interest of Dartmoor and is always willing to share his knowledge with others. His other interests are, bell ringing and miniature engineering He is also a District Councillor and a member of The Dartmoor National Park Authority.

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Mike Rose

Mike retired from the police service in 2012 and lived in Princetown for many years. He has a long connection with the moor starting with completing the Ten Tors challenge four times in his youth. This continued through his involvement with training police search teams and with his role working closely with the Dartmoor Rescue Group. He continues to walk extensively and explore the moor whenever he can. Mike is now the Chair of a regional search and rescue team and is the programme manager for the rescue and emergency management degree course at Cornwall College where he ensures his students become as enthusiastic about the moors as he is!

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Nigel Grist

Nigel Grist is a biologist by training specialising at university in moorland ecology and marine studies. A further research period was spent on the growth of seabird colonies. His interest in flora, especially moorland plants and some of the non-flowering groups such as mosses, liverworts and lichens has been maintained; Dartmoor is a terrific place for these groups.

For twenty-five years he was joint owner and co-director of a marine biological survey company specialising in surveys of marine invertebrates as well as in the design and programming of a number of scientific databases. Photography has been important for both work and pleasure for 40+ years and he has worked and printed in both film and digital. For the last five years he has been developing his photography and other artistic ventures including printmaking (especially linocuts and etchings) though exhibitions, and he has an online presence and links with online image agencies. (www.theunseenview.com)

His interests are varied but might be grouped under wildlife and landscape in a very broad sense: very keen on the detail of macro images but also in trying to capture some sense of a landscape. Dartmoor and the moor’s multi-layered complexity has figured prominently in recent years and he walks there frequently; the Bronze Age sites being of particular interest. Over eleven months between July 2013 and May 2014 he walked all of the named tors and hills on the moor; 1200km and 370 targets in total.

Nigel holds the Mountain Training Association’s WGL award and Bronze and Silver NNAS certificates. He greatly enjoys showing others some of the huge variety of sites and scenes the moor has to offer. He is also very keen on navigation as an enjoyable pursuit for its own sake and enjoys taking small groups on training walks.

Paul Rendell

Paul Rendell, also known as ’Dartmoor Paul’, was born in Plymouth and became enthusiastic about Dartmoor from an early age after being taken on numerous outings by his parents. Burrator and Sheepstor were two of the favourite places they went as a family.
Very early he found he was fascinated by the moor’s industrial archaeology and its wildlife. Because he was dyslexic his schooldays were not very easy for him but he struggled on until school leaving age.
After leaving school, Paul trained as a chef and worked in a number of establishments within the Plymouth area, as well as some on Dartmoor.
Later on he became the Head Gardener at Devonport Dockyard and for stayed there several years but his love for Dartmoor led him to look for work away from the city. His boyhood explorations had already provided him with a knowledge of the moor that only a few possess and his interest led to a second job: leading guided walks and giving talks. Through sheer grit and determination he became a full-time professional guide; this in turn has enabled him to introduce countless people to the delights of walking on Dartmoor and throughout the West Country.
As a keen local historian, Paul has written many articles for newspapers and magazines and wrote his first book, called ‘Exploring the Lower Walkham Valley’. In 1991 he founded the ‘Dartmoor News’, a bi monthly magazine which he still edits today.
Paul is frequently out and about gathering information on matters relating to Dartmoor. For a number of years he was the Conservation Officer for the Dartmoor Preservation Association. In 2011 he started working for the Dartmoor Pony Heritage Trust leading walks and doing conservation work Bellever near Postbridge and Paul is Committee member for the Okehampton and District Branch of the Devonshire Association.

Paul has now been a Dartmoor National Park Guide for over 21 years.
He loves taking photographs and many of his pictures can be found on Christmas cards, postcards, calendars and in magazines. In his spare time he collects old picture postcards, listens to music and exploring the countryside.

Paul has written three books:
Exploring the Lower Walkham Valley,
Exploring the Burrator Area and
Okehampton Through Time was published in May 2011. He has published a number of books for other authors. Today he lives in Okehampton with his partner Pauline Greenwood. They are working their first book together, Dartmoor Pubs Through Time.

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Peter Challiss

Peter Challiss is a qualified Mountain Leader since 2002 and this qualification enables him to lead groups over all the UK including camping. He has worked as a Dartmoor National Park guide since 2001 in both summer and winter, covering a wide variety of moorland walks for the public as well as for English and Foreign school groups. He has led groups on the Lych Way walk, the Abbots Way Walk and many six-hour day walks. Peter is also a Ten Tors manager and for the last 16 years running a 35, 45, & 55 mile teams locally in West Devon.

Whilst not walking on Dartmoor he enjoys walking in Cornwall, the Brecon Beacons, West Wales and occasionally further afield, on the long distance paths in France. For the last 5 years he has spent a month each summer leading school groups abroad and has visited, Chile, Borneo, Ecuador, India and Madagascar. He is also a member of the Tavistock & District Outdoor Education Forum that provides over 3,000 sessions of outdoor activities for young people. He is also the coordinator for the annual 23 mile Abbots Way Walk from Buckfast Abbey to Tavistock, always held on the 1st Sunday in October which reaches its 50th anniversary on October 7th 2012.

He is qualified in outdoor first aid, fully insured and CRB checked. He is, married and has lived near Dartmoor for over 25 years.

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Peter Glanville

Peter was born in Tavistock and has walked Dartmoor and the local area extensively from a young age – an early remembered experience was seeing the dam being built at Meldon Reservoir. He leads walks and talks for Devon Wildlife Trust (http://www.devonwildlifetrust.org) and undertakes practical volunteering on their reserves, and since 2001 has run a Bird Nest Box scheme of over 40 boxes in a wood in the Walkham Valley. He has been working in agriculture since leaving school and has a Level 1 qualification in deer management.

In his spare time he is usually out and about exploring the countryside, often at first and last light. He has been recording a nature diary since 1993. His years of experience have helped him develop excellent field craft skills and knowledge of wildlife which he is keen to share with others.

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Richard Ware

Richard moved to Tavistock in 1985 from the wilds of North Cornwall and immediately started exploring Dartmoor. The remoter the area the more he wanted to explore and find out all he could about the natural beauty, Wildlife and Cultural Heritage. After 25 busy years as Managing Director of the family Landscape Contracting business he decided to give something back so he became a National Park Guide in 2009. He has enjoyed everything about the job since then and has particularly enjoyed the school walks and walks with families. He believes all walks should be fun and one of the main attributes of a Guide should be a good sense of humour.

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Sue Goodfellow

Sue is passionate about bringing people and wildlife closer together for their mutual benefit and has spent many years showing people the delights of Dartmoor’s habitats and species.
She is an environmental consultant specialising in conservation policy, environmental assessments and sustainable tourism as well as leading many events for the public and specialist groups.. She worked for the Dartmoor National Park Authority for over 30 years latterly as Director of Conservation and Director of Park Management, heading up a multidisciplinary team working across many disciplines, and formerly as the Park Authority’s ecologist. She is currently the Chair of Natural Devon, the Devon Local Nature Partnership and a trustee of the Devon Wildlife Trust.
Sue is a qualified Hill and Moor Leader, a First Aider and experienced navigator. She has trekked and botanised in many mountain ranges including the Himalayas, the Caucasus, and the Tien Shan.
She lives on Dartmoor in the Teign Valley.

Tom Soby

Born the youngest son to a family in Okehampton comprising of five sisters and one brother, Tom was introduced to Dartmoor at a very early age. He was taught to swim in the Moorland Rivers, climb Oak trees in Halstock Woods, scramble up the rock faces at Meldon, explore the ruined mines in and around the area, watch the Salmon spawn in the Moor Brook and take a shower beneath the waterfall on the East Okement River! Tom still lives in Okehampton, was educated there, found employment, raised a family, has grandchildren close by and walks Dartmoor most days. Tom has also walked in other mountainous regions of the U.K. and overseas and has loved every minute of it. But coming back home to Dartmoor is/was always something special; to see Cosdon Hill on the horizon when heading west is just wonderful sight because Dartmoor has been a home for thousands of people for thousands of years. Wherever you walk on Dartmoor, you could be walking where ancient people once tread, you could be seeing the same landscape that they saw, breathing that fresh moorland air, listening to birdsongs or simply listening the magic of the quietness . . . Wow, enjoy it, have fun because I’m sure they did! Tom ticks all the boxes required for a Moorland Guide, he has been guiding children, teenagers & adults for the DNP (and many other walking groups) since the 1990’s and has retired from being an Information Advisor in DNP visitor centres in October 2016.

Tony Burges

Tony Burges was born and bred in Devon and his passion for Dartmoor was inspired while he went through his training as a Royal Marine on the moors. He was always a keen sportsman and indeed was Captain of the 1st eleven as well as the hockey and rugby teams while at Allhallows School for boys. While serving in the Royal Marines he went on to represent both the Royal Marines and also the Royal Navy at hockey and was selected to play for the combined services hockey team.

Upon leaving the Royal Marines Tony took over the family business and developed it into a limited company of three businesses which he ran for over 35 years. He has also served on Seaton Town Council and indeed still plays cricket as well as hockey for both Sidmouth and Devon County.

His passion for Dartmoor stayed with him and he qualified as a Mountain and Moorland Walking leader and became a Dartmoor National Park Guide. This has taken him as a walks leader for a variety of companies covering Wales, The Lake District, The Peak District, Isle of Wight, New Forest, Cornwall and around the Jurassic Coast – a World Heritage Site. He also served as an Exmoor National Park Guide for many years and at present takes groups walking and on coach tours where he provides commentaries.

Amongst his other interests he includes photography and presenting illustrated talks around the county of Devon with subjects ranging from Dartmoor to the Jurassic Coast as well as the history of Exeter amongst others.

His interest in history led him to become an Exeter Red Coat Guide – giving tours of the historic capital city of Devon and he has also been a guide for the Britannia Royal Naval College, Dartmouth

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Willem Montagne

Willem Montagne was born in the Netherlands and grew up and was educated in England. He has a degree in Geography and trained and worked as a teacher. Willem has worked as Dartmoor National Park Education Officer for 26 years and is now retired. He has an excellent working knowledge of Dartmoor, Devon and beyond. His interests range across all aspects of the landscape including Geology, Geomorphology, Natural History, Archaeology, Environmental Education and the cultural heritage, including folklore and the arts. As an experienced guide he has a passion for exploration and adventure and aims to design and provide walks that entertain, challenge and intrigue participants. He has extensive experience of working with young people and adults and enjoys adapting and providing for very different kinds of audiences. He likes working with all age ranges, from pre-school groups to postgraduate university students and beyond. He has also specialized in groups, with or including, people with learning, behavioral and mental health difficulties.

Willem has travelled widely and is very open to working with groups from different cultural back grounds. Although he works mainly in English he is able to communicate well with people with a limited understanding of English and speaks fluent Dutch. Willem’s experience of planning, organizing and leading bespoke walks and educational events is second to none and he would like to use this knowledge to benefit those that wish to understand and enjoy Dartmoor in keeping with the National Park “ethos” and its aims. Guided walks and other events can be designed to include physical challenges, formal field studies, environmental games and arts activities.