This week heavy rain all morning was on the forecast so once again, rather than hike over the high moor and see nothing, Mrs T and I decided to visit Longstone Manor Ruins at Burrator Reservoir to try to get out of the worst of the rain.
Longstone Manor.
Burrator Reservoir.
Burrator is close to us and we have walked around this reservoir many times but never really to photograph what surrounds it, usually we are just walking around on the road for the exercise. This time we decided to take some of the woodland tracks that are between the road and the shoreline, some very muddy tracks tbh.
Taking this route meant we saw some things that we hitherto hadn’t experienced, like these old iron fixtures that I presume were part of the engineering equipment they used when they built the Dam.
Where those iron fixtures were was a dead end track that led to what appeared to be a jetty of some kind although a bit overgrown. It gave us a view of the dam that we hadn’t seen before.
This is the normal view of the overflow channels from the road side.
Also from the road on the Dam you can see that jetty where we were stood to get that photo of the reservoir side of the overflow channels.
We set off form here along the woodland tracks, many of the trees were overhanging the reservoir.
The woodland tracks are definitely more interesting to walk than the road, the whole area is covered in verdant green mosses.
That also applies to the roadside rocks and trees (we did have to do some road work).
A little farther along the track we cleared the woodland and saw what appears to be a small enclave within the reservoir, it has a nice track around it and several bench seats (mostly dedicated to passed family members). There were more Ducks than I expected and a couple of Geese.
We could see in the distance the weather that we were being (sort of) sheltered from, photography was challenging I couldn’t get reasonable enough shutter speeds for hand holding and the strong wind had rain in it so I could only shoot with my back to the wind.
It wasn’t long before we reached the old Longstone Manor Ruins, they are well kept and give an interesting insight to the past before the reservoir, it seems a pity that the Manor was a casualty of the need to have water supplies stored, many farms met similar fates.
The sign that explains some of the history.
We spent quite a while at the site, as we did the rain eased and direction of photography became less of an issue though the tripod was still required. The big circular stone is a Cider Press.
What's left of the entrance to the main house.
I tried to cover all angles (wind and rain permitting).
There was an area down the side of the buildings that looks like a ramp to launch boats into the reservoir, obviously before the reservoir it was just the track out to the estate. There is a big stone in the middle of the track, perhaps to discourage launching boats?
We found the remains of the “Threshing Floor”, it seemed like a nice place to stop for lunch.
After lunch we took another couple of shots before heading back to the car.
We decided to head back to the car along the road rather than the slippery muddy woodland tracks, this Copse caught my eye, a bit of sunlight would have helped greatly but it wasn’t to be.
A little further along there was a track leading away from the reservoir, one to explore another day I think.
Once back on the Dam I shot the reservoir again, a bit brighter than in the morning but by no means great light.
That’s all for this week folks, here’s hoping for better weather next week. As always, comments welcome.
Tags: Burrator reservoir Landscape and travel Dartmoor Photowalk Longstone Manor Ruins Burrator
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