Ponsworthy

Ponsworthy is a handful of houses in the valley of the West Webburn, between Poundsgate and Widecombe, and it is the sort of place people drive through slowly because the lane runs straight through a ford. A small clapper carries the footpath over the water beside it. There is no shop, no pub and no church, and the hamlet has changed very little, which is exactly its appeal.

The country around it is the gentle, green side of Dartmoor: deep lanes, small fields, granite farmsteads and wooded stream valleys, with the open moor never far above. Jordan and Lower Town lie close by, and paths lead up towards Corndon Tor and Yar Tor or down towards the Dart. For anyone touring the moor by car, Ponsworthy is a reminder that Dartmoor is not all tors and open ground, and for walkers it is a quiet way into the Webburn valley.