IN landscape, cultural, ecological and enjoyment terms the well-being of the hill farming community is fundamental both to the future of Dartmoor as a national park and the viability of the local rural community.

Employment, care for the landscape and the environment, tourism, family structure and life, tradition, rural services and businesses are all inter-related. They come together to give us the Dartmoor we know today.

The land is all owned by individuals or organisations and is the product of more than 5,000 years of farming.

Today more than 90 per cent of the national park is used for farming. Much of this is either open moorland known as common, where livestock is grazed by those farmers who have rights to use it (commoners), or enclosed moorland.