A NEW festival is back for its second year, celebrating the star of summer on the Early May Bank Holiday weekend.

Artists, writers, musicians and more will gather for the Dartmoor Tors Festival, in a host of events exploring Dartmoor’s nature and culture.

The festival was founded last year by husband-and-wife team, artist Alex Murdin and writer Sophie Pierce, who wanted to provide a forum for conversation and creativity about Dartmoor.

Events will take place in Ashburton and at other locations around the moor.

The festival has a new lead partner for 2026, the Dartmoor Preservation Association, which has been campaigning to keep Dartmoor wild and free for 144 years.

Sophie and Alex are also continuing to work closely with Ashburton Arts Centre and the Field System Gallery in Ashburton; the festival also has the support of Dartmoor National Park.

There will be talks, walks, performances, exhibitions and workshops.

The Saturday night headliner at Ashburton Arts Centre is the Mercury Prize-nominated Gwenno, who sings in Cornish and Welsh as well as English.

Also performing on other nights are the Dartmoor-based singer Cole Stacey, and the band Craven, described as ‘dark folk’.

There will be talks and conversations with a variety of thinkers including the mythologist Martin Shaw, sculptor Peter Randall-Page, Dartmoor witch Rebecca Beattie, nature writer Sophie Pavelle, photographer Chris Chapman, poet Jane Lovell and rewilder Derek Gow.

There will be May Day celebrations with dancing from Morris sides Newton Abbot-based Grimspound Border and Newton Bushel, and a new well-dressing ceremony at St Gudula’s Well in Ashburton.

An exhibition at Field System Gallery will explore portals, labyrinths and mazes.

There will be walks all over Dartmoor with different themes: a performance poetry walk along the River Dart led by MED Theatre, a dawn chorus walk with ornithologist Tony Whitehead, an exploration of the Merrivale stone rows with dowsers Peter Knight and Sue Wallace-Knight, and a drawing walk at Bench Tor with artist Kay Pearson.

The Dartmoor Preservation Association is providing a free, mindful walk to the Dewerstone, Emma Cunis will lead a ‘Bellever Day’ walk, recreating an old Dartmoor tradition when thousands of people would converge on Bellever Tor, archaeoastronomer Carolyn Kennett, with guide Paul Rendell will take people to visit ancient sites including Shoveldown near Chagford and Brisworthy near Shaugh Prior, and storytellers Lisa Schneidau and Sara Hurley will tell tales of Wistman’s Wood and Crockern Tor.

The festival is also trying to air some of the challenges that Dartmoor faces.

In an event entitled Nature Recovery on Dartmoor – is it too late? – a panel including representatives from the Dartmoor Commoners’ Council, Dartmoor National Park, and the Dartmoor Nature Alliance will discuss how biodiversity loss can be tackled.

The festival is on between 30th April and 4th May 2026. For more information, see www.dartmoortorsfestival.co.uk