THE DARTMOOR ARTISAN TRAIL
Dartmoor National Park in Devon is seeing a huge resurgence of interest in traditional crafts, with a burgeoning population of makers moving to the moor to carry out their trades.
The Dartmoor Artisan Trail gives you the chance to glimpse behind the workshop walls of these makers and try your hand at traditional skills.
The trail was set up and photographed by Suzy Bennett, a travel writer and photographer based in the Dartmoor village of North Bovey.
Suzy's project started life as a photography exhibition of portraits of local artisans, but soon evolved into a Dartmoor-wide trail that gives the public the chance to see age-old skills in action.
The project has been featured on BBC's Countryfile and won 'UK's Best New Tourism Project', awarded by the British Guild of Travel Writers. It has also been widely acclaimed in the national press, with features in The Guardian Travel, Lonely Planet Magazine and The Daily Telegraph, who named it one of the UK's best travel experiences.
ARTISANS OF DARTMOOR - THE BOOK
Blacksmiths and basketmakers, plant dyers and potters, woodturners and weavers – Dartmoor National Park in Devon is home to a thriving community of artisans.
Through atmospheric photography and compelling interviews, this book invites you behind the workshop walls to meet 16 inspiring craftspeople who are breathing new life into some of Britain’s oldest and rarest trades.
An antidote to a world of mass production, the stories in these pages celebrate the local and original, the ethical and sustainable, the handmade and human.
Limited edition (750 copies printed)
Includes a chapter about Dartmoor’s Stone Age craft history and a comprehensive directory of Dartmoor makers
248 pages
Hardback
140gsm FSC paper
28cm x 22cm x 3cm
Published by Wild Ink Press in July 2025 (self-published)
Printed locally in Exeter, DevonAvailable to purchase on amazon.co.uk, dartmoor-artisan-trail.co.uk and suzybennett.com
RRP £40
ABOUT SUZY
Suzy is a journalist and photographer who specialises in profiling the nation’s finest craftspeople for the national press. She lives in the Dartmoor village of North Bovey.
Suzy has been captivated by Dartmoor’s heritage craft scene ever since she visited her local blacksmith, Greg Abel, in his Victorian forge to commission a curtain rail for an awkwardly angled wall. “It was like entering a time warp that was completely unaffected by the modern world,” she recalls.
Greg introduced Suzy to the village potter, who introduced her to the weaver, who introduced her to the woodturner. Through her work as a journalist and photographer profiling artisans for the national press, Suzy soon realised that her little pocket of the moor, between Ashburton and Chagford, is one of the most creatively rich areas of Britain, where the craft scene grows each year.
She says: “Traditional skills in many parts of the UK are dying out, but on Dartmoor the craft scene is thriving. It’s thanks to a combination of factors: the moor’s expansive landscapes, which inspire free-thinking and creativity; an abundance of raw materials; and a supportive, collaborative creative community.”
To help champion and preserve the moor’s heritage trades, in 2017, Suzy founded The Dartmoor Artisan Trail, a not-for-profit project that gives visitors the chance to visit members in their workshops and try their hand at traditional skills.
As Suzy met more and more inspiring local craftspeople, she began to document their working lives. Artisans of Dartmoor, published in July 2025, is the result.
“This project is a celebration of Dartmoor’s rich creative heritage. There is a resurgence of interest in traditional skills and crafts across the UK, and Dartmoor is one of the creative hubs of this new energy. In a world of mass production, it’s wonderful to see that things are still being made by hand, with passion, honesty and integrity.
We are increasingly looking for products that last and have a story. On this trail, people can see exactly where - and by whom - Dartmoor’s products are made.”