Peter Tavy

Peter Tavy sits across the river from its neighbour Mary Tavy, and like it takes its name from its church, dedicated to St Peter, and from the River Tavy. It is the quieter of the two, a small village of granite cottages and an inn set in lanes below the western moor, and it has kept an agricultural character where Mary Tavy became a mining village. The church stands on rising ground with the moor immediately behind, and the parish reaches far up onto some of the wildest land on Dartmoor.

The village is the usual starting point for Tavy Cleave, the deep and rocky valley where the Tavy comes down off the northern moor, which is among the most dramatic places in the National Park and considerably harder going than it looks. Much of the ground beyond lies within the Willsworthy firing range, and anyone walking here should check the firing times before setting out. For those willing to make the effort, the cleave and the country above it offer a Dartmoor with almost nobody else in it.