Volunteering with the National Trust on Bridestones Moor. On a wet, windy day with poor visbility a moor can feel so inhospitable. But then quite suddenly the front passes, blue skies emerge, and the sun shines on Grime Moor. It’s back to being magical.
Grime Moor is the pasture in the distance; ‘Grime’ is derived from Graeme, the name of a local landowner. It is National Trust property with the farm tenanted. Until the 1970s it was heather moorland, but was then ploughed and “improved” into intensively managed farmland. Nutrient enriched rainwater run off from the fields was found to cause habitat deterioration in the griffs or valleys of Dovedale. The policy now is that no fertilser is used and the long-term aim is to restore the former moor to a semi-natural habitat.
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