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OCTOBER SPOOKY TALES
The Dark Dartmoor Story Behind This Famous Annual Day of Merry-Making
Do the locals actually have a clue what they are singing about?
Looking at the photo above, can you just about make out a village, down in the valley?
That tiny village happens to be a place of great importance for Dartmoor — Widecombe-in-the-Moor, pronounced Wid-di-cum.
They say all roads lead to Widecombe. Which they kind of do since there aren’t many roads around there. And honestly, with its two inns and the famous St. Pancras Church, being the main church of the parish, it really is a metropolis in Dartmoor terms.
It also houses the only school in that part of the moor where a whole seventy children are currently in attendance, and, more importantly, it is the location of the famous Dartmoor country annual event — Widecombe Fair.
It’s a properly quintessential English country fair. Yet, still sets itself apart with a unique flavour to it.
There is bail-tossing, tug-of-war, produce competitions and displays, cake-baking and handicraft contests, ferret-racing, maypole dancing, Dartmoor pony dressage, dog shows, classic car shows, sheep-shearing displays, and the famous Uncle Tom Cobley downhill…
