REINSTATING the deer park at Okehampton Castle, which once extended to 1,700 acres, is just one of the plans English Heritage has to bring the history of the area alive.
The conservation organisation is hoping to involve local landowners and authorities in developing the area for recreational, educational and tourism use.
Area manager for English Heritage Alan Endacott said the once 1,700-acre estate was now in a number of different ownerships but covered an area from East Hill and Holstock Woods to Meldon Quarry.
'The basic landscape remains and has many historic features have survived,' he said. 'There are some remains of longhouses beyond the Saxon gate and earthworks where a medieval farmhouse used to be and an iron age fort on East Hill.'
Mr Endacott said the idea was to bring everything together in a more coherent way linking the castle much more to the landscape.
'We want to interpret the historic and pre-historic features and tie them in with the cycle route, stations and railway line.'
The area manager was keen to stress at the moment these were all ideas and it was very early days.
'Assuming there is enough interest from the various authorities such as West Devon Borough Council, Dartmoor National Park and Okehampton Town Council the next stage will be to do a mapping exercise marking all the existing features,' he said.
There were once as many as 8,000 fallow deer inhabiting the deer park or hunting ground at Okehampton Castle in the 14th and 15th Centuries when it was under the ownership of the Courtenay family. Other animals hunted in the area would have been foxes, wild boar, hares and pheasant.
The castle was confiscated from Henry Courtenay, the 9th Earl of Devon in 1538 when he was charged with entering into a conspiracy against Henry VIII and was beheaded.
In those days there was a great social hierarchy when it came to deer parks and owners had to be granted a royal licence. There were once 3,000 parks across the country but now the number is as low as 300.
Mr Endacott said very few of the deer parks now were actually managed.
'There are certainly not many in the Westcountry so I think it would be quite something for Okehampton Castle,' he added.
At a meeting of Okehampton Town Council last week members were enthusiastic about the idea of reinstating the deer park
'There is talk about putting some viewing points from the castle itself,' said Christine Marsh. 'This would inevitably encourage more people to come to the property.'
Cllr Tony Leech said there had been reports of wild deer running through that area in the last few years.