PEOPLE who live and work on Dartmoor are bracing themselves for 40-mile journeys just to get home as five weeks of roadworks get underway.

Shops, businesses, farms and pubs are being affected by repairs on the B3357 and B3212 in the Two Bridges, Postbridge and Warren House Inn areas as well as Dartmeet and Poundsgate further south on the moor.

The work involves resurfacing damaged roads and replacing cattle grids.

The B3357 is closed this week between Two Bridges and Hexworthy and will be closed from Brimpts Farm to Dartmeet on Wednesday and Thursday next week (September 11 and 12).

The closure means a long diversion for motorists using the road between Two Bridges and Ashburton, via Moretonhampstead and Bovey Tracey.

Then from September 30 to October 11, the B3212 Princetown to Moretonhampstead road will be closed in sections to allow for resurfacing work. The stretch from the Warren House Inn towards Moretonhampstead to Challacombe Cross will be affected.

Peter Parsons, landlord of the Warren House Inn, said the closure would impact on their business as a pub in an isolated area which people had to drive to reach.

‘It is a shame that it is the last two weeks of our season but it is inconvenient for everyone. It is no good moaning about it,’ he said. ‘It will affect everyone up here, not just the pubs.

‘It is more of a problem for our staff who in particular have to travel a long way and can’t be expected to do a long detour so we have to work around that.

‘Postbridge will suffer definitely with the B3212 being shut, as well as people on along the Tavistock to Ashburton road.

Mr Parsons said he had been informed anecdotally that the B3212 will be shut in sections, so that his pub — at an isolated beauty spot which is popular with tourists and walkers — would still be accessible from one direction or another.

‘From what I can understand there will be access to the pub from one direction or another so we will be staying open, but of course we are not in a community where people can walk in and have a drink. The nearest house is two and a half miles away. It means that in the evenings we will definitely be a bit quieter.’

Paul Thomas, new owner of the Postbridge Post Office Stores, said yesterday (Wednesday): ‘There’s been lots of talk about it this morning among the people who have come in. Some local people hadn’t heard what was going on and there are some concerns about what exactly is happening — whether the road is shutting completely or whether we can get through completely to Moreton. We are concerned too about whether they can reach us. It is a bit vague about what is actually happening. It is the last few weeks of our season and I think they could have waited a few weeks. Ultimately it is going to impact on everyone.’