THE Tamar Valley Area of Natural Outstanding Beauty (AONB) is due to hold a geology day, looking at the building materials used to shape Tavistock, on Saturday, April 2.

A spokesperson for Tamar Valley AONB said: ’Just take a stroll through the centre of Tavistock and you will see the impact that local geology has had shaping this historic stannary town.

’Join geology expert, Barry Gamble, and the Tamar Valley AONB team for a day in Tavistock next month to discover the remarkable geology of the Tamar Valley, without which we would not have the distinctive buildings we see today.’

Barry Gamble added: ’Many of Tavistock’s buildings were built using Hurdwick stone, with its distinctive greenish-grey hue, quarried just a few miles away. In contrast, workers cottages in Tavistock were built from brick and local rubble stone.’

The free event, organised by the Helping Hands for Heritage project, that draws to a close in May, will take place on Saturday, April 2, from 10.30am – 4pm, meeting at the Wharf, Tavistock.

The session in the morning will start with a presentation of an overview of the geology of Tavistock in its context, followed by a hands on practical session to identify different stones.

Following lunch, the group will take a walk around Tavistock to look in more detail at local building materials.

Sam Barnes, Helping Hands for Heritage project officer said: ’The AONB team has wanted for some time, to produce a set of building design guidelines, highlighting examples of best practice when building or extending and showing what best to avoid. This event will give volunteers the knowledge to start recording the building materials where they live. This information will be collated and used to form the guidelines.’

Please contact the Tamar Valley AONB team on 01822 835030 to book a place for this free event.