AN award-winning visitor centre on Dartmoor celebrated its tenth birthday on Monday.
Princetown?s High Moorland Visitor Centre, run by Dartmoor National Park Authority, celebrated the day with visitors to the moor, who joined a guide for a free one-and-a-half mile walk around Princetown.
The new Jack Wigmore Garden was open for the day, enabling people to see how the garden, now into its establishment phase, was progressing.
The garden has been constructed in a formerly neglected area of the site and is designed to reflect the natural and cultural aspects of Dartmoor. It is being developed in memory of Jack Wigmore, chairman of DNPA for seven years, from 1989 to 1996.
Visitors to the centre were also able to enjoy the current exhibition, Painting Dartmoor, a collection of work by ten regional artists evoking the special qualities of the national park.
The High Moorland Centre was opened in 1993 by the Prince of Wales ? it attracted more than 165,000 visitors during its first year and consistently welcomes more than 125,000 people every year.
Despite winning a top award in a national survey of all national park centres, DNPA is continuing to develop facilities and exhibits at the High Moorland Centre. A series of improvements and additions to the already popular displays are due to be made during this year ? the new weather station is already being well used by weather-watchers and interactive access to the DNPA website should be introduced in the coming months.
The High Moorland Visitor Centre is open seven days a week, between 10am and 5pm in summer, and until 4pm in winter. It provides a comprehensive information service, accommodation booking facilities, books, maps, walking accessories plus exhibitions and displays.
The next exhibition to be staged at the centre, which begins on July 4, focuses on Dartmoor produce.