The highly acclaimed Dartmoor Life in the First World War exhibition at the National Park Visitor Centre in Princetown continues until 9 September.  Those who visit the exhibition over the next week can also see Belstone’s A Village Vicar Remembers the War which will be running alongside the main display until 1 August.

Belstone’s exhibits are based around an unexpected treasure found last year by chance at the back of the village church safe.  It was a book that had lain unseen for decades.

Written in 1927 by Belstone’s vicar Herbert Wilson Milner, it contains vividly written portraits of locals, quirky stories and important historical information.  There were many pages devoted to the impact of the war on the village so it was natural to base the exhibition around Rev Milner’s words, enhanced by photos from the Belstone Community Archive. He writes about German spies, a recruiting march to the village where he says ‘one of the speakers got very drunk, the provisions for the tea fell short’, locals hoarding money, the need to continue sports ‘to relieve the strain of life’, makes a surprisingly rude reference to Belgian refugees, and much else.  And he doesn’t neglect the tragedy of the war which saw four men from the parish never return – the display includes some of the poignant postcards sent to one of these men, George Gratton, when he was at the front.

The National Park Visitor Centre Princetown is open every day, 10am to 5pm, with free admission.