In 2011 the Exmoor Moorland Landscape Partnership launched a lottery-funded scheme that promotes moorland as the Heart of Exmoor.
| Supporting those who take care of moorland, and helping people to enjoy and appreciate it, the Partnership scheme of fifteen projects will invest half a million pounds to benefit the landscape and community. |  |
Exmoor's moorland landscape is richly inspirational and very important, with some of the country's best rivers weaving from high moors and peat bogs down to coastal heath and reaching beyond. The moorland heritage reaches back to the Stone Age but perhaps most famously, Exmoor was a royal forest for hundreds of years. Moorland is a fragile habitat and was fundamental to the establishment of Exmoor National Park.
Community engagement and activities on the moorland are a big part of Heart of Exmoor and there is also money available to benefit landscape character, moorland management, and the free-living herds of Exmoor Pony.
Innovative elements of the scheme include a pilot project to establish Moorkeepers, plus a Moor Skills project to pass local moorland knowledge to young farmers through apprenticeships and farmer-led workshops. The scheme also works with moorland managers to organise demonstration events on best methods and machinery, along with informal meetings and farm visits. Find out more about Heart of Exmoor at www.heartofexmoor.org.uk or call the Scheme Manager, Jason Ball on 01398 322164.
The Exmoor Moorland Landscape Partnership Scheme is supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund and our local partners and funders. Part financed by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development 2007-2013: Europe investing in rural areas.