bluebells at blackbury camp

This is Blackbury Camp, an Iron Age hill fort and one of many that are situated in Devon. These camps are usually on exposed hilltops which give wide views of the surrounding countryside, but there isn't much of a view here and when you arrive you get more of an impression of it being on the flat and well hidden in some woodland. It's actually at the end of a ridge 600 feet above sea level and in a place where the land drops away quickly. Blackbury Camp has an interesting but unfinished barbican defence, some of which can be seen as the undulating shapes in the above photos. Why it was left unfinished is a matter for speculation, though it could be that another local tribe invaded the fort in a sort of now-or-never maneuver. We don't know really.

Blackbury Camp is especially popular at bluebell time of the year and folk come from all over to see this particular vision of springtime. It is a good place for people who are unable to walk very well to visit, as the car park is right next to the fort, and apart from a fairly gentle slope through the rings the interior is actually very flat and easy to negotiate. If you'd like to experience the site with fewer people around we were advised to come back at any other time as apparently it is almost deserted the rest of the year.

Of particular note to me were the unusual acoustics inside and around the fort. Sounds appeared to be amplified and voices traveled easily and clearly across the large space. We were there on a still day but it did seem that the place had a deeper quality of silence somehow, if you know what I mean. I don't think that the photos I took really do justice to the actual beauty of the location, it is a bit special. Although it only takes about ten minutes to walk around the perimeter the site is quite large, but it's difficult to get an overall impression of it in the photos. Hopefully they might be enough to encourage others to explore the place for themselves.