"I first came to the Hillyfield in 2006, and dreamt of buying it with a group of friends, after volunteering for a couple of years I eventually bought the land in 2009 with my friend Sky. Now it is a family run farm with the help, over the years, of hundreds of people.

I love this land. I love all it gives. All the secret folds that keep unravelling. I love the potential. I love that it is a postage-stamp sized sliver of Dartmoor and yet it holds so much wildness."
 

"The Hillyfield, something in me opens as soon as I step alongside the river. Here, time feels different - metamorphic. I find myself more at ease. 

I am grateful to be tending this land and nurturing this shared vision.
Raising our children with this part of Dartmoor feels like a dream coming true."

"I first came to the Hillyfield in 2016 to take part in a volunteer day... The Hillyfield is an island of biodiversity and incredible wildlife in an otherwise heavily farmed part of Dartmoor. 

It is a place where I think about and consider ecological land management, observe changes in the habitats over time, and have a deep embedded connection with these habitats and project in general."

"I first came here to The Hillyfield in 2022 to do wood-work but I feel like I stayed for the whole experience.

The Hillyfield is a place where I learn more and more about myself and feel like I have the space to do that."

"I love the diversity of ways we can interact with the land. Forestry. Building. Growing. Animals. Community. 

The Hillyfield is a place where I can learn through practice.."

"I really love the fact that we can fell a tree, process it and build with it – all within about 100m. Tree to timber! It’s really exciting."

"As a Forestry Roots trainee I have accessed training and been able to put that into daily practice. Using the chainsaw, managing the woods and rides, and to be engaged with the full process of timber production."

Henry Russell lives and breathes timber framing. He runs workshops here at The Hillyfield in timber framing & advises on projects.

“I first came to The Hillyfield in 2018 as a boy. Now in 2026 I’m thrilled to be part of the team documenting the hard work that goes on here.

I love the peaceful quiet and the amazing people that work on the land."

Emma has an extraordinary ablility to capture the moment. She began documenting The Hillyfield as part of the barn building journey and has carried on documenting our work. In 2024 her work on The Hillyfield was exhibited by the Dartmoor Trust as part of ‘Dartmoor Light & Shadow’ along with 25 other local photographers and archive images from Dartmoor

Charly has been following The Hillyfield for years. As well as founding her own film company Pocket full of Acorns, Charly is a forest school leader and nature-based film maker; producing, filming and editing films about UK woodlands as Wood for The Trees.

Sky has woven himself through many areas of The Hillyfield. Helping as a volunteer, getting involved in framing the workshop barn, as a dancer and practical team leader at The Summer Longdance, and now using his awesome design talents to shape the new Hillyfield website.
Here is as a landing perch for our first hatch of swallows in the workshop.