Location notes - Saddle Tor

“Saddle Tor rises in cold, dark dignity beside its twin-crested neighbor, catching the first golden rays of sunrise, while the deep combes of the Becka Brook still lie, enveloped in shadow”

John Lloyd Warden Page - An exploration of Dartmoor and its Antiquities, 1889

South Devon has been my home for 50 years. I was born in Brixham and lived there until I was about 7 or 8, at which point I made the mammoth journey 5 miles inland to Newton Abbot where I’ve lived ever since. It was here that I learned to love the moor, now on my doorstep; and it was here that the moor became the literal backdrop to my life. 

When you travel to south Devon, most routes take you over the Haldon hills. And when you crest those imposing peaks, the first first thing you see on your descent, is the breathtaking view towards the moor. Dartmoor is always spectacular when viewed from afar, but the skyline that dominates from Kingsteignton in the north to Torbay in the south, is, for my money, the most spectacular of them all. 

Anyone who knows this area, will be immediately familiar with the horizon - three mighty tors that tower golden at dawn and in silhouette at dusk. Each has its own character, each distinct. They watch over us, they shelter us from the western Atlantic winds, and in an ever changing world, where permanence is fleeting and the horrors of modernity evolve daily, their everlasting vigil brings a sense of calm and reassurance. They’ll always be there - an old and wise backdrop to the daily grind. They’ve seen it all before, they have seen civilisation rise and perhaps are starting to see it fall, and the perils of social media, wars, climate change, AI or any other blight upon us, can't change them. They’ll still be here, long after we are a distant memory. They ground me and I never fail to glance their way as I come down from the hills. They tell me that I am home. 

If you don’t know the skyline, let me try and describe it.

Devon is not exactly flat, but even amongst our bumpy terrain, the moor dominates everything, and these iconic tors are always present. I see them on the school run, I see them when I go to work, I see them when I walk the dogs, I see them when I am stuck in traffic. During the COVID lockdowns, they connected me to the moor every day, a lifeline to somewhere that was always just out of reach.

Starting from the south, you have Rippon Tor - marginally the highest of the three and one of the higher tors on Dartmoor at an impressive 473m above sea level. Rippon Tor holds many fond memories for me, not just for the countless sunrises I have shot there, but as a place we often took our children when they were young and a place I walked our sadly missed Golden Retriever. It's the tor I look to, when I want to think of my family.  

To the north, is the tor everyone knows. Haytor (or Hay tor or even Hey Tor as used by Crossing) is, for most people, their introduction to the moor. Dartmoor can be imposing, and so Haytor’s immediate position - a few minutes drive from Bovey with carparks, toilets, a visitor centre and the excellent Moorland hotel for lunches and high teas, is the perfect place to take those baby steps before venturing further afield to the more wild locations. Its appearance needs no introduction. Probably the most iconic tor on the moor, it resembles a giant foot rising out of the ground, toes stretching for the heavens. Standing at 454m , it’s the perfect mirror to Rippon Tor. Haytor actually comprises two massive granite outcrops - the distinctive foot shape (known as the High Man) and the smaller formation to the rear (known at the Low Man) but when viewed together they seem to fuse to make one granite mass. Haytor holds many memories for me too. Long summer days on Haytor Down, enjoying picnics with my grandparents, my Grandad showing me the fields his family farmed, the names of each capturing my young imagination. It's the tor I look to when I want to remember them. 

And then we have the tor in the middle. It sits lower on the horizon than its two giant neighbours, but it is no minnow. Standing at 415m, it's a location that holds infinite photographic opportunities and one of the richest and most varied landscapes on the whole moor. Saddle Tor completes the triumvirate, offering its own distinctive shape (from which it gets its name) and it, along with the immediate surroundings is one of the locations I use the most. 

Lets start by being clear about the area we will be covering in this blog.

Although I have titled it Saddle Tor, I use this area so much because it actually comprises three distinct locations, each bursting with contrasting compositions and each changing drastically throughout the year. First we have Saddle Tor itself, then Emsworthy Rocks and finally Emsworthy Mire. Each of these locations is a photographer’s playground in its own right, but the mire is so special it deserves its own blog, so this entry will be just focusing on the Tor and Emsworthy rocks.

I mentioned the variety of landscape on display here, and it truly is rich. Of course we have open moor and its many granite formations, but we also have the deep wooded valleys of the Becka Brook, the stone walled partitions of the mire, the distant peaks of Hameldown, Holne Moor and Princetown; and even Teignbridge, the South Hams and far out to sea.

I honestly feel that of all Dartmoor’s tors; purely from a photography perspective, Saddle Tor may provide the most variety. It is the location I use for most of my photography workshops for precisely this reason. It's approached from two directions - if you are coming from Bovey Tracey the first car park you reach is Saddle Tor North, and from the Widecombe direction, it is Saddle Tor (you guessed it) South. I’ll use these distinctions for the rest of the blog. 

The tor is imposing, a vast but squat slab of granite positioned on a plinth that, whilst appearing quite steep, is actually an easy walk from either direction. The first spot to shoot from is Hemsworthy Gate. Of course, any distinctive shaped tor can be shot from most angles if it is high enough, and the same is true for Saddle Tor; but at certain times of the year, the conditions align to make this position really special. As you pass the cattle grid when heading to the south car park from Widecombe, you will see a pull in, immediately on your left. This is where you need to set up, because between early April and early November (peaking around August), the rising sun is perfectly positioned to rise from behind the rocks and paint the most dramatic (and I really do mean dramatic) sunrise - Saddle Tor and her sister Haytor, perfectly silhouetted against the vibrant sky. The moment is usually fleeting, but it rarely disappoints.  

Up close, there aren't too many photo opportunities from the lower slopes of the southern side, but the northern side is more rewarding. Use the north car park as your base and start by walking towards Emsworthy rocks. Looking back at the tor as there are a variety of compositions to try here.

Just below the tor (on the north side) is a large watering hole used very frequently by the many ponies in this area. With some patience (which I don't really have) you can easily shoot them gathering and drinking with the tor as your background. An alternative use of the watering hole is to capture the tor reflected in its surface, but for that you really need a very still day (good luck with that on Dartmoor!). Stepping further back towards Emsworthy rocks, the ground opens up and presents another location that really pops in late summer with a vibrant blanket of heather and gorse stretching between you and the tor - magnificent foreground colour with ample livestock trails and paths giving you many leading lines to work into your composition.

When you are done here, walk up the path and get on to the top of the north face of the tor. It is a very popular location at sunrise - there is always at least one photographer there and that is usually a good indicator. From here you are roughly the same height (ish) as Haytor and it's a great spot from which to shoot its distinctive shape - either silhouetted against the dawn sky, or perhaps peaking out above the mist that often forms in the valley between the two. Another option is to shoot with a telephoto lens (I'd recommend at least 300mm) and look south/east to the Teign Estuary and the deep valleys between Newton Abbot and Ashburton. On a foggy morning, this is a great vantage point to see pockets of fog stretch out beneath you, hills and ridges seeming to float above a bed of cotton wool (Denbury Down being the most striking of all). With a good lens, you can even pick out the twin steeples of St.Marychurch in Torquay, rising from the mist from here. 

The west facing side of the tor is where you want to be for a summer sunset. I honestly do try to work in different locations as much as I can, but during the summer, I keep gravitating back to this spot. If you haven't experienced a Dartmoor summer sunset, you really are missing out on something truly magical. I’ll try my best to describe why, but I very much doubt any words can do it justice. 

You see, Dartmoor is wild. Not just in its nature, but all the time. The wind howls, the clouds thunder across the sky, ravens croak from the rocks, cattle bellow from the plains, rivers crash around granite boulders, peat sucks at your wellies, teeth chatter, rain rattles on your tent. These are (mostly) pleasant sounds but they are relentless. And then there is the chaos of modern life - deadlines, emails, work, school, mortgages and rent. Bosses, landlords, teachers, shopping, cooking, washing the dishes, walking the dog. The demands never stop. Except on Dartmoor’s summer evenings because when the conditions are right, a magic descends. Someone switches the stimuli off and all is suddenly still. You realise how warm you are, it's comfortable and welcoming. Birdsong drifts up from the river valley mixing with the murmur of families picnicking, children laughing, the grass whispering in the wind and the scent of warm bracken filling your nose. And as the sun sinks, the palpable peace is amplified by the golden glow in the sky - the rocks radiating heat, slumbering under the setting sun. And now is the moment to get your camera ready and capture the most perfect golden hour scene. 

All the elements I tried to describe are found around the west side of Saddle Tor. It captures the glow of the setting sun so well, and it's actually aligned looking south west so you can shoot along the rocks without fear of the sun flooding your camera and ruining the shot. There are so many compositions from this side, I don't know where to start, but I usually base myself at What3words location importing.gymnasium.supposed and start to look for scenes that catch the light from here. 

When you are done on the tor, it's time to venture a little further east to Emsworthy Rocks.

Emsworthy Rocks is a name that refers to a large granite outcrop roughly halfway between Saddle and Haytor. They’ve spent a lifetime being ignored - William Crossing overlooking them completely and even the Ordinance Survey leaving them unnamed. It was only recently, when contemporary writer Max Piper alerted the OS to the omission, that Emsworthy Rocks were born. 

The rocks themselves are impressive. They actually comprise a vast range of shapes, arrangements and types that lead to infinite compositions covering more than 400m in length. The Dartmoor writer Eric Hemery, named the two most significant outcrops as Fitche’s Holt and Whortleberry Rock but it seems that no one has been able to adequately determine which rocks these names relate to. Amid all this confusion, there remains one certainty. At the lowest end of the range, stands arguably the most photographed location on Dartmoor, and I’ve alluded to it before in other blogs, but it's a location I avoid like the plague.

Now let me be clear here. It is a beautiful location and it is popular for good reason - the subjects are perfect, the backdrop is glorious and the opportunities for composition invite great creativity. My problems stem from my own inadequacies because I just can't make it work! I’m talking, of course, about the lone hawthorn which marks the end of the Emsworthy range and stands guard with its eternal companion, a distinctive granite mas that together make a truly iconic combination. A quick Google search will show you countless stunning shots from many talented photographers - and none of them are mine.

The problem I find is twofold. Firstly, I think I put myself under too much pressure to do something new and inventive. So many people have shot the scene before, that I am always trying to find a new angle or composition and I never quite achieve it. Try as hard as I might, I can never find something different and then I get frustrated and end up being unable to find the more popular angles too. Nine times out of ten, I  just storm off in a mood. It's not an edifying spectacle. Over time I’ve learned that photography works best when it's spontaneous and in the moment, so trying to emulate or better shots that have been taken so many times before is just restrictive and counter to the creative process . It never really works. Take inspiration from others for sure, but always try to find your own niche. It's good advice that I really should take myself!

The other problem is the light. This shot always works best when accompanied by a dramatic sky, so normally that means sunrise or sunset. Because of the terrain, and because you can only capture the background in one direction, you have to shoot the hawthorn facing west (or north/ south west at a push) and that makes shooting at sunset very difficult as you are looking straight into the setting sun. Frustratingly this is also the time when the sky is at its most dramatic. There is a way around this issue, which I am slightly loath to mention as I try to keep these blogs inclusive and give you tips and advice you can use without needing to buy specialist kit, but you could consider buying a Reverse Neutral Density filter. I haven't mentioned ND filters much in these blogs before, but essentially they reduce the amount of light entering the camera. On a standard ND filter, the top is dark and gradually fades to clear in the lower half of the scene. You position the dark area over a bright sky to retain deep colour and detail whilst keeping the foreground much lighter because that part of the filter is completely neutral. A reverse ND filter works slightly differently because here the dark area is in the middle of the filter whilst the top and bottom are clear. This allows you to position the dark area over the horizon as the sun sets, allowing you to shoot straight at it, whilst retaining the light and detail in the sky and landscape. They aren't much use unless you are shooting when the sun is on the horizon, but used here, you could shoot at sunset with the setting sun directly behind the Hawthorn and potentially get some great results with a balanced exposure.  

But if you don't have a reverse ND,  you really are limited to shooting at sunrise but this has to be planned carefully too. A sunrise shot here needs two elements - a colourful dawn sky and the tree and rocks illuminated by golden sunlight. This latter element is important, because without it your subject just looks drab, but for a lot of the year, Haytor rocks really get in the way. During the months of March - May and September - October, the sun rises directly behind Haytor meaning that the golden hour light is completely lost, and by the time it has cleared the rocks, it is too harsh and the dawn colours are lost. So this limits you to shooting at dawn between November - February (when the rising sun is to the south of Haytor) or June - August (when it rises to the north). Can you see why I don't like shooting here now!!!

Seriously though, don't let my frustrations and inadequacies put you off. It is a great location and many photographers really make it work well - I think I’m just too impatient. If you plan to shoot at dawn in the winter or summer or if you want to shoot at sunset with a reverse ND filter, you really can make the most of this iconic location. You just need some planning and patience.   

But there is more to Emsworthy Rocks than just the hawthorn. The variety of rocks on show here, make for really interesting foreground interest when looking back towards Saddle Tor. These range in size from clitter to vast rock formations and all can be used to give a sense of scale and depth when shooting towards the much larger Tor. Shooting in late summer when heather clings to the rocks works really nicely, especially when shot in the golden hour as the general colour palette of the rocks and setting sun compliment the heather so well. I don't know what it's called, but I find the rocks found at What3words location prune.inflamed.daring are really interesting and work particularly effectively. 

Another option is to shoot from the rocks towards Hound Tor and Greator Rocks. I like this location a lot, because you have such variety in the landscape - the soft Becka Brook river valley in the immediate foreground, the rocks rising above and then the hills of open moorland beyond again. You get great conditions here - mist in the river valley, shafts of light picking out the tors, and as I managed on one memorable occasion, rainbows forming over Hound Tor. You can shoot these scenes from a lot of different locations but I think they work best from Emsworthy Rocks as everything lines up so well.  

This has been quite a tricky blog to write, because unlike some other locations where the subjects are quite obvious and well signposted, the Saddle Tor area just has so much to choose from. I hope it has whetted your appetite to get out and explore, it’s so accessible and easy to reach, that I just recommend grabbing your camera and soaking it all up - wander about, see what lines up well, watch how the light falls, see what compositions you can find. And whether you go for a frosty winter sunrise, a calm summer sunset or anything in between, I'm convinced you will have a memorable time. 

And it goes without saying that if you would like your own guided photography tour of this area, my beginners workshops could be a great opportunity for you. I limit them to just 4 people so you will have plenty of time and attention, and I will walk you through all the areas covered in this blog, and parts of Emsworthy mire too. If you are interested in booking a place, just head to the workshops page of this website  

 Postscript - After writing this blog, I got really annoyed at my inability to shoot the Hawthorn (and my pathetic excuses for not being able to do so), so I went back to try again. Whilst it may sound conceited, I wanted to try my own advice about using the reverse ND filter, and you know what - I think it worked!! The sky wasn't perfect - not really enough clouds about to make the sunset pop, but placing that ND filter on the horizon really helped tone down the glare of the sun and to lift the shade from the rocks. I've added the  image here so you can see the effect - still not perfect but I'm getting there!