A CALENDAR showcasing the beauty of Dartmoor and the surrounding countryside as seen through the eyes of local amateur photographers is raising money for North Dartmoor Search and Rescue Group.

There are sunsets and snowy sheep, moorland ponies and carpets of bluebells in the Delightful Devon Calendar 2019, alongside a quirky shot of a very comfortable bus shelter, complete with cushions and curtains.

Meanwhile, another shows harvesting going on right up close beside wind turbines in a field near North Tawton.

The photos have all been taken by members of the Dartmoor Towns and Devon Villages Facebook group, founded by Okehampton-based amateur photographer Chris Connor in May 2017.

‘I got into photography a year and a half ago and enjoyed it and I started posting photographs on the Okehampton Past and Present Facebook page,’ he said. ‘I got some really positive feedback so decided to set up a page, just for people to post their photos.

‘It has grown and grown and we have now got 1,900 members. The majority are in Devon but there are also members worldwide including a couple of Americans who were born in the Sticklepath area and they like to see what it looks like now, in the different seasons.’

‘It is a very flexible and friendly group,’ he added. ‘It’s become a real community. I was awake at four in the morning because of the horrendous wind the other day and there were six of us having a chat online.’

The calendar is being sold in local outlets in aid of the charity North Dartmoor Search and Rescue Group as so many of the members have an interest in walking on Dartmoor.

Members recently visited the rescue group’s new headquarters in Okehampton to present the calendar to the volunteers who run the essential rescue service. ‘Up on the moor, one minute it is fine and the next you can’t see in front of your face,’ said Chris. ‘It is nice to know that if you do get lost, there’s a group of men and women who will come looking for you. It all costs money.’

The calendar features 12 photographs, one for each month of the year, along with a further 12 on the inside back cover.

Ingrid Marsh took the calendar cover photograph of people silhouetted on Haytor on the longest day of the year back in June.

‘It was actually very cold,’ she said. ‘Then I was lucky that the young people were silhouetted against the sky.

‘I really liked their obvious joy in the moment. I was immensely surprised and pleased that so many people like the photo. It was just a lucky shot really.’

Farmer Mary Heard took the photograph in the calendar of her husband Peter shepherding sheep on horseback on the Bridestowe and Sourton areas of the moor.

‘The sheep were being brought in for shearing in this picture,’ she said. ‘All the farmers on the particular common, in this case Bridestowe and Sourton, go out and round up the sheep together. Some go on quad bikes but there are still a few who like to go on horseback.’

Liz Burrow, who lives at Spreyton, said she got lucky with her shot of a cow up at Foggintor’s ruined village. ‘It is beautiful up there,’ she said.

‘I was just walking past and the cow wandered past the ruined village. I didn’t realise how nice it was until I got home.

‘I have got to know places that I would like to visit through other people’s photos,’ she added.