Dartmoor’s Daughter
Dartmoor’s Daughter creates walks and immersive, nature-connection experiences to improve physical health and emotional wellbeing, and to inspire greater care for our natural world. We work with a range of experts to offer guided walks and activities for adults, families, and children that include Navigation Training; Nature Trails; Farming; Letterboxing; Art; Dowsing; Wild Foods; Wild Swimming; Mindfulness; Animal Tracking; Astronomy; Folklore; History & Archaeology; Sacred Sites; and more. Private guided walks, facilitated outdoor activities, and team days are also available for groups, celebrations and team-building. Anyone who joins our walks and events report a greater sense of wellbeing as well as enjoyment, fun and learning.
'Dartmoor’s daughter! She offers something quite other to the average but pleasant run-of-the-mill guided walk round Dartmoor’s velvet hills, through taking a more holistic approach and tailoring her wealth of information (and walking speed!) to the individual as much as possible. This ranges from the geological to the spiritual, with a huge dollop of folklore and even medicinal herbs thrown into the mix. She will invite you to swim in hidden pools, taste berries and succulents from the burgeoning surrounding flora and fauna and try dowsing as she leads you entirely off-piste, clambering over rocks and tors. Walking is interspersed with talking, while resting in mystic stone circles, sky-gazing and marvelling at the all-embracing surroundings. Her enthusiasm positively fizzes for her subject: Dartmoor, which has been home to her family for some generations. What more apt name could there be for this warm, inspiring guide but Dartmoor’s Daughter!’
Emma Cunis
I was lucky enough to grow up free-range! As children we roamed widely - through lush green hills and valleys; clambered up rocky granite tors; swam in copper-gold coloured rivers; lay in the branches of trees; built camps with friends in the woods; mixed lotions and potions out of leaves, flowers and berries; rode horses and cycled along winding narrow lanes, leafy bridlepaths, field footpaths, and meadows. The only thing that brought us home on long summer evenings was the ring of a handbell by Mum standing at the field gate calling us in for supper.
Our parents had a great affinity for nature and taught us the names of trees and animals; how to make leaf rubbings; walked the lanes in autumn with us to pick big bowls full of blackberries; and showed us which bird had laid the blue and brown spotted eggs in the nest in spring. I voraciously read books about history, other lands, and magic – the ‘Narnia’ series was one of my favourites to read and re-read. A deep connection with nature was fostered and combined with imagination and education.
After university then a 20 years global business career, I became ill with ME/CFS so returned home to Devon, and used a holistic approach to regain physical health and emotional wellbeing, and to build a spiritual connection. Inspired to share this journey and encourage others, I retrained as a Health and Life Coach and then Walking Guide and Nature-Connection Facilitator.
My maternal family has lived on or near and loved Dartmoor for generations. Granny Val introduced her first husband Eric Hemery to Dartmoor in the 1950s where he set up and offered guided walks and pony treks then wrote a series of well regarded books including ‘High Dartmoor - Land and People’ described as 'the bible for anyone who has the spirit of Dartmoor'.
Rather than the route-marches of my younger days, Dartmoor’s Daughter walks are designed to offer an immersive experience that invite you/us into a deeper (re)connection with our bodies, communities, and with the land itself so that we can be happier, healthier, and inspired to care for our natural world. Anyone who joins my walks and experiences, reports a greater sense of wellbeing as well as enjoyment, fun and learning. I hope you’ll join me soon to explore one of Britain’s most stunning living, working landscapes.'
Emma is a qualified Hill & Moorland Leader (HML) by Mountain Training Association (MTA) with the accompanying Outdoor First Aid certificate. She is a member of the British Mountaineering Council (BMC). She has hiked in Nepal, China, America, as well as much of the UK. And she is also a Macrobiotic & Life Counsellor, Specialist Cook & Healing Guide and offers consultations, talks, and retreats (see Health Coaching link below for ore information). She is a member of the Macrobiotic Association (MBA UK), was a Director in 2016 and still teaches at the International Macrobiotic School (IMS). Her previous 20 years corporate career spanning Europe, America and Asia, ensures a professionalism in managing and facilitating different client groups and cultures as well as significant experience in organising events, leading teams, and presentation skills. Other qualifications include MSc and BA Hons History. Emma is Freeman, City of London and Liveryman, Guild of Merchant Taylors.
“Being in nature relaxes my body and mind. Daily stresses melt away and my senses come alive as I feel the warmth of the sun on my face and wind in my hair, the springy moss grasses under my feet, and hear the song of the skylark high above me. Dropping into the present moment fills me with a deep appreciation of this wild and ancient landscape, and the joy and abundance of life.”
Emma Cunis - Founder of Dartmoor’s Daughter
