‘Artisans of Dartmoor’ Book Signing
with the author and photographer, Suzy Bennett
Saturday 13 September 2025, 11am - 1pm
FREE, drop-in
Venue: MAKE Southwest
Suitable for: All
Credit: Rose-Marie Caldecott
Join us on Saturday 13 September for a Meet the Author and Book Signing event with Suzy Bennett, the author and photographer behind Artisans of Dartmoor: A Portrait of a Creative Community!
Blacksmiths and basketmakers, plant dyers and potters, woodturners and weavers – Dartmoor National Park in Devon is home to a thriving community of artisans. Through atmospheric photography and compelling interviews, this book invites you behind the workshop walls to meet 16 inspiring craftspeople who are breathing new life into some of Britain’s oldest and rarest trades. An antidote to a world of mass production, the stories in these pages celebrate the local and original, the ethical and sustainable, the handmade and human.
Come along to learn more about Dartmoor’s craft heritage, chat to Suzy, and pick up a signed copy of this brilliant and beautifully illustrated book with a dedication from the author.
No need to book, just drop-in!
“Artisans of Dartmoor is a truly uplifting and life-affirming book that celebrates the energy and spirit of one of Britain’s most creative regions. Packed with beautiful photography and stories of craftspeople who are living the dream, it’s a must-read for anyone seeking an inspired life.”
Sarah James, MBE
Director, Craft Festival
“This unique and beautiful book illustrates the richness, diversity and energy of our vibrant local craft scene and tells the stories of how craft connects us with our geography, culture, history and soul. There has never been a better time – or place – to be a maker, buyer or collector.”
Flora Pearson
MAKE Southwest, Dartmoor
About the author
Suzy Bennett
Feature writer ・ Photographer ・ Founder of The Dartmoor Artisan Trail
Suzy Bennett is an award-winning travel journalist and photographer for the national press.
Suzy spent the first 20 years of her career specialising in adventure travel and now works closer to home in her beloved Devon, where she reports on the county’s finest travel offerings. She handles all the Devon coverage for Telegraph Travel and writes regularly for The Times and Conde Nast Traveller.
Alongside her travel work, Suzy is one of the UK’s leading writers and photographers of traditional crafts. She founded The Dartmoor Artisan Trail, an arts, craft and food network linking Dartmoor's traditional craftspeople, artists and producers. The trail was featured BBC Countryfile and was highly acclaimed in the national media, where it was named the UK's best new travel experience by The Guardian. The British Guild of Travel Writers also awarded it the UK’s best new travel experience, and Suzy was handed Heritage Crafts Association's Volunteer Award for her work on it.
Suzy’s photographic portraits of Dartmoor’s artisans formed solo exhibitions at the prestigious Devon Guild of Craftsmen and Dartmoor National Park's visitor centre.
From her career as an adventure travel journalist, Suzy highlights include tracking gorillas in Rwanda, hiking to little-known tribes in Papua New Guinea and scuba-diving World War One shipwrecks in the Orkney Isles.
Prior to that, she worked as crime reporter at the Old Bailey. She is a scuba-diving instructor and a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.
She welcomes commissions and ideas for collaborations.
Suzy with her dog, Ziggy
Credit: Nato Welton, Country Living Magazine UK