1904Born2000DiedFew people have done more to protect Dartmoor than Lady Sylvia Sayer. Her connection with the moor began in childhood through her grandfather, Robert Burnard, a founding member of the Dartmoor Preservation Association. In 1928, she made Dartmoor her home, and protecting its wild landscape became her life’s work.As chairman of the Dartmoor Preservation Association from 1951 to 1973, she fought against plans to flood valleys with reservoirs, expand china clay extraction and increase military development. She even challenged the National Park authorities themselves, resigning from its governing committee in 1957 when she believed they were failing to protect the landscape. Among her greatest achievements was helping defeat plans to flood the Swincombe Valley to create a reservoir.Her legacy lives on in the landscape she fought so hard to preserve. In her honour, we’ve created the Sylvias, a collection of 61 of Dartmoor’s finest tors and summits. They range from High Willhays, the highest point on Dartmoor at 622 metres, to Dewerstone Rock at 160 metres in the wooded Plym Valley. Each offers a different opportunity to explore the extraordinary landscape she dedicated her life to protecting.