Dartmoor National Park
A land of contrasts
Wild, open moorlands and deep river valleys, with a rich history and rare wildlife, striking tors and swathes of heather, Dartmoor will touch your soul.
With 450 miles of paths to walk, cycle, run or ride, thousands of archaeological sites and features to discover the past, Dartmoor is packed full of stunning views that steal your breath, mysterious stories to intrigue and spaces to simply sit and be.
Key activities
Exploring , Activity
Follow one of the many routes such as the Dartmoor Way or Wray Valley Trail on foot or by bike. Or maybe take a compass and a map to explore the moor in your own way.
Eating & Drinking , Activity
What can be more rewarding after a long (or short!) walk than visiting one of Dartmoor’s pubs, restaurants or tea houses. Whether you prefer gourmet food or a cream tea, there are plenty of choices.
Discovering , Activity
Dip into Dartmoor’s incredible history, find out more about its rare wildlife and special habitats. Come along to one of our many events or discover for yourself.
Special qualities
Overview
“I have never before, in my long and eclectic career, been gifted with such an abundance of natural beauty as I experienced filming War Horse on Dartmoor.” Steven Spielberg.
Dartmoor’s granite tors, rich coloured rivers and open landscapes have inspired authors, poets and artists for years. From Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes, Agatha Christie’s detective Poirot and the evocative works of Widgery to the contemporary folk songs of Seth Lakeman.
Steeped in history Dartmoor is the most important site for Bronze Age archaeology in western Europe, it’s home to the Dartmoor pony which can be seen grazing wild with foals close by and it’s the only place in the world where you can find the tiny Bog Hoverfly. In Dartmoor’s woodlands you might spot the world’s largest land slug the whopping Black Ash Slug that can exceed 20cm!
Find a river side spot for a picnic, walk Stallmoor stone row – the longest in the world, explore a hut circle and cross a clapper bridge or climb a tor and take in the natural beauty of Dartmoor, it will leave you uplifted, refreshed and revived.
Did you know?
Enjoying Dartmoor
Dartmoor doesn’t just have places, it has special places. These are places that are set apart from the ordinary or the mundane. This could be due to their history, their setting, their offer or often due to all of this and more.
Start your journey in one of Dartmoor’s towns or villages and discover what makes them so special. Maybe it’s because they’re a market town, a Medieval Stannary town or just a great place to start a walk or ride from. What you can be sure of is the welcome and the quality of the food and drink.
Venturing further up on to the Moor, come and discover one of three National Park Visitor Centres. With a wealth of natural and built beauty, opportunities for short or long walks and things to do for people of all ages, they make great bases to explore Dartmoor.
Getting around
Dartmoor can be explored on foot, bike, horse or vehicle. There are several bus services running from the main moorland towns and for hassle free travel there are organised trips with a variety of coach companies.
Getting there
Dartmoor National Park has train stations nearby in Exeter, Newton Abbot, Totnes, Ivybridge and Plymouth. The average journey time from London is 4 hours.
Exeter Airport offers access from the rest of the UK and internationally.
There are good road links to the gateway moorland towns.
Good news for nature August roundup 🌿
This time there’s cats, bugs and birds. There’s so many spectacular sightings, breakthroughs and results for wildlife every single day in our National Parks.
Here are just four pieces of recent good news to make you smile this weekend. Share with someone who loves nature to spread the positivity 💚
#GoodNews #NationalParks #Wildlife
Three years ago, beavers returned to the Cairngorms. 🦫
After more than 400 years away, the first beaver family was released into the National Park in December 2023.
Since then, something special has happened: they’ve settled, spread and started breeding. There are now around 72 beavers in the Cairngorms, including kits born in the wild.
And they’re not just living in the landscape, they’re helping to shape it. By creating wetlands and changing waterways, beavers can help hold and slow water, and create habitats that benefit a whole host of other species. 🌿
It’s a brilliant example of how our National Parks can play a vital role in nature recovery - and what’s possible when people work together to bring species back and create healthier, more resilient landscapes for people and nature.
#NationalParks #Cairngorms #Beavers #NatureRecovery
September is a great time to try nature journaling 📝🍂
A simple form of mindfulness, nature journaling encourages us to slow down and notice what’s happening in the world around us - from the first changing leaves and fungi appearing to the birds we hear and the changing light.
It doesn’t have to be complicated. It’s simply about taking a moment to be present, pay attention and connect with nature.
All you need is a notebook, a pen and somewhere outdoors. Our National Parks are pretty good spots for it, too. 👀
Have you ever tried nature journaling? It’s another way our National Parks are helping people to unwind, everyday.
#NatureJournaling #NationalParks #Mindfulness
🦇When the sun goes down, a whole new world comes to life.
Our National Parks are home to many rare species, including wildlife that can be much harder to spot. The New Forest is home to 14 of the UK’s 18 species of bat, from tiny pipistrelles to some of our rarer woodland species.
Bats depend on a mosaic of habitats to survive, and across the UK’s 15 National Parks, work is happening to protect the places wildlife depends on – even when we don’t always see it.
This International Bat Night, meet just some of the bats our Parks are home to.
📸
1. Soprano Pipistrelle – Russell Wynn / Wild New Forest
2. Soprano Pipistrelle – New Forest National Park
3. Barbastelle – Hugh Clark/Bat Conservation Trust
#BatsOfInstagram #NewForest #InternationalBatNight
15 National Parks. Countless landscapes and communities.💚
Working farmland. Wild coastlines. Woodland paths. Places shaped by generations of people.
Our National Parks are incredibly diverse and not just in the landscapes they protect, but in the people, nature, heritage and stories that make each one unique.
#NationalParksUK #UKNature
Look a little closer and you’ll find a landscape full of life at the Peak District National Park. 🌿
From dippers, ring ouzels and mountain hares in the uplands, to curlews calling across the moorlands and meadow brown butterflies in grasslands, these are just five of the many species you can see in the Peak District this season.
Protecting the special landscapes across our 15 National Padks means protecting the variety of wildlife relying on these habitats as their homes.
Which would you most like to spot? 👀
📷
1. Mountain Hare
2. Curlew
3. Ring Ouzel
4. Meadow Brown Butterfly - Alex Hyde
5. Dipper - Tom Marshall
#PeakDistrict #Wildlife #NationalParksUK
💧It’s World Water Week, and water connects our National Parks in more ways than we might realise.
We know our Parks are full of many beautiful waterscapes, but they’re not just spectacular views.
Water environments offer many hidden benefits to our landscapes, including supporting ecosystems, climate resilience and communities.
Swipe to discover just some of the ways water matters.🌿
Do any of them surprise you?
#NationalParks #WorldWaterWeek #Nature #Biodiversity
💭You might have heard of biodiversity, but what does it actually mean?
It’s the variety of life around us from plants and insects in a meadow to birds, mammals, fungi and the tiny organisms we can’t even see.
But it’s not just a list of species - it’s the intricate web of relationships between them, and our National Parks are home to an incredible diversity of life.
Protecting biodiversity means protecting that web of life.
📸 An adder in @southdownsnp by Simon Watkins.🐍
#Biodiversity #NatureLovers
