Dartmoor National Park — Attraction in West Devon

This is one of the highest oakwoods in Britain and, as an outstanding example of native upland oak woodland, was selected as a Site of Special Scientific Interest in 1964. It is also an NCR site and forms part of the Wistman’s Wood National Nature Reserve. The wood was also one of the primary reasons for selection of the Dartmoor Special Area of Conservation.

The wood is split into three main blocks (North, Middle and South Groves or Woods), which in total cover about 3.5 ha (9 acres). These occupy sheltered, south-west facing slopes, where a bank of large granite boulders ("clitter") is exposed, and pockets of acid, free-draining, brown earth soils have accumulated. It is owned by the Duchy of Cornwall and has been managed since 1961 under a nature reserve agreement with the Nature Conservancy Council, English Nature and Natural England. There is no active management, but many people visit the site on foot (mostly accessing the southern end of South Wood), and cattle and sheep have free access where the terrain permits, outside of a small fenced exclosure...

I was excited to see Dartmoor National park and I have to tell you to drive inside of park is nightmare!!!!!!! (Only one main road is ok). To drive in the villages which are a lot there - double nightmare because roads are so narrow that only one and a half car can go through. And when we were driving through the park it was line for one car and towards us was huge truck with logs 🪵 so we had to drive backwards for 2 km!!!! We had Mercedes GLC 300 if you wonder. I did not see any beauty in the national park at all. At end of the day we scratched our car and lost lots of nerves and whole day was destroyed with our mood. It was the most horrible experience of driving in whole my life! My husband is British citizen and drove a lot in UK if you think we are useless tourists. So foreign people who rent car and want to come there- do not. People who live in London and have no clue how to drive in narrow villages and roads with one line for 2 cars and high bushes from both sides my advice is stay away. I will Never come back and it was huge mistake even plan...

I've been exploring Dartmoor for many years, ever since I was a child. It's a beautiful place where you can experience nature in all its desolate glory. There are rivers to swim in and tors to climb, woods and hill and fantastic views. It is one of the very few places in England where you can legally wild camp. As long as you don't stay in one place for more than two nights, and clean up all your rubbish (please please clean up your rubbish!) Then it's fair game. There are old quarrys, reservoirs, ancient oak woodlands and amazing walks of whatever length and difficulty you want to plan. Not to mention the wild ponies! Definitely worth a trip. For beginners, take yourself to Shipley Bridge just north of South Brent. From there you can walk up the tarmac track alongside the river Avon until you reach the Avon dam and the reservoir behind it. This route will take you past the old ruins of a manor house, as well as offering some nice swimming and picnic spots along the way. Go to Dartmoor, love Dartmoor and respect it's...