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Dartmoor National Park

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Overview

Dartmoor is Devon’s wild heart. Covering 368 sq miles, this vast national park feels like it’s tumbled straight out of a Tolkien tome, with its honey-coloured heaths, moss-smothered boulders, tinkling streams and eerie granite hills (known locally as tors).

Attractions

Must-see attractions

  • Garden House

    Garden House

    Dartmoor National Park

    The enchanting blend of landscapes here make this garden one of the best in Devon. Its 3 hectares encompass wildflower meadows and South African planting,…

  • Castle Drogo

    Castle Drogo

    Dartmoor National Park

    Three miles northeast of Chagford, this outlandish architectural flight of fancy was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens for self-made food-millionaire Julius…

  • Buckland Abbey

    Buckland Abbey

    Dartmoor National Park

    Founded as a Cistercian monastery and abbey-church in the 13th century, Buckland Abbey was one of Henry VIII’s ‘acquisitions’ during the Dissolution of…

  • Lydford Gorge

    Lydford Gorge

    Dartmoor National Park

    This plunging gorge is the deepest in the southwest, and can be reached via a 1.5-mile rugged riverside hike past a series of bubbling whirlpools …

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    Dartmoor National Park

    Dartmoor National Park

    At first glance, Dartmoor can come as something of a shock to the senses. The largest stretch of open moorland in the southwest, Dartmoor covers an area…

  • Morwellham Quay

    Morwellham Quay

    Dartmoor National Park

    Morwellham Quay is part of the southwest's Mining World Heritage Site and offers intriguing insight into the copper boom that gripped west Devon in the…

  • Fingle Woods

    Fingle Woods

    Dartmoor National Park

    One of the last remaining patches of ancient woodland left on Dartmoor, this lovely 214-hectare forest was badly marred by the introduction of fast…

  • Higher Moorland Visitor Centre

    Higher Moorland Visitor Centre

    Dartmoor National Park

    At the tourist office–visitor centre, heritage displays include those on tin workings, gunpowder factories, ecology and legends – there's also a stunning…

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