Given countrywide Park standing in 1951, Dartmoor is sat in the south of county Devon, southwest Britain, and covers an area of 365 square miles. Nearly half the park is swampland, a paradise for wildlife and those wanting to escape the pains of city life.
Dartmoor Forest, owned by the Duchy of Cornwall since 1307, is a former royal hunting ground and makes up the majority of the region. The grass and heather moors are littered with hefty granite boulders scattered among the rolling hills. Wild ponies graze among the barren hills ; despite running wild, all have human owners and are gathered annually each autumn.
approximately 10% of the moor is woodland, much of it running along the tranquil stream valleys. Stone circles and burial chambers are testament to Dartmoor’s important and enigmatic past. Indeed, Dartmoor is famous not for its beautiful landscapes. It was in the small town of Grimspound that Sherlock Holmes found himself digging into the hound of the Baskervilles.
Dartmoor was one of Europe’s largest tin mining areas back in the 12th century. The stone built homes of the miners can still be found along plenty of the regions streams and streams.
monk’s Way runs across the southern part of the moor, racing across wild country and moorland bogs. The area is assumed to be named after the monks who are thought to have used this trail when travelling between Buckland Abbey and Buckfast Abbey. Man’s presence over the ages is evident in this barren land. Shed circles going back to the Bronze and Iron ages remain today.
South of monks Way sits Harford Moor. The Middle Ages drew tin miners from far and wide looking for wealth below the surface. Today visitors are drawn by the huge badlands and wildlife. A medieval cross adorns Harford Church, one of the many in the area which once served as signposts for those travelling across the moors.
Becky Falls woodland Park first opened to the public in 1903. Some of the most pleasurable walks in England’s southwest can be had here amongst the pleasant waterfalls and huge granite.
To the west is Upper Plym Valley and a beautiful array of plants and wildlife. The tracks in these parts are rather easier to navigate than many others in the moors and supply much of interest on the way. The impressive moorland landscape is interspersed with abandoned tin mines dating back over a century and diverse prehistoric relics including stone and shed circles.
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Tags: County, Dartmoor, England, wilderness
