Visit Dartmoor National Park Again and Again
Fit or Not, Planned or Unplanned, This Park Welcomes All
Jul 12, 2008
Guide to the Park
The Dartmoor National Park offers a free guide published yearly giving information on the moors, suggestions of places to visit, and history about the Moors. There are maps to the information centers, campsites, and a pub guide. They also publish bus information, but suggest that riders call ahead first.
Fun for Youth
For youth between the ages of five and twelve years, Ranger Ralph activities provide games, events, online activities and free membership that includes four newsletters that continue the fun long after the visit has ended. With a parent’s help to complete the online application, youth can register and sign up for the newsletter. What a great way to introduce a young person to Dartmoor and awaken his or her environmental awareness while preparing for a visit to the park.
Easy Access to All
While the young people enjoy their activities, less-mobile visitors can also enjoy Dartmoor National Park. Guided walks and events accessible to wheelchairs offer opportunities to see the moors, enjoy the wildlife, wildflowers, and fresh air no matter what means of locomotion one uses. Labeled “Easy-Going-Stroll” these guided walks may last up to two hours. Additionally many farmer’s markets, craft fairs and festivals throughout the year provide entertainment, education, and enjoyment.
Active Pursuits for the More Adventurous
For more adventurous and fit visitors, volunteer guides will lead them on three- to six-hour walks into the moors to see medieval landscapes, learn about legends of the moors, visit archaeological sites, or participate in one of the many walking festivals. Because active farms comprise most of Dartmoor National Park, visitors must respect the property owners’ wish for privacy and care of their land. Campers carry out all that they carry in and dispose of waste carefully. Fishing, caving, boating, climbing, swimming, horseback riding, and bicycling all fit into the moors of Dartmoor National Park.
Lodging and Other Structures Invite Visitors to Stay
Castles, always a part of the English countryside, can be found throughout Dartmoor National Park as well as stone foundations and circles. Lodging availability includes bed and breakfasts, inns, hotels, youth hostels, camping barns, and campgrounds. Information can be found in the Dartmoor Tourist Association’s Annual Guide. On the Dartmoor National Park website visitors can find maps, planning information, Ranger Ralph activities, and routes accessible to bikes, cars, buses, and trains. Also information centers located in various shops, restaurants, and even post offices make getting around a breeze.
Can’t Go? Take a Virtual Tour
If you aren’t able to visit, you can also go online and view Dartmouth virtually. According to Becky Newell, the Oral History Project Officer, “Virtually Dartmoor combines oral history recordings, and archive photographs, with 360° imagery and interpretations from experts, enabling exploration of various locations on Dartmoor through the voices of experience and knowledge.” These interactive visits provide panoramic views of buildings such as at Higher Uppacott, the longhouse built into the ground in which people live at the high end of the house and animals at the lower end. This interactive, user-friendly, audio and video presentation involves experts in archaeology, ecology, park rangers, people who actually lived in the longhouse in the early 20th century, and a tour of the inside of the house.
Other virtual tours include the prison at Princetown, a medieval stone bridge at Postbridge, a tin quarry from the twelfth century near Haytor and a reservoir and quarry near Meldon. Each of these provides audio presentations by experts in Dartmoor history, ecology, and archaeology. From planning a visit, visiting, or virtually visiting, Dartmoor National Park offers something for everyone.
