Exmoor National Park

Introducing Exmoor National Park

Running along the northwestern coastline of Somerset into Devon, this tiny national park is a hiker’s haven and a twitcher’s dream come true. With its idyllic landscape of emerald-green meadows, wooded combes and crumbling cliffs, Exmoor is a more pastoral place than its sister national park on the opposite coast, Dartmoor. It’s also home to some of Britain’s oldest agricultural land; some of its farms date back to the Domesday Book and beyond, and ancient herds of horned sheep, Exmoor ponies and wild red deer roam its fields and bridleways.

Most of the park’s main towns are dotted along the coastline, which stretches from the coastal resorts of Lynton and Lynmouth in the far west, along to the pretty harbour of Porlock and the medieval town of Dunster, with its brooding red-brick castle, all the way to the family-fun resort of Minehead in the east. Inland, Exmoor is dotted with small hamlets and sleepy villages that make ideal getaways from the coastal crowds.

Last updated: Feb 17, 2009