Wensleydale Bike Club invasion of Sutton Bank
Helen Pollard and the Wensleydale Bike Club took a bunch of children to explore Sutton Bank - and now you can follow the adventure too!
A quick guide to Exmoor National Park
Exmoor National Park is a unique landscape of moorland, woodland, valleys and farmland, shaped by people and nature over thousands of years. Where high cliffs plunge into the Bristol Channel, and cosy pubs and tearooms offer delicious local produce.
What makes Exmoor special?
Dunkery Sunrise - Image: ENPA/Nigel Stone
Exmoor National Park is a unique landscape of moorland, woodland, valleys and farmland, shaped by people and nature over thousands of years. Where high cliffs plunge into the Bristol Channel, and cosy pubs and tearooms offer delicious local produce.
On Exmoor, it is still possible to find tranquility and peace as well as rediscover your sense of adventure; to catch a glimpse of wild red deer, be amazed by dark skies full of stars, and explore villages full of character.
- 71% of Exmoor National Park lies within Somerset and 29% within Devon.
- The highest point on Exmoor is Dunkery Beacon at 519m above sea level.
An inspiring landscape
Walkers at Dunkery Beacon - Image: ENPA/Nigel Stone
Within its 267 square miles Exmoor National Park contains an amazing variety of landscapes that provide inspiration and enjoyment to visitors and residents alike. Large areas of open moorland provide a sense of remoteness, wildness and tranquillity rare in southern Britain, while spectacular coastal views, deep wooded valleys, high sea cliffs and fast flowing streams all combine to form a rich and distinct mosaic.
Prayway Head - Image: ENPA/Matt Sully
Heddon's Mouth from Lime Kiln - Image: ENPA/Nigel Stone
- Exmoor has the longest wooded coastline in Britain.
- The Exmoor coast has the highest and lowest tides in Europe.
- Exmoor has the highest sea cliffs on the British mainland.
Treasuring the past
Dunkery - Image: ENPA/Nigel Stone
The landscape of Exmoor tells the story of how people have lived in, exploited and enjoyed Exmoor over the last 8000 years. Burial mounds on high ridges, unique and ancient patterns of standing stones, cliff top Roman forts, astonishingly preserved medieval villages and incredible Victorian industrial engineering are all there to be explored.
Exmoor Ponies Above Porlock - Image: ENPA/Nigel Stone
Larkbarrow - Image: ENPA/Nigel Stone
- The Exmoor Coast is the most remote in England.
- Exmoor ponies are Britain’s oldest native breed of horse.
A wealth of wildlife
Goats at Valley of Rocks - Image: ENPA
The moorland, woodland, streams and farmland of Exmoor support a great diversity of wildlife including herds of wild red deer, rich lichen communities, rare butterflies, bats, and other species uncommon in southern Britain. Salmon still return from years at sea to travel up rivers such as the Exe and Barle to the same spawning grounds they hatched from.
- Exmoor has plants that grow nowhere else in the world, including two species of whitebeam tree.
- Beech trees grow at greater altitudes on Exmoor than anywhere else in Britain.
- Exmoor is home to England’s tallest tree, a Douglas fir near Dunster.
Looking to the future
Blagdon Cross Startrails - Image: ENPA/Adrian Cubitt
Exmoor is a deeply traditional place, where rural skills and knowledge are still valued, and locally distinctive breeds such as Exmoor Horn sheep and herds of free-living Exmoor Ponies are a common sight. But Exmoor is also a place with an exciting future, where “green” tourism and sustainable energy is encouraged and our moorlands are valued for their ability to provide clean water and store carbon in deep peat.
- Britain’s longest footpath, The South West Coast Path, begins on the Exmoor coast.
- Exmoor National Park has some of the darkest skies in the UK, and is a great location for stargazing.
To discover more visit www.exmoor-nationalpark.gov.uk/ or tell us your favourite thing about Exmoor in the comments!
