Things To Do near Buckfast Abbey
Wheal Emma Leat (Dry Channel), Hexworthy, Dartmoor National Park (approx. 8 miles away)
A wheal is a mine. A leat is a man-made waterway used to channel water from, say, a river down to a mine, mill or town/city. Wheal Emma Leat is the now dry channel of a leat built in 1859 that once collected water from near the source of the River Swincombe as it flows past the eastern side of Foxto...
Stover Country Park The Ted Hughes Poetry Trail, Bovey Tracey, Dartmoor National Park (approx. 8 miles away)
This superb poetry trail runs, roughly speaking, around the lake in Stover Country Park Local Nature Reserve. Nature poems by the Poet Laureate Ted Hughes are displayed on posts. Interspersed between the posts are other displays providing information on local birdlife, wildlife and history. On a sun...
Crane Hill, Princetown, Dartmoor National Park (approx. 8 miles away)
It's not the most inspiring place on Dartmoor but if you want to explore the National Park's south plateau then you're going to spend a lot of time skirting Crane Hill's flanks or wandering over its top. The River Plym rises here. The Abbot's Way arcs around its south west side. Ducks' Pool is on...
House of Marbles and Teign Valley Glass, Bovey Tracey, Dartmoor National Park (approx. 8 miles away)
When we first popped into the House of Marbles and Teign Valley Glass to research the attraction, we ended up spending most of the day there. It's a cluster of visitor attractions under one roof. In parts, it's a fascinating place. If you're into shopping, history or the arts then we'd recommend a v...
Yarner Wood Bird Hides, Bovey Tracey, Dartmoor National Park (approx. 8 miles away)
'The internationally important upland oak woodlands in this National Nature Reserve are one of the best places to see woodland birds of many kinds but especially the enigmatic pied flycatcher, secretive lesser spotted woodpecker and vocal wood warbler.' The Natural England information boards at the...
Yarner Wood Nature Trail, Bovey Tracey, Dartmoor National Park (approx. 8 miles away)
Yarner Wood is part of the East Dartmoor National Nature Reserve. Dotted around the wood, you'll find posts to which are attached numbered Yarner Wood Nature Trail waymarkers. You can follow either the short loop that runs close to the Yarner Wood Reserve Base or extend it into a longer loop&nb...
Tavistock to Ashburton Packhorse Track, Ashburton, Dartmoor National Park (approx. 8 miles away)
This ancient track is shown on the Harvey British Mountain Map 'Dartmoor' map. Unsurprisingly, it runs between Tavistock on the western border of the National Park to Ashburton on the eastern border. The central section of the track pretty much follows Conchies Road. We include Tavistock to Ash...
Battle of Bovey Heath Battlefield, Bovey Tracey, Dartmoor National Park (approx. 8 miles away)
Near the eastern border of Dartmoor National Park, on the outskirts of the gateway town Bovey Tracey, is Bovey Heathfield Local Nature Reserve. In the seventeenth century, during the English Civil War, this was the site of the Battle of Bovey Heath. There's an information board on site that reads:...
Yarner Wood Reserve Base/Natural England Office, Bovey Tracey, Dartmoor National Park (approx. 8 miles away)
The Yarner Wood Reserve Base/Natural England Office is situated next to the car park and main access point for Yarner Wood. Just across the car park from the office is a bird hide providing views over a large pond (the stew pond) frequented by birdlife. Leaflets providing information about Yarn...
Two Barrows, Widecombe in the Moor, Dartmoor National Park (approx. 8 miles away)
There's a display cabinet in Postbridge National Park Visitor Centre which contains a replica of the Hameldon Dagger or Hamel Down Dagger. The display reads: 'Hameldon dagger. In 1872 the original dagger was found with a burial of burnt human bones in a cairn or barrow at Hameldon. It cons...
River Swincombe, Dartmoor, Dartmoor National Park (approx. 8 miles away)
By Dartmoor standards, this is a short river that rises on the edge of the National Park's south plateau and meets the West Dart River in Dartmoor's central bowl near Hexworthy. The river rises at Swincombe Head above what the Harvey British Mountain Map 'Dartmoor' map refers to as Suns...
Swincombe Headweir Ford, Princetown, Dartmoor National Park (approx. 8 miles away)
The River Swincombe and Strane River (having been fed by Nun's Cross Brook) meet at the eastern end of Foxtor Mires near the beginning of the old Wheal Emma Leat (Dry Channel). Just before they meet, there are two fords spanning each waterway. After a spell of dry weather, the ford across th...
Great Gnats Head, Sheepstor, Dartmoor National Park (approx. 8 miles away)
This is one for the Dartmoor enthusiast. On the edge of Dartmoor's south plateau, there's not much else around the cairn. We've positioned Great Gnats Head on Google maps so zoom in on the 'Satellite' setting to see its location. To visit, we'd recommend following the footpath marked Abbo...
Hamel Down, Widecombe in the Moor, Dartmoor National Park (approx. 8 miles away)
Drive along the A30 that skirts the northern boundary of Dartmoor National Park and you'll see the unmistakable dome of Cosdon Hill topped by Cosdon Beacon. Further south, towards the heart of the National Park is the equally vast Hamel Down topped by a tor, barrows and its own beacon. The views fro...
Burford Down Stone Row, Harford, Dartmoor National Park (approx. 8 miles away)
If you look at Dartmoor's south moor on the Ordnance Survey Explorer OL28 'Dartmoor' map, you'll see a line of stone rows running from the area around the village Harford to the remote moor at Green Hill. Burford Down Stone Row is the most southerly. The immensely impressive Stalldown Stone Row is i...