Things To Do near Avon Dam Reservoir Valley
Ilsington Manor House (Ruins), Ilsington, Dartmoor National Park (approx. 10 miles away)
In the north eastern corner of Ilsington St Michael's Church are the remains of Ilsington Manor House. A Dartmoor National Park Authority information board tells the story of the manor house and provides floor plans and drawings. George Ford 'is thought to have rebuilt the house in...
Bowerman's Nose, Hound Tor and Medieval Village Circular Walk, Manaton, Dartmoor National Park (approx. 10 miles away)
Park at Manaton near the church. Head back across the main road and down a narrow lane. A path cuts right over a field towards Hayne Down. Continue up onto open moorland. Bowerman's Nose is to the right near the end of the ridge. Head back to the path that crosses the ridge and follow it down to...
Hound Tor Abandoned Medieval Settlement (English Heritage), Manaton, Dartmoor National Park (approx. 10 miles away)
Explore Dartmoor and you'll encounter a high number of abandoned sites dating from the medieval period. The most famous is English Heritage's Hound Tor Abandoned Medieval Settlement. A hamlet, Hound Tor Abandoned Medieval Settlement consists of eleven buildings including longhou...
Hound Tor (East Dartmoor), Manaton, Dartmoor National Park (approx. 10 miles away)
One of Dartmoor's most impressive and popular tors One of Dartmoor's most impressive and popular tors, Hound Tor is a collection of rocky outcrops in the eastern section of the national park close to both Haytor Rocks and the village Widecombe-in-the-Moor. Note that there is another Hound...
King's Tor, Merrivale, Dartmoor National Park (approx. 10 miles away)
King's Tor is a superb collection of granite outcrops roughly 3km west of Princetown. The tor overlooks the prehistoric complex at Merrivale and provides top views of this section of the National Park in addition to the Tamar Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and Cornwall. The Granite and Ge...
River Cowsic, Princetown, Dartmoor National Park (approx. 10 miles away)
Fur Tor is said to be the most remote spot in southern England. Scattered across the edge of a high moorland plateau in the northern section of Dartmoor National Park, the rocky outcrops that form Fur Tor are close to the source of many famous Westcountry rivers. The West Dart River rises south east...
Hamel Down Cross, Widecombe in the Moor, Dartmoor National Park (approx. 10 miles away)
In his 'Guide to Dartmoor', William Crossing notes that 'Hameldon Cross consists of a granite slab rather over four feet in height and about two feet in width, rudely fashioned into the form of the sacred symbol, and probably has never served any other purpose than that of a boundary sto...
Challacombe Medieval Strip Fields, Postbridge, Dartmoor National Park (approx. 10 miles away)
Stand at English Heritage's Grimspound or Hookney Tor and look south west and you'll see weathered strips of farmland on the side of a steep hill. These are Challacombe Medieval Strip Fields. A local information board states that 'the narrow strip fields (lynchets) which you can see running...
Quirky Dartmoor, Dartmoor, Dartmoor National Park (approx. 10 miles away)
Once, there was a giant chair but, sadly, they took it down. You'll still find plenty of other quirky sights and names across the moors. There are exquisite sculptures dotted around the landscape and in the towns and plenty of weird rock structures. Many of the ponies are remarkably small, some o...
Golden Dagger Tin Mine (Disused), Postbridge, Dartmoor National Park (approx. 10 miles away)
The area south of the B3212 near The Warren House Inn was heavily mined in past centuries. The local landscape is shaped, in part, by the Birch Tor and Vitifer Mine, the Headland Tin Mine, Bushdown Mine and the Golden Dagger Tin Mine. The wonderfully named Golden Dagger Tin Mine is the furthest sout...
Dartmoor East To West Walk/Crossing In A Day, Dartmoor, Dartmoor National Park (approx. 10 miles away)
Open access moorland Dartmoor National Park is, in the main, open access. This means that you can take many routes across the moor. Some, like the Abbot's Way and Lichway/Lych Way, are marked in part on the Ordnance Survey Explorer OL28 'Dartmoor' map or the Harvey British Mountain Maps 'Dar...
Lydford Tor, Princetown, Dartmoor National Park (approx. 10 miles away)
The Lichway/Lych Way runs, roughly speaking, between Bellever Forest in the heart of Dartmoor to Lydford on the western border of the National Park. For centuries, people working the moors had to carry their dead across the moors to bury them at Lydford Church. Lydford Tor is situated by the Lichway...
Haytor Down, Haytor Vale, Dartmoor National Park (approx. 10 miles away)
This is probably the most popular area of moorland in Dartmoor National Park. In high Summer, or after a good dumping of snow in Winter, its many car parking areas are rammed full with vehicles. Its popularity is partly owing to its location on the eastern side of Dartmoor near the large towns of So...
Grey Wethers and Blue Jug, Widecombe in the Moor, Dartmoor National Park (approx. 10 miles away)
'The stream on the eastern side of the hill forms the boundary between the common lands of Manaton and Widecombe, and this is drawn from its head to Hameldon Cross, the space between the two being marked by a couple of bondstones, the lower one being called Blue Jug, and the other the Grey Wethe...
Challacombe Valley and Farm, Postbridge, Dartmoor National Park (approx. 10 miles away)
This beautiful valley sits between Hamel Down to the east and Challacombe Down to the west. At the top of the valley are Headland Warren Farm, Hookney Tor and English Heritage's Grimspound. At the bottom of the valley, by Challacombe, the land flattens out into an area of farmland leading down t...