Things To Do near Avon Head
Buckland Abbey (National Trust), Tavistock, Dartmoor National Park (approx. 10 miles away)
Family attraction Spend time walking Dartmoor's south plateau and you'll encounter a high number of ancient crosses. These marked routes across the moors. The routes were used by monks and others to travel between the medieval abbeys and priory that fringed the wild, high ground. Buckland Abbey w...
Becka Brook, Manaton, Dartmoor National Park (approx. 10 miles away)
Becka Brook rises in the Emsworthy area by Hemsworthy Gate between Haytor Rocks and Widecombe-in-the-Moor. It flows below Holwell Tor where a new granite footbridge provides dry crossing where you once had to wade across at a ford. The brook then cuts a beautiful valley between Greator Rocks...
Bovey Valley Woodlands, Bovey Tracey, Dartmoor National Park (approx. 10 miles away)
Bovey Valley Woodlands, or Bovey Valley Woods, is a collective term for three woods that sit at the lower end of the Bovey Valley. These woods are Pullabrook Wood (Pullbrook on the Ordnance Survey Explorer OL28 'Dartmoor' map), Hisley Wood and Houndtor Wood. The woods are part of the East Dartmoor N...
Clam Bridge, Manaton, Dartmoor National Park (approx. 10 miles away)
The River Bovey cuts a beautiful valley between Foxworthy Bridge and Drakeford Bridge. Lustleigh Cleave dominates the upper section of the valley. Houndtor Wood and Hisley Wood are beautiful downstream. Towards the middle of the valley, next to a modern, wooden footbridge is Clam Bridge. Fenced off...
East Dart Head, Belstone, Dartmoor National Park (approx. 10 miles away)
On Dartmoor's north plateau, in a bowl of moorland below some of the National Park's highest hills, are the headwaters of the East Dart River. It's a remote, strangely intoxicating area far away from villages and towns. After periods of wet weather, the land is boggy and unpleasant to walk across. I...
Dartmoor Hawking, North Bovey, Dartmoor National Park (approx. 10 miles away)
We'd put this high on our list of essential Dartmoor experiences. Whilst it's a remarkable experience to fly owls, falcons and eagles from Dartmoor Hawking's base near the luxury hotel Bovey Castle, it's a particular joy taking Harris Hawks out onto the moor. On the day we spent...
Standon Down Settlement, Mary Tavy, Dartmoor National Park (approx. 10 miles away)
In his book 'The Field Archaeology of Dartmoor', Phil Newman writes: 'Some hut settlements [on Dartmoor] are unenclosed, but have connecting walls between individual huts. This is a different approach to the arrangements of space around the houses, and shows no apparent need for an outer enclosur...
Lustleigh Cleave, Lustleigh, Dartmoor National Park (approx. 10 miles away)
[Main photo: Manaton, Hayne Down and Hamel Down seen from the broad ridge that runs along the top of Lustleigh Cleave] Stunning section of the Bovey Valley on the eastern side of Dartmoor Many of Devon's most famous rivers rise on the high moors and flow down to the coast. On their w...
River Tavy, Dartmoor, Dartmoor National Park (approx. 10 miles away)
The area around Fur Tor and Cut Hill on the high north plateau of Dartmoor National Park is the most remote place in southern England. The views across Dartmoor, Devon and Cornwall are immense but it's relatively difficult to walk into the area. Part of the problem is the wet, boggy land that surrou...
Foxworthy Bridge, Manaton, Dartmoor National Park (approx. 10 miles away)
Foxworthy is a hamlet at the top of the Bovey Valley. There's a good, stone bridge spanning the River Bovey here. Foxworthy Bridge is the most convenient way to get from Manaton to the stunning Lustleigh Cleave and Hunter's Tor or vice versa. Note that you can cross the River Bovey downstrea...
Shovel Down Settlements and Field System, Chagford, Dartmoor National Park (approx. 10 miles away)
The high moor above Chagford is packed with prehistoric attractions from stone circles to standing stones, stone rows to ancient settlements. There's a particularly impressive cluster of attractions on Shovel Down by the northern section of Chagford Common near Batworthy Corner. The Long Stone St...
Anthony Trollope and Dartmoor, Manaton, Dartmoor National Park (approx. 10 miles away)
In his autobiography, Anthony Trollope wrote of Dartmoor: The prettiest scenery in all England is 'on the southern and south-eastern skirts of Dartmoor, where the rivers Dart, and Avon, and Teign form themselves, and where the broken moor is half-cultivated, and the wild-looking fields are half-m...
Shovel Down Stone Rows, Chagford, Dartmoor National Park (approx. 10 miles away)
There are numerous stone rows running across a compact section of moorland on Shovel Down near Chagford. Some are very obvious double stone rows and can been seen from a long way off. Others consist of smaller stones obscured by tussocks and long grass. There's also evidence of stone rows no longer...
The Miniature Pony Centre, Moretonhampstead, Dartmoor National Park (approx. 10 miles away)
Family attraction A Dartmoor highlight for young children, The Miniature Pony Centre's just south west of Moretonhampstead on the B3212 which cuts across the National Park. As the name suggests, the Centre's home to miniature ponies. Some, especially the foals, are unbelievably cute. There's a...
Nat Tor, Mary Tavy, Dartmoor National Park (approx. 10 miles away)
Nat Tor is a small outcrop situated at the tail of Tavy Cleave in the western section of Dartmoor National Park. It's one of a number of tors lining the northern lip of Tavy Cleave. We've positioned Nat Tor on Google maps so zoom in on the 'Satellite' setting to see its location. To visit for...