Things To Do near Bovey Valley Circular Walk
Broad Barrow, Widecombe in the Moor, Dartmoor National Park (approx. 4 miles away)
Numerous cairns and barrows run along the spine of the vast Hamel Down. Broad Barrow sits on the highest ground 532 metres above sea level. The views up top are awesome. It's a particularly impressive place when the heather and gorse flower purple and yellow in early Autumn. A barrow is a mound o...
Hameldown Tor, Widecombe in the Moor, Dartmoor National Park (approx. 4 miles away)
Grimspound is an English Heritage site located in a dip between Hamel Down and Hookney Down towards the heart of Dartmoor National Park. Two tors stand guard over the prehistoric settlement. To the north west is Hookney Tor. To the south east is Hameldown Tor. The views from the cairn and trig point...
Hamel Down, Widecombe in the Moor, Dartmoor National Park (approx. 4 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...
Hamel Down Cross, Widecombe in the Moor, Dartmoor National Park (approx. 4 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...
Bearacleave Wood (National Trust), Bovey Tracey, Dartmoor National Park (approx. 4 miles away)
Wray Brook flows through the Wray Valley, roughly speaking, between Moretonhampstead and Lustleigh. The valley is lined with steep-sided wooded valley walls. On the north side of the Wray Valley, these woods push past the Lustleigh area down to Bovey Tracey. The colours are extraordinary in Autumn....
Single Barrow, Widecombe in the Moor, Dartmoor National Park (approx. 4 miles away)
The Dartmoor expert William Crossing writes 'this tumulus was opened in 1873 by the late Mr. C. Spence Bate, and was found to consist of earth with the exception of a low hedge of stones which encircled it, and a low cairn in the centre. About six feet from the latter a small heap of burnt human...
Bovey Tracey Heritage Centre, Bovey Tracey, Dartmoor National Park (approx. 4 miles away)
The Moretonhampstead & South Devon Railway ran from Moretonhampstead through Lustleigh and Bovey Tracey to Newton Abbot. Opened in 1866, the line was closed to passengers in 1959. The stretch between Moretonhampstead and Bovey Tracey is being turned into a multi-use trail called the Wray Valley Trai...
Heltor Rock, Dunsford, Dartmoor National Park (approx. 4 miles away)
To the best of our knowledge, this is the most north easterly tor in Dartmoor National Park. About a mile south of Dunsford Local Nature Reserve at the eastern end of Fingle Woods, Heltor Rock provides terrific views of this section of the National Park and beyond. To access Heltor Rock, you f...
Hameldown Beacon, Widecombe in the Moor, Dartmoor National Park (approx. 4 miles away)
The Oxford English Dictionary defines a beacon as 'a fire or light set up in a high or prominent position as a warning, signal, or celebration’. There is a chain of beacons on Dartmoor running from the edge of the north moor down to the edge of the south moor. Hameldown Beacon is, roughly spe...
Grimspound (English Heritage), Postbridge, Dartmoor National Park (approx. 4 miles away)
There are a number of amazing facts about the prehistory of Dartmoor National Park.* It has the greatest concentration of Bronze Age sites in Britain. It's home to the longest stone row in the world. It has 60% of England's stone rows. It's home to more than 5000 hut circles or ancient homes. Despit...
Two Barrows, Widecombe in the Moor, Dartmoor National Park (approx. 4 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...
Bearacleave Wood, Shaptor Wood and Shaptor Rock Circular Walk, Bovey Tracey, Dartmoor National Park (approx. 4 miles away)
This is a beautiful woodland walk on the eastern border of Dartmoor National Park near the gateway town Bovey Tracey. It starts at the edge of the National Trust's Bearacleave Wood and climbs through Shaptor Wood to the viewpoint on top of Shaptor Rock before crossing farmland back to where you star...
Shapley Tor, Moretonhampstead, Dartmoor National Park (approx. 4 miles away)
Some Dartmoor tors are big and dramatic stacks of granite that command the surrounding landscape. Others are small and rather unassuming. Shapley Tor is among the latter. A scatter of granite towards the top of Shapley Common, it's one of those tors you tend to pass through on your way to another...
Hemsworthy Gate, Widecombe in the Moor, Dartmoor National Park (approx. 4 miles away)
We include Hemsworthy Gate on 'Holiday in Dartmoor' as a reference point. As is the case with Nun's Cross Farm and Batworthy Corner, it's a great starting point from which to discover Dartmoor's landscape and history. There's a small car parking area and paths run off in all...
Ilsington Manor House (Ruins), Ilsington, Dartmoor National Park (approx. 4 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...