Secret Dartmoor

Romantic tors, ancient history, friendly pubs, waterfalls and pretty villages – Dartmoor National Park offers the perfect escape. Fi Darby reveals the moor's hidden delights

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The water murmurs over the rocks below, the skylarks warn high above and the wind whispers promises in my ear. I lie back in the water and feel the strain of the walk up to the river float away from me. Dartmoor is rarely silent, but its joyous breath is always a balm to my soul. I relax. But just for a moment; conditions change quickly up on the high moor and it will soon be time to pitch my tent.

Ask any number of people to describe Dartmoor National Park and you'll get a different answer. Within the bounds of the park you'll discover a multi-faceted landscape, shaped not just by the natural elements but by the people who have lived and worked there. Whether you’re balancing across tussocks on the sweeping grasslands of the high moor, exploring green, wooded river valleys or enjoying pastoral farm and village scenes, you'll discover intriguing signs of human occupation wherever you turn.

Although it’s impossible not to marvel at Dartmoor’s magnificent granite tors and open spaces, for me it’s the manmade treasure that give this special place its endless sense of fascination. Where else can you sit in a Bronze Age hut circle, locate an ancient stone cross, cross a river via a medieval clapper bridge, explore 20th-century tin workings and admire the view from a huge stack of rocks? And all on the same walk.

Dartmoor isn’t just about places, it’s about communities. Contrary to popular belief, most of the land within the 368 square miles of Dartmoor National Park isn’t owned by the National Park Authority but by a series of landowners. This diversity of ownership brings both blessings and challenges. Balancing the needs of visitors with those of other stakeholders has, since the national park’s designation in 1951, been a full-time job for many dedicated people - increasingly challenging work in today’s budget-cutting climate.