Visiting Dartmoor in Devon
Dartmoor is the Delight of Devon
Forgive my alliteration but I could not help myself! Alliteration aside it really is a wonderful place and absolutely gorgeous. In visiting Dortmoor I felt as if I were transported right into a scene from Wuthering Heights, with the broody landscape and temperamental weather patterns. (Albeit those were the Yorkshire Moors but my imagination still felt the connection between Bronte’s work and this landscape.) This was only the second moorland I’d visited in the 7 years I’ve lived here, but it was truly exquisite. Though it had some similarity with the Yorkshire Moors it also felt entirely different and unique to itself. We spent the day touring around the various sights to see in Dartmoor – my boyfriend’s parents are local so I got a right proper tour. Complete with a cream tea and a hike up to the top of Haytor for a spectacular view of the Moorlands.
Brooding Landscape
We spent the better part of the day driving through the moors and taking small walks or hikes where we found nice places to stop. The weather was incredibly volatile during the entire visit – ranging from raining to sunny and sometimes both at the same time. The scenes were astonishingly beautiful and moving – here are some glimpses of what we saw:
Dartmoor Traffic was Wonderfully Unique
It’s not every day that traffic comes to a stand still while a herd of wild horses cross the road. At least that’s not bee the case when I’ve lived in London, or even Surrey, and definitely not back in Massachusetts (wild turkeys were the bane of my existence). The variety of wild animals on Dartmoor was wonderful to see – horses, cows, ponies and many others.
My favorite of the animals we ran into was a small herd that had made themselves comfortable in the parking lot just next to Haytor. Including this gorgeous one that decided the Porsche was best used as a seat.