Dartmoor

I consider myself lucky to live in a county containing two National Parks. Dartmoor, the larger of the two, is less than half an hour from my home. Its rugged landscape contrasts sharply with the rolling green countryside of the surrounding areas of Devon, and therein lies a clue to the area's origins. For Dartmoor is an intruder; a bubble of hard granite surrounded by softer rocks, which has been eroded over millions of years to leave a unique landscape of mysterious tors, open moorland and wooded river valleys. During a period of milder climate the moor was inhabited more densely than it is now, and evidence of these prehistoric communities makes the area all the more fascinating.