Exmoor National Park

A Morning on the Moor

When Sarah from our BugBitten team pulled off the narrow lane above Porlock just before seven on an October morning, the mist was sitting so low in the valley that the treeline below had completely vanished. She cut the engine and stepped out into the cold, and within thirty seconds — before she'd even zipped her jacket — she heard it. A deep, guttural bellow rolling up from somewhere in the fog. Then another, from a different direction entirely. Two stags, calling across the invisible valley floor during the height of the rut, neither one visible, both of them absolutely filling the air with something that felt ancient and completely indifferent to her being there.

That moment, she said later, was the whole of Exmoor compressed into about fifteen seconds. The cold, the mist, the sound, the sense that the landscape was operating entirely on its own schedule. No visitor centre. No ticket booth. No one else on the lane. Just moorland, deer, and the Bristol Channel somewhere below, out past the treeline she could not see.

It is a place that rewards patience and early starts. It does not reward passivity. If you turn up expecting the countryside to perform for you from the window of a teashop, you will come away underwhelmed. But if you pull on your boots before dawn and walk out onto the ridge in whatever weather is happening, Exmoor will give you something back almost every time.

What Makes This Place Worth Your Time

Exmoor National Park sits across the Somerset and Devon border in southwest England, covering roughly 700 square kilometres of moorland, wooded river valleys, and cliff-edged coastline. It has been a designated national park since 1954, but the landscape itself has been shaped over thousands of years — by Bronze Age farmers who left their burial mounds across the high ground, by medieval deer hunting, by centuries of grazing that kept the heather open and the moor from closing over into scrub.

What marks Exmoor out from other national parks in England is a quality that is genuinely hard to name without reaching for words that immediately feel oversold. The scale is human. Not vast like the Scottish Highlands, not bleak and exposed like parts of the Pennines, but intimate and constantly variable. You can stand on Dunkery Beacon — the highest point on the moor at 519 metres — and see the Welsh coast across the channel on a clear day, then drop down through ancient oak woodland into a valley so sheltered and green it feels like a completely different ecosystem. All of that within a couple of hours' walking.

The wildlife is the real drawcard. Exmoor supports the largest population of wild red deer in England. These are not managed herds in any meaningful sense — they roam across private and public land alike, and encounters on open moorland paths are genuinely frequent for anyone who goes out early and keeps noise to a minimum. The Exmoor pony, a breed that has been on this moor for thousands of years, adds another layer of spectacle: small, stocky, entirely unimpressed by passing walkers, they drift across the ridgelines in small groups like something out of a landscape painting that nobody commissioned.

For travellers who have been exploring other parts of the southwest — perhaps down near more places in Somerset/Devon — Exmoor provides a compelling northern anchor to any regional itinerary, one that sits in sharp contrast to the busier tourist circuits closer to the coast.

How the Area Feels

Exmoor does not feel curated. That is the first thing most visitors notice. There are no manicured viewpoints with interpretive plaques every hundred metres, no queues for car parks shaped like a theme park entrance. The gateway towns — Porlock, Dulverton, Lynton and Lynmouth — are small, functional market towns that happen to sit at the edge of spectacular country. They have pubs, bakeries, basic gear shops, and accommodation across all price brackets. They do not have the slightly performative heritage feel of some English tourist destinations.

The moorland itself is open and accessible. Much of the core upland sits within common land or is covered by access land rights under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act, meaning you can walk off-track without needing to stick to waymarked routes. On the highest ground — Dunkery, Winsford Hill, the Chains — the paths thin out quickly and the landscape opens up into something that feels genuinely remote despite being within two hours of Bristol.

The wooded combes are a different world entirely. Horner Wood, near Porlock, is one of the largest ancient oak woodlands in England. The trees are mossy, gnarled, and draped in lichen. The valley floor is damp and quiet, the light filtering down in a green-grey wash. This is where you come for woodpeckers, dippers, and the particular stillness of a woodland that has not been touched by commercial forestry. Walking the Horner Water upstream on a rainy autumn morning, with the deer moving through the trees on the slopes above, is one of the more memorable things you can do in England without paying anyone anything.

The coastal section adds yet another dimension. The North Devon Heritage Coast runs along Exmoor's northern edge, and the cliffs here are among the highest in England. The village of Lynton sits on top of them; Lynmouth sits at the bottom. A Victorian water-powered cliff railway connects the two — still operating, still extraordinary. The coast path here is strenuous and spectacular, with long sections of exposed ridge walking above cliffs that drop directly to the sea.

What to Actually Do Here

Walking the High Moor

The classic Dunkery Beacon walk from Horner or Webber's Post is short enough to be done in a morning and gives you the full panoramic experience — sea to the north, Dartmoor visible to the south on clear days, and the whole purple sweep of the heather moor in between. In October, add the chance of encountering red deer at close range, and you have a walk that justifies the drive from almost anywhere in the country.

For longer routes, the Two Moors Way runs from Ivybridge on Dartmoor all the way to Lynmouth, crossing Exmoor in its northern section. The South West Coast Path hugs the northern edge of the park. Both are well waymarked, but Exmoor's weather changes quickly and navigation skills on the open moor are worth having — the mist that makes the place atmospheric can also reduce visibility to a few metres in minutes.

Wildlife Watching

Early mornings are non-negotiable for deer. The rut runs from late September through October, and stags are vocal and visible in ways they are not at other times of year. Winsford Hill, the Horner valley, and the moorland above Porlock all produce reliable sightings. Exmoor ponies can be found on Winsford Hill, Withypool Common, and the moorland around Hoccombe Water.

Birdwatching rewards include buzzards (abundant), red kites (increasingly regular), skylarks on the high moor, dippers along the rocky streams, and the occasional peregrine on the sea cliffs. Dusk near Horner Wood in spring produces woodcock roding flights.

Lynton and Lynmouth

These twin villages deserve more than a passing stop. Lynmouth was devastated by a catastrophic flood in 1952 when the East and West Lyn rivers burst their banks during extreme rainfall, killing 34 people. The rebuilt village sits at the foot of the gorge, with the Lyn Rivers running clear and fast over boulders through the centre. The cliff railway above connects it to Lynton in a few minutes and is worth riding for the engineering alone.

When to Go (and When Not To)

Late August to October is the peak season for a reason. The heather is in full purple bloom from late August through September, which transforms the open moorland into something genuinely striking. October brings the red deer rut — the single best wildlife spectacle in England that doesn't require a boat or a permit. Mornings are cold but dry often enough to reward early starts.

Spring (April to June) is underrated. The woodlands are extraordinary, the days are lengthening, and the crowds are lighter. Bluebells in Horner Wood in May are remarkable.

Summer brings the school holiday crowds to Lynton and Lynmouth especially, and car parks fill quickly on warm weekends. The moor is still good in summer — walk further than the main car parks and you lose the crowds almost immediately — but accommodation books out well in advance.

Winter is quiet, cold, and atmospheric. Some accommodation closes. Public transport becomes even more limited. But the moor in winter, under frost or rare snow, is something special. Pack accordingly.

The weather deserves honest treatment: Exmoor receives significant rainfall, particularly on the higher western moor. The Chains, the highest plateau in the west, can be wet underfoot in any season. Bring proper waterproofs and boots with ankle support regardless of what the forecast says when you leave home.

How to Get There and Nearby Stops

Exmoor is not well served by public transport, and this is worth stating plainly rather than glossing over. The nearest mainline railway stations are at Taunton (Somerset) and Barnstaple (Devon). From Taunton, you are looking at a bus or taxi journey of an hour or more to reach the park's eastern edge. Barnstaple is closer to the western side but still requires onward transport.

A car is genuinely the most practical option for most visitors. The M5 motorway brings you to the edge of Somerset, from which the A39 and A396 provide the main routes into the park. Parking charges apply at many of the main sites managed by the national park authority, but most are modest.

The park sits within a broader southwest England circuit that rewards multi-destination planning. Travellers who have explored wildlife parks further south — the Paignton Zoo Environmental Park makes a worthwhile detour if you're travelling with children — will find Exmoor a compelling contrast, moving from managed conservation to genuinely wild habitat within the same region.

For those drawing wider travel comparisons, the experience of encountering large mammals on open moorland at close range is something that visitors returning from wilder destinations elsewhere in Britain — such as those who've spent time around Inverness in the Scottish Highlands — often find surprisingly comparable in terms of raw impact, even if the scale is more contained.

Dulverton, at the southern edge of the park, makes a good base for exploring the Barle and Exe valleys. Porlock suits those after moorland and coast combined. Lynton and Lynmouth are the most visited but are busy in summer for good reason.

The Not-So-Good Bits

The roads are genuinely difficult. Exmoor's lanes are narrow, frequently single-track, and steep in ways that can be alarming if you're not used to rural English driving. The hill out of Porlock (Porlock Hill) has a gradient of 1-in-4 in places and is not suitable for large vehicles or nervous drivers — there is a toll road alternative that bypasses the worst of it. If you're hiring a car and unfamiliar with single-track roads, allow considerably more time for journeys than any map app will suggest.

Mobile signal is poor across most of the park. This is worth knowing for navigation purposes — download offline maps before you arrive rather than relying on live data. Some areas on the high moor have no signal at all.

Midges are not as severe as in Scotland, but ticks are a genuine concern. Anyone walking through bracken or long grass — which on Exmoor means almost everyone — should check for ticks after their walk. Lyme disease is present in tick populations across the southwest, and basic precautions (long socks, tick removal tools, checking exposed skin) are sensible rather than excessive.

Accommodation pressure in peak season is real. The park's gateway towns are small and popular; book well ahead for any visit between July and October. Last-minute accommodation in Lynton or Dulverton during the October rut is essentially impossible.

Some of the most dramatic sections of the coast path are hard work. The stretch between Lynmouth and Combe Martin involves significant elevation change on rocky ground. It is spectacular but not suitable for anyone expecting a casual coastal stroll.

Final Word from the BugBitten Team

Exmoor is the kind of place that keeps making the shortlist for family trips or long weekends and then keeps getting pushed aside in favour of places that feel more obviously photogenic or internationally legible. That is a mistake. What it offers — wild red deer in ancient oak woodland, cliff-edge coast paths above the Bristol Channel, open heather moorland with genuine solitude available within minutes of leaving your car — is genuinely difficult to find elsewhere in England.

It is worth noting that Exmoor sits in a region of England that is home to significant natural and cultural heritage, with landscapes that share characteristics with sites listed on the UNESCO World Heritage List for their outstanding natural value — a reminder that southwest England's moorland and coastal environments rank among Europe's more significant wild landscapes even if they don't carry that formal designation themselves. The UNESCO World Heritage Centre provides useful context for understanding what sets landscapes of this type apart from more heavily managed countryside.

The BugBitten team's honest summary is this: go in October if you possibly can. Go early. Walk further than the car park. Bring proper kit, download your maps, and give yourself at least two full days rather than trying to compress it into a single long drive-and-walk. The moor does not reveal itself quickly, but it rewards the time you give it with a kind of quiet intensity that is genuinely hard to find anywhere else on the island.

The stags will be roaring. The heather will be fading from purple to brown. The mist will be doing what it always does in the Horner valley. None of it will wait for you, and all of it will be worth every difficult lane you navigated to get there.