Exmoor Coast and Country Guide for Exmoor Holidays

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Country Life

Steep-sided valleys, clothed in dense oakwood, unexpectedly crease the landscape. Scenic lakes and clear-flowing rivers water the moors. Waterfalls tumble down dark, dramatic gorges to the sea. Pretty villages and robust, stone-built towns maintain a traditional country atmosphere, untouched by the rush and crush of the modern world. Over the centuries Exmoor has been shaped by its farming communities – and continues to be so. It’s a breath of fresh air to escape to these rural heartlands.

For the farmer, the Exmoor region offers most in the way of dairying in the soft green lowlands and running sheep on the rugged uplands. When you find your car stuck behind a slow-moving herd of cows, or have to slow down to walking pace to avoid the sleepy sheep at the side of the road – relax and take it easy. The locals do! Pheasants, ducks and over-friendly farm dogs are other ‘natural roadblocks’ along the country lanes of Exmoor – not to mention the wild native Exmoor ponies with their ragged manes and tails that seem to catch the very spirit of the windswept moors.

The country lanes of Exmoor are twisting, narrow and high-banked, cradling you under the trees in some deep combe bottom, or climbing to an enormous, stunning top-of-the-world view. Ferns grow in the hedgebanks, along with primroses, snowdrops and violets in spring, campion and cow parsley in summer. You could easily spend your whole holiday revelling in the peace and beauty of these lanes that connect the towns and villages lying on the moor itself and around its skirts on the fringes of the National Park.

These settlements are as full of variety as they are of charm. There are hamlets as small and perfect as high-perched Stoke Pero with its ancient church, villages as endearing as Withypool in its cleft of the River Barle, stone-built harbour towns such as Watchet on the Bristol Channel with its new marina, characterful rural centres like Dulverton
where local socialising and shopping goes on
regardless of whatever may be happening in the outside world beyond the moor.

Living on the moor

	After four traumatic years at the front during the First World War, Henry Williamson came to live on the fringes of Exmoor in 1921 – an experience of the country life and landscape of Exmoor that he immortalised in his famous book Tarka the Otter. After decades of virtual disappearance from the Exmoor scene, otters are back on every major river. Henry Williamson would be pleased.
	Exmoor and the Quantocks are home to England's largest number of red deer. Seek out these glorious animals by yourself or on an organised wildlife safari. The best time to see and hear a red stag in his full rutting majesty is in October and November, the months when he is most concerned with attracting mates and intimidating love rivals.
	The rare Exmoor pony has been here since ancient times and the moor shapes their size, their characteristic hardiness, their independent spirit, and that native intelligence which gets them out of trouble in difficult conditions. Whether driving or walking, herds or groups of ponies are frequently to be seen living ‘in the wild’ all the year round. In the Autumn the mares and foals are‘gathered’ and driven down to the farms, then the purebred‘suckers’, as the foals are called, are checked to maintain purity of breed.

Not surprisingly, Exmoor supports a wonderfully diverse wildlife. Bring your binoculars and look out for red deer, bats and badgers in the gathering dusk. The unique Exmoor pony has almost become a symbol of the moors, inhabiting a landscape in which no less than 1,000 different flowering plants and grasses flourish. Birdwatchers are kept busy spotting the 80 resident species, with many more visiting birds and passing migrants. Many birds are attracted by Exmoor’s lakes and rivers, which serve as havens for rich aquatic, as well as aerial, wildlife.

If you really want to get away from everyone, the area around Exmoor has plenty of wonderfully lonely country. Walkers and riders who venture to such wild spots as Brendon Common and Larkbarrow on the edge of Doone Country, or Pinkworthy Pond and The Chains in the west of the moor, know the special delight of solitude in beautiful surroundings.