Top 12 things to do on Dartmoor

Dartmoor National Park is a wonderful place to explore and take part in free or cheap activities such as walking, cycling, wild swimming, letterboxing (an old treasure-hunt-style game), and the more modern game of geocaching – where you use a GPS-enabled device to hide and seek containers. Letterboxing on Dartmoor is just one of the activities included in our guide to affordable family fun ideas in Devon.

For those who don’t have a clue where to start, we’ve rounded up some of the best things to do on Dartmoor, from popular tourist attractions to spectacular landmarks you can visit. Check out our guides covering the best pubs on Dartmoor and the best restaurants in Devon, which has a section on Dartmoor, to find out where to relax and enjoy some refreshments afterwards.

There are lots of myths and legends about this ancient and wild landscape. Once you’ve got the taste for all the brilliant things you can do on Dartmoor National Park, you can book a stay in one of our fantastic holiday cottages and start looking forward to creating some legends of your own with your partner, family or friends.

Skip to: 

• Pennywell Farm
• Buckfast Butterfly Farm and Dartmoor Otter Sanctuary
• Buckfast Abbey
• Lydford Gorge
• Canonteign Falls
• Burrator Reservoir
• Dartmoor Prison Museum
• Dartmoor Zoo
• Wistman’s Wood
• Widecombe in the Moor
• Venford Falls
• Postbridge and Postbridge Clapper Bridge

Pennywell Farm

Pennywell Farm is a family farm attraction near Buckfastleigh in South Devon that offers a plethora of animals, activities, shows, rides and displays. It’s best known for its adorable miniature pigs – which you can cuddle (you must use a blanket but can bring your own if you don’t want to buy one from the shop) – and there are lots more friendly animals waiting to meet you including cute lambs, rabbits and guinea pigs, pint-sized donkeys and miniature ponies, hairy Highland cattle and heavy horses, alpacas, deer and even ferrets, tortoises and hedgehogs!

Activities and rides are included in the ticket price and range from bottle feeding and milking to crazy golf and tractor-trailer rides, and even pig and ferret racing! There are also indoor and outdoor play areas. A range of hot and cold food and drink is available on site, such as pasties, cream teas, hot dogs and pizza. 

Buckfast Butterfly Farm and Dartmoor Otter Sanctuary

Buckfast Butterfly Farm and Dartmoor Otter Sanctuary is a small and friendly family attraction in South Devon that aims to be enjoyable, educational and thought-provoking, and it is a great place to visit whatever the weather. There are three otter feeding sessions throughout the day – at 11.30am, 2pm and 4pm – which are the best times to see the cute resident otters. The keepers will give a talk about the otters and explain why they are there. 

The specially designed Butterfly House allows you to come into direct contact with beautiful butterflies and moths from around the world and find out lots of information. It has a high temperature and humidity to support the insects and the exotic plants and flowers that enable them to feed. There’s also a small children’s playground and you could take a nice walk beside the River Dart – perhaps you will be lucky enough to spot a wild otter!

Buckfast Abbey

This beautiful and tranquil site at the centre of a picturesque valley on the edge of Dartmoor is home to a community of Roman Catholic Benedictine monks. Visitors can enjoy the large restaurant, shops and beautifully cultivated, themed gardens. The Monastic Way Exhibition, in the exhibition centre, is an immersive presentation about Benedictine monastic life from its origins to the present day.

The Buckfast Abbey shops have a wide range of unusual gifts, cards, books, food and drink. Many items, such as the Buckfast Abbey fudge, are made on site, or by monks and nuns across the continent. Buckfast Abbey is the home of the legendary Buckfast Tonic Wine. This unique tasting drink was first produced at the abbey in 1897 and it continues to have a devoted following. 

Lydford Gorge

Lydford Gorge, near Tavistock, is the deepest river gorge in the South West and a great place to immerse yourself in nature. It has winding walking trails through temperate rainforest and there’s a spectacular 30-metre waterfall. The wonderfully named Devil’s Cauldron is a large pothole in the deepest part of the gorge with a viewing platform suspended over the river – the water looks like it’s boiling. It should be noted that there are steep slopes, rough ground and rugged steps along the trails.

Halfway around the waterfall trail, there’s a bird hide where you can pause to see what’s visiting the feeding station. The site also has an orchard meadow with plenty of space for picnics and two tea rooms. There’s also a second-hand bookshop. Be sure to check out our top waterfalls guide in Devon before your visit too! 

Canonteign Falls

Canonteign Falls, near Exeter, is a 90-acre estate with walking trails taking in ancient woodland, waterfalls – including England’s highest man-made waterfall, which was created in the late 19th century and is 70 metres high – lakes and a Victorian Fern Garden. There are adventure playgrounds for all ages from little ones to pre-teens.

There are guided walk and history tours every Thursday and Sunday at 10am, for an extra charge. These last around 1.5 hours. Other events and experiences are available on certain dates, such as the Alpaca Experience which gives you a chance to take a walk with an adorable alpaca.

Burrator Reservoir

Burrator, near Yelverton, is a jewel in Dartmoor’s crown, with dramatic tors (Sheepstor offers one of the best views of the reservoir), open moorland, mixed woodland, historic settlements and a nature reserve. A visit to Burrator Reservoir is therefore a great day out for families, nature lovers and historians alike. You could go for a walk and take in the views (keep your eyes peeled for wildlife!) or obtain a permit and fish for rainbow and brown trout. The circular walk around the water is easy going and flat, and should take around two hours to complete. With many trails leading onto Dartmoor, it could also be the starting point for a longer walk.

The on-site Discovery Centre reveals how the reservoir was constructed, the location of historical sites, where to walk, and more – using displays, spoken history and an interactive screen. There are picnic tables and toilets, and in the summer, you can get ice cream from a van at the main dam. 

Dartmoor Prison Museum

Dartmoor Prison Museum offers a fascinating insight into life in one of the country’s most notorious jails. More than 200 years of history are vividly portrayed. Long-outdated methods of controlling unruly prisoners such as manacles, the straitjacket and the dreaded flogging apparatus are on display, along with crude but lethal weapons made by convicts. 

Today, Dartmoor prison holds low-category prisoners who are encouraged to do training programmes to help them upon release. Single-cell accommodation still applies, and prisoners eat in their cells. Showers and telephone communication with their families are freely available – their punishment is their loss of liberty.

Dartmoor Zoo

Dartmoor Zoo, near Sparkwell on the South West edge of Dartmoor, just 15 minutes from Plymouth, originally opened in 1968 but after its licence was revoked and it was forced to close in 2006, it was bought by Benjamin Mee, who wrote a book about his experiences, We Bought a Zoo. A 2011 film with the same title was loosely based on the book.

The zoo boasts a wide range of exotic and native animals, including the biggest variety of big cats in the South West of England. For an extra charge, visitors can book a once-in-a-lifetime experience with some of the zoo’s most popular animals including the lion, tiger, meerkats and otters, enabling them to get closer than ever before.

Wistman’s Wood

This is an ancient and magical oak woodland where mosses and lichens festoon the trees. The name is said to come from the Devonshire word wisht, meaning “eerie, uncanny” or in some readings, “pixie-haunted”. Wistman's Wood has inspired countless artists, writers and photographers, including The Hound of the Baskervilles author, Arthur Conan Doyle.

Visitors are asked to stick to the paths and walk around the woods, not go through, in order to protect the rare and fragile habitat. A small car park is situated opposite the Two Bridges Hotel. The path to Wistman’s Wood and back is around 2.7 miles so you should allow around 1 to 1.5 hours to complete the return walk. 

Widecombe in the Moor

If you want to visit a quintessential Dartmoor village, then head to Widecombe. The picturesque village is famous for its annual Widecombe Fair (held on the second Tuesday in September), which is celebrated in the folk song of the same name featuring Uncle Tom Cobley. There are cafes and old inns in which to enjoy some food and drink, craft and gift shops to browse and old buildings to admire, including 14th-century St Pancras Church which is known as ‘the cathedral of the moors’ due to its 120ft tower and relatively large capacity for such a small village. 

You could combine a stroll around Widecombe with a visit to Haytor Quarry, which is a short drive away. It’s the largest granite quarry in the area around the iconic Haytor Rocks and is an atmospheric place with a pool of water. Granite was quarried at this site in the 18th and 19th centuries and was used in the old London Bridge and the British Museum.

Venford Falls

Venford Falls is one of Dartmoor’s hidden gems – a secluded waterfall hidden in dense woodland to the north of Venford Reservoir. It’s a small but beautiful waterfall and the craggy rocks and moss-covered trees help to create a fairytale-like atmosphere. The pool beneath the falls is shallow – think paddling rather than swimming – but the rocks can be slippery so take care.

Venford Falls may be a little off the beaten path for some, but Venford Reservoir itself is a great place for a walk, a picnic and some wildlife-spotting. It takes around half an hour to walk around it and the meandering path is surrounded by deciduous woodland. Anglers with an Environment Agency rod licence can fish for natural brown trout in the reservoir.

Postbridge and Postbridge Clapper Bridge

Postbridge, in the heart of Dartmoor, is another spot where you mustn’t forget to take your camera as it has one of the finest clapper bridges in the country. It’s believed to date back to medieval times and would have replaced stepping stones to help packhorses cross the river.

There’s a visitor centre in the hamlet where you can get books and leaflets to help you explore the area, and you can use technology to bring its history to life. Alternatively, you could simply enjoy the beauty and tranquillity of a picnic beside the East Dart River. 

Things to do on Dartmoor map 

Find all our favourite things to do on Dartmoor mentioned above with the help of our handy map.

Stay with us on Dartmoor

In some ways, Dartmoor is like another world, but fortunately, you don’t have to leave it at the end of your day exploring it. We have dozens of holiday cottages across Dartmoor and around the edge of the national park, so you needn’t break the spell that Dartmoor will undoubtedly cast over you until it’s time to return home. Dartmoor is also a great spot to base yourself whilst discovering all the top things to do in South Devon.