Exmoor National Park - exhilarating - enchanting - excellent
West Somerset and North Devon – a British landscape to treasure, a superb choice for a holiday destination. You and your family will easily find a marvelous array of quality places in which to stay, many are advertised on this Exmoor accommodation website, which is full of tourist information to help you - the potential guest to plan your holiday. Stay in a hotel, B&B, guesthouse, character holiday cottage, peacefully located by the sea or in a tranquil “off the beaten track” rural location.
Exmoor is ideal for a traditional long summer holidays spent with your family. Rest and relax in the comfort of a well-appointed luxury hotel, comfortable B&B, homely farmhouse, village inn, top quality detached well-equipped five star non-smoking holiday cottage, beautifully furnished and decorated, sleep in a seaside guesthouse or camp in a tent under the stars. Spend a week in a luxury self -catering holiday cottage complex with heated indoor swimming pool, fully equipped fitness gym Jacuzzi, hot tub, games room, farm walk, four poster bed, many are now disability aware with first class wheelchair friendly disabled facilities or the accommodation is on one level. Most cottages have enclosed garden, patio with garden furniture and will take your dog cat, pet and horse. Exmoor is very animal friendly - renown as England's horse-riders playground - it is also paradise for a walker or cyclist.
Minehead is one of the gateway town's to Exmoor , lovely, clean, unspoilt, a refined town with a population of around 10,000 and full of flowers throughout the summer months. Select your accommodation from a multitude of good quality places to stay - guesthouse, hotel, B&B cottage or self-catering holiday apartment. Minehead has a blue flag sandy beach swept clean ever morning by a fantastic machine brought by West Somerset District Council. Minehead also has a links course where you can play golf in the sand and enjoy the sea view.
The people who live in this area mainly earn their living from tourism – so rest assured you will be greeted with a warm welcome and a smile. Exmoor has a large fan base - guests who return year after year – This beautiful rural area of England has remained totally unchanged – it is just as all of Britain once was.
Exmoor is a place for all seasons - May is glorious with all things new, June brings you very long days, July and August are busy with traditional family holidays. Exmoor is wonderful from September to November – the autumn colours are a joy to behold. February March and April brings an early spring, with a warm climate down by the sea - it's a little later on the high moor.
Attractions and activities are everywhere, this is the great outdoors - horse riding, cycling, fishing, golf, walking, whatever you hobby or interest you can find it on Exmoor. There is hundreds of acres moorland in which to walk, admire the endless views, drop down into delightful wooded combes, Idyllic places to find solitude.
Have a family picnic or barbecue by the side of a clean shallow river - hours of fun for inventive children, fishing for tiddlers and damming the stream – suitable places are Landacre Bridge, Horner, Robbers Bridge, Tarr Steps, Cloutsham, Ferney Ball, Brendon village has Malmsmead and Oare. Exmoor's sparkling pure rivers are The Exe, The Barle, Horner Water, The Quarme, The East and West Lyn.
The National Trust owns a lot of the Exmoor area, delight at the ancient picturesque cottages in rambling streets with roses and hollyhocks in The National Trust Villages of Bossington, Allerford, Horner, Selworthy Village Green with its chocolate box thatched cottages is the place for a breathtaking view while eating a scrumptious cream tea, more cream teas to linger over and savor are found in Winsford Village, Porlock and Tarr Steps Farm. Porlock is an enchanting place with a host of excellent places to stay. Porlock Hill is no threat to modern cars and the viewpoint at the top is a favorite spot.
Dulverton the other gateway town to Exmoor and is exactly the same clean and unspoilt, with a rural charm all of its own - more of a large village with far fewer people. Dulverton is the headquarters of the Exmoor National Park Authority.
Exmoor offers you space to breath, an oasis of peace, unpolluted air, starlight nights and is relatively litter, traffic and crime free, but don't leave anything on show and lock your car at beauty spots.
Exmoor in South West England - can fulfill all travels requirements, it will constantly delight both old and new visitors looking to discover or explore this stunning U.K. location, it will also quickly satisfy the expectations of traveling tourist just passing through, who will no doubt return to see more.
If your really lucky while you are here you may see - Exmoor's magnificent emblem, the wild red deer. Scotland may have the “the Monarch of the Glen” – but Exmoor has bigger red deer! Their size is due to better grazing and the warmer South West climate
Exmoor National Park - enchanting - exhilarating - excellent - sometimes even exciting!
Wheddon Cross is the highest village in Somerset, climb up to Dunkery Beacon - this heaven on Earth is a protected area of outstanding natural beauty covering two thousand acres of National Trust open heather moorland - a very special place not to be missed and just heavenly on a sunny, blue sky, windless day, the panoramic views are just amazing out over The Bristol Channel far into Wales – look to the south to see The South Coast of England – look west across to Dartmoor – east the Quantocks and The Mendip Hills, sometimes you can even see Bristol's suspension bridge.
More places to see are Watchet Harbour, Blue Anchor Bay, Kilve, St Audries, all have a good choice of camping sites and holiday parks right on the glorious Somerset coastline, but not far away from the spectacular open moor of the Quantocks - fabulous walking country offering a splendid array of footpaths and bridleways. South of Williton are The Brendon Hills they are a joy and missed by nearly all. The highest point on the Brendon Hills is Raleigh's Cross - for walks and water sports go to Wimbleball Lake, Clatworthy or Wistlandpound Reservoir.
Exmoor National Park is the place to enjoy a rejuvenating last minute escape, a winter break or a weekend away. Don't wait for Valentines Day, bring your partner on a romantic short break for two, dine in style in an excellent hotel restaurant then afterwards spend a relaxing few hours in front of the roaring log fire.
Dine in style at Porlock Weir in a fine country style hotel offering rooms with food - awarded lots of rosettes for good food. Lynton & Lynmouth even has a hotel serving Thai Food. Damien Hirst is about to reawaken the Ilfracombe tourist boom, having just opened a restaurant overlooking Ilfracombe Harbour.
Dine by candlelight in several luxurious B&B establishments, often found in idyllic secluded places at the end of a lane with far reaching panoramic views. Enjoy traditional farmhouse B&B - a homely ambience offering a hearty farmers breakfast and excellent evening meals using home cooked food grown on real working farms using local organic produce. Hire a reasonably priced short or long term holiday let, with a 4 poster bed, select a bargain during a spring short break, relax amid a luxurious ambience - in a gold award- winning country house hotel offering all facilities, silver service, fresh flowers, wonderful food, afterwards relax on a sumptuous comfy sofa.
Exmoor National Park has a great variety of exclusive caravan and camping site's, some adjacent open N.T. moorland, under ancient woodland and close by the sea. Several caravan sites are for adults only, but children friendly campsites are found all over Exmoor. Hire or buy you own motor home, caravan, rent a static caravan, a comfortable chalet or pitch a tent. Butlins is a large holiday park on the outskirts of Minehead offering all types of accommodation at a reasonable price, swimming pools, fun rides and great entertainment.
Lynton & Lynmouth and Dunster are true Somerset and Devon honey pot locations that every visitor to Exmoor wants to explore, both are very busy during the peak summer months, Easter, Whitsun and most school holidays - the advise is - for stress free parking go early or late in the day. The Somerset county town of Taunton and Barnstaple in North Devon both offer an excellent shopping with all the high street names.
Chose a posh hotel with lots of festivities or find a big S.C. cottage for a family reunion over Christmas or New Year. The year starts slowly in January and February - this is the time to book a reasonably priced holiday for later in the year.
Exmoor is quiet in early spring, full of snowdrops in Snowdrop Valley - but with little snow, followed by wild daffodils and thousands of baby lambs. Many villages have lovely historic country pubs with old oak beams, full of character with a traditional log fire, real ale, freshly cooked food, talk to the local who live here or ask advice from mine host.
Spectacular locations with magical views are waiting to be discovered all over West Somerset and North Devon - Dunster Castle and Deer Park, Porlock Vale, Withypool, Winsford, Tarr Steps Clapper Bridge, Cleve Abbey, West Somerset Railway, Simonsbath, Valley of the Rocks, Porlock Bay and its unique Shingle Ridge, Lynton & Lynmouth Cliff Railway, Combe Martin, Exford, Withypool, Twitchen, Upton, Monksilver, Luxborough, Wootton Courtenay, Barbrook, Brompton Regis, Stoke Pero, Blackmoor Gate, Challacombe, Timberscombe, North Molton, Waterrow, Stogumber, Brendon and the Doone Valley of Lorna Doone fame. Brendon Village has an annual pony sale, held on the first Monday in October a great day out where you can mix with all the local farming community.
A little further afield visit Ilfracombe, Tiverton, Watermouth Cove and Castle, Dartington Glass, Rosemoor Gardens, The Somerset Levels, Watermouth Castle, Cheddar Caves, spend a day playing in the surf on the world-class beaches of Woolacombe, Croyde and Puttsborough. Walk the most spectacular section of the South West Coast Path from Ilfracombe via Lee Bay, Hele Bay on past Morthoe.
Visit picturesque Berrynarbour, Parracombe and the tiny hamlet of Trentishoe. One of the most beautiful car tours available in the United Kingdom is the breathtaking coastal drive from Lynton through The Valley of the Rocks to Heddons Mouth. Shop in local small towns - Wiveliscombe, Williton, for antiques try South Molton - full of interesting things on a Thursday morning pannier market day. Hundreds of antiques are for sale in the shops at Honiton. Activities galore - weekly village fetes, annual food and music festivals, country fairs, falconry, mountain bike riding, horse riding, bird spotting - Exmoor is paradise for all lovers of the great outdoors. Unpolluted air, wonderful views, starlight nights, little traffic, tucked away coves, blue flag beaches, seaside or countryside you are never far away from superb coast and country.
