Exmoor is a National Park situated on the Bristol Channel coast of South West England. The park straddles two counties with 71% of the park located in Somerset and 29% located in Devon. The total area of the park, which includes the Brendon Hills and the Vale of Porlock, covers 692.8 square kilometres (267.5 sq mi) of hilly open moorland and includes 55 kilometres (34 mi) of coast.[1]
It is primarily an upland area with a dispersed population living
mainly in small villages and hamlets. The largest settlements are Porlock, Dulverton, Lynton, and Lynmouth,
which together contain almost 40% of the National Park population.
Lynton and Lynmouth are combined into one parish and are connected by
the Lynton and Lynmouth Cliff Railway.
Before it was a park, Exmoor was a Royal Forest
and hunting ground, which was sold off in 1818. Exmoor was one of the
first British National Parks, designated in 1954, under the 1949 National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act,[2] and is named after the main river that flows out of the district, the River Exe.
Several areas of the moor have been declared a Site of Special Scientific interest
due to the flora and fauna. This title earns the site some legal
protection from development, damage, and neglect. In 1993 Exmoor was
also designated as an Environmentally Sensitive Area.
It is primarily an upland area with a dispersed population living
mainly in small villages and hamlets. The largest settlements are Porlock, Dulverton, Lynton, and Lynmouth,
which together contain almost 40% of the National Park population.
Lynton and Lynmouth are combined into one parish and are connected by
the Lynton and Lynmouth Cliff Railway.
Before it was a park, Exmoor was a Royal Forest
and hunting ground, which was sold off in 1818. Exmoor was one of the
first British National Parks, designated in 1954, under the 1949 National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act,[2] and is named after the main river that flows out of the district, the River Exe.
Several areas of the moor have been declared a Site of Special Scientific interest
due to the flora and fauna. This title earns the site some legal
protection from development, damage, and neglect. In 1993 Exmoor was
also designated as an Environmentally Sensitive Area.
Community Trips
We left Bishop’s
Stortford at 06.30 arriving at Minehead at 10.30 where we could just about see Wales across
the sea. We stopped to look at map to try to see where the statue marking the start of the coast path
waslocated, not realising it could be seen on the other side of the road
about 30 yards on from us. We set off following the large sign on the pavement heading away
from sea between some...
Weather: Sunny and windy, becoming drizzly last
1-2 miles, warm
We drove to
Lynmouth leaving the our accomodation in Ilfracombe just after 9am, we had 1½ hours to kill waiting for
the first bus to Porlock so went through the town where Dunc bought a snake
walking stick to take back for Zoe and we later had a coffee. We caught the bus to Porlock at
11.40am and got off at Porlock garage at 12.10. Mark bought some...
Countisbury and the Blue Ball Inn where we are staying are just outside the towns of Lynton and Lynmouth so we park in the riverside car park and walk down to explore the sights.Lynmouth has one of the few safe harbours on the North coast of the Bristol Channel. Many of the houses and shops are built on the steep sides of the valley and are only accessible by footpaths and the...
Trip Description (Trip 1)My first expedition on the South West Coast Path. A 3 day trip, starting at the official start at Minehead, and walking a total of 37.5 miles to Ilfracombe over 3 days. I was lucky enough to get a lift to Minehead (difficult to get to by any other means), and at the end got a bus from Ilfracombe to Barnstaple and the train back from there. This was...
A quiet afternoon walk in the hills above Minehead today.
