Hotels in Exmoor

From Exmoor’s northern shore, rocky coastal bays, surrounded by some of Britain’s highest cliffs, stare out towards the mountains of South Wales. In the valleys, thatched cottages shelter in the green-wooded combs beneath the moor. This is the countryside that inspired the story of Lorna Doone. Badgworthy Water is supposed to have been the scene of one of their hideouts. Exmoor’s highest point is Dunkery Beacon, near Exford, at 1705 ft.

On the coast are many picturesque villages: Lynmouth where Shelley sheltered with his child bride in 1812 and which was devastated by floods in 1952; Minehead, one end of the North Somerset steam and diesel railway; Dunster with its 11 th-century castle and 1000-yr old yew tree in the churchyard and Combe Martin with its Wildlife and Dinosaur Park.

Inland, for sturdy walkers, the Two Moors Way links Dartmoor, via Morchard Bishop, Tarr Steps and Simonsbath, to the North Coast at Lynmouth.