Doone Valley
Winsford
Tarr Steps
Dartmoor
North Bovey
Castle Drogo
The Hurlers
The Cheesewring

Day 1

Early morning departure from London to Exmoor. Straddling Devon and Somerset, this national park consists of an elevated plateau of sparse upland ridges, covered in bracken and heather, cut and contrasted by picturesque combes (wooded valleys), often plunging steeply to a magnificent coastline. The most famous combe is the Doone Valley, near Malmsmead, immortalised in R. D. Blackmore's novel "Lorna Doone".

Exmoor's main towns (Combe Martin, Lynton, Lynmouth, and Dunster) are on or near the coast. Porlock is a charming village of cob-and-thatch cottages set in a remarkably steep hollow near the picturesque harbour village of Porlock Weir. Further inland, Exford, Winsford, and Dulverton are peaceful, attractive communities largely unaffected by mainstream tourism. Near the latter is the famous Tarr Steps, said to the oldest and longest clapper (rustic stone) bridge in Britain. Exmoor ponies and wild red deer, both unique to Exmoor, wander freely on the moor. Suggested Overnight: Half Moon Inn, Sheepwash.

Day 2

The national park of Dartmoor, the least inhabited part of Britain, is often described as southern England's last great wilderness. It covers an area of 945 square kilometres (365 square miles)- over half the size of Greater London.

Set among verdant, rolling hills are three picturesque villages: Buckland-in-the-Moor, Lustleigh, and North Bovey, all classic English idylls of cob-and-thatch cottages. On the bracken and heather-covered uplands that glow purple and maroon in the evening sun, strangely shaped granite outcrops (known as tors) rear up starkly along fault lines. Elsewhere, sheep and wild Dartmoor ponies graze among enigmatic standing stones and the remnants of tin, lead, silver, and copper mines. Postbridge, featuring the best example of Dartmoor's rustic stone "clapper" bridges, is a favourite starting point for walks on the moor.

Fans of the great fictional detective, Sherlock Holmes, should know that Dartmoor is "Hound of the Baskervilles" country.

Castle Drogo, the "last castle to be built in England" is a granite fortress, commanding panoramic views of Dartmoor, built between 1910 and 1930 for the self-made millionaire Julius Drewe, and is one of the most remarkable works of Sir Edwin Lutyens. The interior combines the grandeur of a medieval castle with the comfort of the 20th century. The terraced formal garden has an established rhododendron and magnolia collection, spring bulbs, summer and autumn flowering herbaceous borders, rose garden, shrub garden and circular croquet lawn. There are delightful varied walks through the River Teign Gorge. Suggested Overnight: Half Moon Inn, Sheepwash.

Day 3

Bodmin Moor's main tourist attraction is the museum complex adjacent to Jamaica Inn, the hotel immortalised by Daphne du Maurier in the novel of the same name. Nearby is the Dozmary Pool, said to be the lake into which Excalibur was thrown (an honour also claimed by Looe Pool on the Lizard Peninsula), and Brown Willy, the highest point on the moor, at 420 metres (1,377 feet).

The south of the moor is rich in ancient sites. The Hurlers are a scattered complex of standing stones dating from around 1500 BC, while the chamber tomb of Trethevy Quoit is one of the most dramatic neolithic sites in Cornwall. Also impressive is the Cheesewring, a curiously shaped pillar of granite discs formed naturally by erosion. Two of the moor's most interesting villages are Altarnun (in the north) and St Neot (in the south), both famed for their churches.

Return to London.