Dartmoor National Park, National park in Devon, England
Dartmoor National Park encompasses 368 square miles of expansive moorlands, deep river valleys, granite tors, and heather-covered hills that provide diverse habitats for rare wildlife species throughout the Devon countryside.
Established as a protected area in 1951, Dartmoor contains the most important Bronze Age archaeological sites in western Europe, including numerous stone circles, ancient hut circles, and Neolithic burial sites dating back thousands of years.
The park inspired Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories and Agatha Christie's detective tales, while local folklore includes legends of phantom hounds and spectral figures that continue to attract visitors interested in mystical narratives.
Visitors can access Dartmoor through three visitor centers that provide maps, guided walks, and educational programs, with train stations in nearby Exeter, Newton Abbot, and Plymouth offering convenient transportation from London within four hours.
Dartmoor hosts the world's largest land slug, the Black Ash Slug, which can exceed 20 centimeters in length, alongside the rare Bog Hoverfly that exists nowhere else on Earth.
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