With its rolling, heather-clad hills, steep wooded valleys, tumbling rivers and dramatic coastal cliffs, Exmoor is often described as the hidden gem of the Westcountry. Nestled between Somerset and North Devon on the Bristol channel, the National Park covers 692 square kilometres.
Red deer are the most famous mammal on Exmoor and, along with the Quantock Hills, Exmoor supports the last remaining population of this majestic native mammal in the South West of England. They have survived here since prehistoric times and now number close to 3,000. There are also important populations of horseshoe bats, badgers, dormice, woodland birds, and butterflies including the heath and high brown fritillaries. The hardy Exmoor pony is a common sight across the moorland and although not strictly wild, their free roaming population has graced the landscape for thousands of years.
Exmoor has been occupied since the Mesolithic period and is a living record of how humans have influenced this land for millenia.
