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Exmoor National Park is one of the smaller National Parks at 267 square miles but contains a variety of magnificent landscapes. The central plateau of open moorland is remote and spacious and to the north the moorland terminates in towering cliffs and rocky headlands as it reaches the ocean. Steep wooded ravines, waterfalls and jumbled heaps of fallen rock make this an area of outstanding scenic beauty. It's also where Henry Williamson wrote 'Tarka the Otter' while in a remote cottage on the edge of the Park. Sometimes threatened by sea mist due to its proximity to the north coast, on a clear day you can catch Exmoor ponies out on the moors, a species closely related to prehistoric horses who survived the Ice Age. The ponies, not much bigger than Shetland Ponies, have roamed here for thousands of years and maintain their independence nurtured over hundreds of years - about 180 are still free-living on the moors. England's only wild population of the big Red Deer, around 2500 of them, also inhabit the moors. They too have ancient links, being direct descendants of the wild deer who roamed the Exmoor forests in prehistoric times. Exmoor Forest is at the centre of the Park, although in fact it's not now a forest but one of the barest parts of the Park - it had for many years been a hunting forest but has now become quite barren. The grass moor of the Forest is surrounded by heather-covered hills and wooded areas and is a special place of solitude and quiet. Like other national parks, the landscape can hide its past, but delve deeper and you'll find roman forts, bronze age burials sites and medieval castles. Information Exmoor National Park Authority |
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