Two one-night stops in Devon

Exmoor and Dartmoor, two fabulous national parks located in south west England, were where we were based recently. Our two one-night stops sandwiched a National Trust festival that we were attending in Heddon Valley. Before the festival, we spent the night at Exmoor House Caravan Club site, chosen for its proximity to the National Park but also easily accessible when travelling from the north.

We were pleasantly surprised as we drove into Dulverton village, through the narrow lanes and round the bend towards the site, which sits tucked amongst the village beside the river. On a sunny day it looks like a quintessential British countryside village with its stone bridge over the river and main high street offering a selection of traditional shops. There are lots of walks and cycle rides nearby and of course Exmoor National Park is on the doorstep.

 

After our weekend at the festival, we drove further south towards Dartmoor National Park. We chose a nearby Caravan Club site called Modbury. It is a reasonably large site and ideal for access to the coast and the National Park, although not ideal for walks from the site and definitely not family cycling due to the narrow Devon lanes. Our purpose was to visit a friend who volunteers at Dartmoor Zoo, where we spent the day. It is a fabulous place to visit with the family and has a strong conservation ethos. If you've seen the film 'I bought a zoo' this is the zoo that the story is about; a widow makes a compulsive purchase of a run-down zoo and turns into a family adventure to bring the zoo back to life. The film, starring Matt Damon, is set in America and is based on an American family but its origins lie in Dartmoor. Ben, and his family still live and work at the zoo. There is a book about their story which gives a truer picture of what happened (possibly a future read for us now we've visited the zoo).