Dartmoor Audio Driving Tour: 10,000 Years of Human History

Duration2h - 2h 30m

Free cancellationFull refund up to 24 hours before

Instant confirmationYour booking is confirmed right away

TicketMobile or paper ticket accepted

LanguagesEnglish

Private tourOnly your group will participate

Overview

Dartmoor’s granite was forged 280 million years ago. On this audio driving tour, you’ll trace 10,000 years of human history across one of Britain’s most extraordinary landscapes, from Bronze Age settlements to Napoleonic prison walls. The tour starts at the Haytor Dartmoor National Park Visitor Centre, where you can climb one of Dartmoor’s most iconic granite tors before setting off. You’ll wind south through the villages of Widecombe in the Moor and Ponsworthy, their very names encoding the Old English and Latin of early settlers. From Merrivale’s Bronze Age hut circles and stone rows, to the ancient oak woodland of Wistman’s Wood and the twin granite rings of Grey Wethers, you’ll encounter a landscape that was once densely settled and then gradually abandoned as the climate turned colder. The last stop before heading back up to Haytor is at the House of Marbles in Bovey Tracey, a working glass and marble studio housed in the original Victorian pottery buildings.

What's included

Lifetime access to this tour in English before your booking date and after it
Offline access to audio, maps, and geodata
Flexibility to explore at your own pace with a self-guided GPS tour
App for Android and iOS
Directions to the starting point so that when you’re in the right place, the tour will start

Smartphone and headphones
Transportation
Food and drink
Personal expenses for admission fees not included during the tour

What to expect

Pass by

Gaze up at one of Dartmoor's most recognisable landmarks, a great double outcrop of weathered granite rising dramatically from the open moor at 457 metres. Climb to the summit for sweeping views across the national park and a first sense of the ancient, wind-scoured landscape you are about to explore.
Pass by

Approach the soaring towers of this working Benedictine abbey, rebuilt stone by stone by a small community of monks between 1882 and 1938 on foundations that date back to 1018. Step inside to experience a space that is still very much alive — a functioning monastery where the rhythm of prayer, beeswax candles, and the famous tonic wine have continued unbroken for over a century.
Pass by

Pull up beside this quiet Victorian reservoir, completed in 1907 to supply the growing town of Paignton, its dark water fringed by conifer plantations and open moorland. Walk the easy trail around its perimeter and listen for the calls of moorland birds echoing across a landscape shaped as much by Victorian engineering as by ancient geology.
Combestone Tor
Pass by

Step out at this rugged granite outcrop perched above the wooded Dart Valley, one of Dartmoor's quieter and less-visited tors with far-reaching views in every direction. Scramble among the lichened boulders and take in the deep river gorge below, where the East Dart has carved its way through the moor for thousands of years.
Pass by

Arrive at the gates of one of Britain's most storied prisons, originally built in 1809 to hold French and American prisoners of war on this bleak and deliberately remote stretch of moorland. Explore the museum to discover the harrowing story of the 1815 Dartmoor Massacre and the extraordinary bone carvings that prisoners traded for food — intricate ship models that now rank among the finest folk art of the Napoleonic era.
Merrivale Prehistoric Settlement
Pass by

Walk out across the open moor to one of Dartmoor's most remarkable Bronze Age landscapes, where stone rows, standing stones, a stone circle, and the remains of hut circles stretch across the hillside in extraordinary concentration. Stand among monuments that were already ancient when the Romans arrived and consider the thousands of years of human life that this windswept plateau once sustained.
Wistman's Wood
Pass by

Pick your way toward this strange and ancient fragment of Atlantic oak woodland, its gnarled trees growing low and twisted between moss-covered granite boulders at over 380 metres — one of the highest oak woodlands in Britain. Absorb the atmosphere of a place that has inspired legends of ghostly hounds and Druidic ritual for centuries, and that scientists now recognise as a living relic of Dartmoor's prehistoric forest.
Pass by

Pause at one of Dartmoor's most photographed landmarks, a medieval stone slab bridge spanning the East Dart River on great granite piers that have held their ground for 700 years. Cross on foot and look upstream to where the river runs fast and clear over mossy boulders, framed by the open moorland that stretches away in every direction.
Pass by

Stop beside this weathered medieval waymarker standing alone on the open moor near Warren House Inn, its arms worn smooth by centuries of wind and rain. Learn how crosses like this guided packhorse trains carrying tin and wool across trackless moorland long before roads existed, and why this one also served as a boundary marker for the ancient Headland Warren.
Pass by

End your tour at this characterful attraction housed in the handsome Victorian buildings of the old Bovey Tracey pottery, where the original bottle kilns still stand. Watch glassblowers and marble makers at work, explore the museum of traditional games, and browse the rambling shop — a satisfying final stop that brings Dartmoor's industrial story quietly to life.

Meeting and pickup

Meeting point

This tour starts at Dartmoor National Park Visitor Centre, Haytor. Before arrival, please install the mobile app and use the code provided on your confirmation ticket. Detailed starting point instructions are available after downloading.

End point

This tour starts at Dartmoor National Park Visitor Centre, Haytor. Before arrival, please install the mobile app and use the code provided on your confirmation ticket. Detailed starting point instructions are available after downloading.

Additional information

Wheelchair accessible
Service animals allowed
Public transportation options are available nearby
Suitable for all physical fitness levels

Cancellation policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

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