Tours in Chagford

Stand in Chagford's square and you will notice how quickly the town stops. A few streets, an old octagonal market house in the middle, shops that still look like shops, and then the road tips out onto open moor. People here walk in from the edge of town with muddy boots and go straight into a café. You will want to do the same.

Chagford sits on the northern side of Dartmoor, and that is the point of it. You come to use it as a doorway. Lanes drop to the river and the wooded valleys around it, where the water runs brown and loud over granite boulders. Climb out of the trees and the land opens into heather, bracken and bare stone. Gidleigh and Fingle Bridge are both an easy drive away, and each gives you a different version of the same country.

The moor is where a guide earns their keep. Ponies stand about on the road as if they own it, and they more or less do. Tors rise out of the grass in odd, stacked shapes, and the weather can change your whole afternoon in ten minutes. Stone rows, hut circles and old field walls turn up in places you would walk straight past without someone to point them out. Widecombe is the village most people have heard of, with its tall church tower and a pub that is worth a long lunch.

Our local guide here runs a private day out across the moor, with pickup included, so you can spend your energy on the walking and the views rather than the map. Bring proper boots and a waterproof, whatever the forecast says. If there is a particular tor, valley or village you have your heart set on, ask. A local can usually shape the day around it.