Guest blog: Hop aboard the Dartmoor Explorer this Autumn and Winter

Climb aboard the Dartmoor Explorer bus from Exeter, sit back and enjoy the wonderful sights our region has to offer, as you make your way to Dartmoor National Park. 

Priced at £10 for an adult, £5 for a child or £20 for a family, this service gives you the opportunity to discover our fascinating city and magnificent Dartmoor all in one day.

We've put together some inspiration below, for unmissable sights, walks, cafés, museums and more at each point...

Tavistock

• Visit to the new Guildhall Museum and Tavistock Museum  (1 hour)
• Coffee and cake in one of our independent cafes (1 hour)
• Cream Tea or lunch at the Bedford (1 hour)
• Visit Abbey ruins (1 hour)
• Experience the wildlife and serenity of a canal and river walk (1 – 2 hours)
• Tavistock Heritage Walks – leaflets from Visitor Centre 1-3hrs

Dartmoor Inn

• Take a walk to fascinating Bronze Age stone rows and  burial cairns. (1-2 hours)
• Follow your walk with a local cider and meal at the Dartmoor Inn full of organic produce from the Eversfield Organic farm and Market Garden, or from a wonderful selection of small, local producers. (1-2 hours)

Princetown

• Exhibitions at the Visitor Centre (1 hour) start your Dartmoor Story
• Take a walk in the footsteps of Sherlock Holmes in the Hound of the Baskervilles walk
• Lunch or coffee and cake at one of the cafes (1 hour)
• Take one of the accessible walks or cycle paths (1 – 2 hours)
• Prison museum – 1-2hrs
• Fresh ground coffee or Ice cream from new kiosk at Rambler’s Rest

Two Bridges

• Stop off at the historic Two Bridges Hotel, and enjoy a bite of lunch or a classic Devon Cream Tea. Take a stroll around the hotel’s beautiful moorland gardens, pause a while on the ancient bridge, and take in the tranquil riverbank scenes.
• Cream teas all day, every day
• Lunchtime snacks Weds-Sat
• Restaurant lunch Fri-Sun

Powdermills

• Find out about the history and legends surrounding this old gunpowder factory
• Stop for a bite to eat and pick up a piece of pottery or take a pottery class (1 – 3 hours)
• Pottery & café closes from Sept

Postbridge

• Come to the Bronze Age Visitor Centre and view our Life, Death and Landscape exhibition (1 hour)
• Walk in the footsteps of our ancestors and view ancient remains first hand (1-1.5 hours)
• Take a river walk, or one of our accessible routes (1-2 hours)
• Stand on a medieval clapper bridge with an ice cream from our local shop or the East Dart Hotel
• Free Guided Walk in Bellever Forest with Dartmoor Pony Heritage Trust. Book ahead, 2-3 hrs
• Follow one of the marked walking trails in Bellever Forest – 2-3hrs

Warren House Inn

• Walk to the ruins of the last working tin mines on Dartmoor  at Vitifer Gold Dagger Mine (2 hours)
• Must try the famous rabbit pie sat infront of the fire place that has been burning for 100 years without going out! (1-1.5 hours)
• Walk from Bennet’s Cross to Birch Tor – 2-3hrs

Moretonhampstead

• Motor Museum (1-1.5 hours)
• Miniature Pony Centre (2 – 3 hours) Closed in winter
• Check out the exhibitions and galleries at Greenhill Arts Centre (1 hour)
• Sample local Dartmoor produce at one of the local eateries  (1 hour)
• Hire e-bike from Dartmoor Bikes (at Animal Crackers) cycle the Wray Valley Trail. Book ahead in winter.

Dunsford

• Popular village walks (1 – 2 hours)
• Local ales in the Royal Oak
• Delicious cake at Church Cottage Tearooms

Exeter

• A must is RAMM Exeter’s world-class museum and art gallery – a joy for all ages (2 hours)
• Take a guided tour of Exeter's Underground Passages. Enjoy the heritage centre full of interactive exhibits and interpretation.
• (2 hours)
• Visit the living museum at St Nicholas Priory, Exeter’s oldest building founded by William the Conqueror in 1087.  (2 hours)
• Visit Exeter’s many shops and eateries (3-4 hours)

Find out more about the Dartmoor Explorer here.