The TRAVELER'S JOURNAL: November twentieth, on an excursion in Exmoor.

On the north coast of Somerset in England's west country, lies Exmoor, a national park, which, at 267 square miles, is the country's largest. Exmoor's cliffs rise hundreds of feet out of the ocean. Walk or drive the narrow lanes that wind up to its steep woodlands and wild, rolling moors that go on seemingly forever. Behind, you a sweeping vista crosses the Bristol Channel to the blue line of the Welsh coast on the horizon. In this tiny, often over-crowded island, Exmoor's a place where one can still find solitude, antiquity, untarnished nature and boundless flora and fauna.

Though now a national park, much of Exmoor is still privately-owned. Farmers, herdsmen and hunters have frequented its fringes since the Stone Age, but no one has ever claimed to tame its high moors. Well-marked routes in all directions make Exmoor wonderful for walking. The Harepath, leading east from the village of Simonsbath, was a 9th- century Saxon warpath and a pre-historic trackway.

Moving over the moor, the landscape changes by the mile, plunging down from heathery heights along ancient hedgerows into sheltered valleys, each with a tiny, quaint village tucked in its mouth. These hamlets, places such as Dunster, Porlock and Lynmouth, attract plenty of visitors in summer, but this time of year, you can have miles of moor to yourself. Accommodations abound, from humble farm houses and quaint B&B's to grand country homes.

Exmoor: a piece of England that's far from the madding crowd.

FMI For information, contact the British Tourist Authority at 800-462-2748 (800-GO-2-BRITAIN) or www.visitbritain.com.

 

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