Your Dream Exmoor Holiday.

Exmoor has a holiday for everyone – for many, it offers a ‘lifetime of holidays’.

The landscapes and habitats of Exmoor are so varied that visitors of all ages and with all interests can create their own, very personal holiday, doing just the things that appeal.

For some, this is simply to ‘switch off’, to chill, to escape the iPhone, to have a Digital Detox.

Here are some holiday ideas using West Withy Farm on Exmoor as your base.  We invite you to create your own holiday from the experiences suggested below.

Stargazing

Exmoor is Europe’s first International Dark Sky Reserve.

  • West Withy Farm has telescopes on site for hire and our gardens and grounds are set up for stargazing.  Visit Stargazing
  • Seb Jay of Dark Sky Telescope Hire can be booked for an ‘evening sky tour’
  • Haddon Hill and Wimbleball Lake, each 1 mile away, are also local Dark Sky viewing locations
  • You can download Exmoor National Park Dark Skies Guide

Digital Detox

Make stargazing part of your Digital Detox – looking up will make you feel relaxed, timeless and well – insignificant.

The silence and dark skies here will bring relaxation and the gift of sleep.

The wildlife will amaze, amuse and inspire.

There are books to read and board games to play

There is natural, wholesome food to enjoy after gentle exercise.

All the ingredient to renew yourself on your Digital Detox.

Wildlife.

Wildlife thrives here on Exmoor.  Farming across this area is traditional grazing, with limited use of  pesticides.  Fields are separated by high hedges, with interspersed woodland and stream.  It is the variety of habitat that makes wildlife so abundant.

  • West Withy Farm, with its own lake, is a haven for wildlife – 15 nesting pairs of swallows, 50+ nesting pairs of sparrows / chaffinches, wrens, wagtails, blackbirds, magpies, buzzards and wild  mallard. Moorhen, heron, kingfisher, goshawk and Canada Geese also visit.
  • See bats fly at dusk at West Withy Farm
  • On Exmoor, see butterfly, wild red deer, and Exmoor ponies
  • Find 400+ species of lichens, mushroom and other fungus in Exmoor’s wooded river valleys
  • Visit Exmoor Owl and Hawk Centre
  • Visit Exmoor Pony Centre

For Food Lovers

Excellent food is produced in this area from garden, land and sea.  Join fellow enthusiasts at festivals, local pannier markets and agricultural shows.  Or seek out your own favourite local ingredients to shop for, taste, and cook for yourself

Our personal favourite places to buy ingredients, shop for cider, enjoy pub and gourmet meals and indulge in a cream tea (well, we just doing research for our guests) are listed in:

Sightseeing

There is so much to see.  The natural beauty of  heather clad moorland, sea cliffs and shoreline, fast flowing rivers in steep valleys, small villages and wildlife in abundance.  In addition, there are:

Heritage and Archaeology

There is much heritage for enthusiasts to see

  • Fossil hunting on Kilve Beach
  • Stone circles / standing stones / barrows at Chapman Barrows
  • Iron Ore mining – The Mineral Line with engine house and incline plane on Brendon Hills – why not walk from West Withy Farm
  • Lime kilns at Treborough and Lynmouth

Want to do more planning for your dream holiday?

There are two invaluable sources of extra information to help you plan your holiday:

Exmoor National Park – Enjoying Exmoor

Active Exmoor

For events that will take place during the dates of your stay, visit:

Exmoor National Park – Exmoor Events Calendar

6 inch, reflecting Telescope - available for hire at West Withy Farm Broadsands - Exmoor Tarr Steps, Exmoor Lovers Bridge, Dunster - about 6 miles from West Withy Farm Village Gardens, Dunster, Exmoor Porlock Hill, Exmoor Hare, Exmoor Pub lunch, Dunster, Exmoor Dunster Tythebarn, Exmoor