Dulverton Exmoor
Dulverton is the southern gateway to Exmoor National Park, a small market town on the River Barle in Somerset whose combination of the independent shops, the excellent cafes and restaurants serving local Exmoor produce, the Exmoor National Park visitor centre and the walks directly from the town into the Barle Valley woodland and moorland above creates one of the most rewarding and most welcoming small towns in the national park. The town serves as the administrative centre of the national park and its character reflects the pastoral and market town traditions of south Exmoor.
The River Barle flowing through the town provides the natural focal point and the riverside walk upstream from the town through the ancient oak woodland of the Barle Valley is one of the finest accessible walks from any Exmoor town, the combination of the clear river, the sessile oak woodland and the red deer that inhabit the valley creating a wildlife and landscape experience of considerable quality within easy walking distance of the town centre.
The deer grazing in the fields above the town and in the woodland of the surrounding hills provide a direct connection to the red deer population of Exmoor, one of the finest herds in England and the subject of the stag-hunting tradition that has been a controversial but central part of Exmoor's social culture for centuries. The Exmoor pony herds visible on the high moor above the town provide another characteristic element of the Exmoor landscape.