Wistman's Wood is one of the strangest and most atmospheric places on Dartmoor — a fragment of ancient high-altitude oak woodland, growing at 380 metres among great tumbled boulders of granite. The trees are dwarf English oaks, gnarled and moss-covered, their limbs twisted by centuries of wind and cold into shapes that look more like a fairy tale than a national park. The boulders themselves are draped in a thick carpet of mosses and ferns, making the whole place feel as if time has slowed down.
The walk from Princetown takes about an hour each way, following the West Dart river north through open moorland before entering the wood. It is not a difficult walk but requires good footwear — the terrain is rough and can be boggy. The wood has an almost mythological reputation on Dartmoor, associated with druids, serpents, and the Wild Hunt. Whether or not you believe in any of that, the place is genuinely extraordinary.