Bell Tor

The walk up Bell Tor is proper steep and over quickly - maybe twenty minutes if you're fit, longer if you dawdle. What you get for the effort is a granite outcrop that juts up from Dartmoor in a way that looks almost deliberate, like someone dropped it there by hand.

From the top, Exeter sprawls away to the south and the moor rolls out in every direction - all tawny grass and distant ridges. On a clear day it's genuinely special. On a grey one, which is most days round here, it's honestly a bit atmospheric in that bleak moorland way.

This is walker territory. Families with small kids will find the final scramble annoying. Anyone after a quick leg-stretch on their way through Devon will get real value here - the effort-to-reward ratio is decent. History buffs won't find much, so don't expect anything layered. Just geology and views.

Free to access, free to park, no facilities - bring water. The moor changes completely with weather and season, so spring and early autumn work best. Summer can be crowded for such a modest summit, autumn less so.

If you're staying at one of the holiday parks in Dartmoor National Park - just 5.6 miles away - Bell Tor makes a proper alternative to the busier tors. It'll take you ninety minutes tops from park to peak and back, leaving the rest of the day for somewhere else entirely.