Seasons0 of 4
Around 1620 a visitor described the oaks of Wistman's Wood as no taller than a man could reach the top of with his head. Four centuries later most of them still rarely pass 4.5 metres. They grow at 380 to 410 metres up on the open moor above the West Dart, rooted among granite boulders, low, twisted and thick with moss. This is a wood, not a tree, and the wood is the destination. It covers about 3.5 hectares in three groves, North, Middle and South. The oldest oaks appear to be 400 to 500 years old; one felled in 1866 turned out to be about 168. Wikipedia names them mainly pedunculate oak with some rowan, while one walking guide says sessile, so the exact species is less settled than the place. What the boulders hold is the treasure. About 120 species of lichen grow here, and erosion from feet does real damage to them and to the mosses. That is why Natural England and the national park ask visitors to stay on the paths around the edge and not to go in. The view from the path is the visit. The wood has been a Site of Special Scientific Interest since 1964 and is owned by the Duchy of Cornwall. A plan agreed in 2023 aims to cut grazing and foot traffic and let this rainforest spread by 2040.
From people who stood here
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Getting there
West Dart valley, north of Two Bridges, Dartmoor National Park, Devon
You can recognise it as a low, mossy wood of twisted oaks among granite boulders on the hillside above the West Dart. It is about a 25 minute walk north of the Two Bridges car park, seen from the path along its edge.
National Nature Reserve on open moor, free; Natural England and the Dartmoor National Park Authority ask visitors to follow the paths around the wood and not to enter it (erosion damages the lichens and mosses). View from the path at the edge. Roughly a 25 minute walk north from the Two Bridges car park on the B3357.
Two Bridges on the B3357 (car park opposite the Two Bridges Hotel); public bus not verified.
In fruit
The line is our estimate of how much there is to see, not a measurement. Typical for this species where this tree stands; exact weeks shift with the year.
Sources
Where the facts on this page come from. The story was written with AI from these sources, and readers who know the tree correct it.