Climate
Can be very changeable. You can be sun-burnt and get lost in mist on the same day.
Flora and fauna
Ferns, wild ponies, Dartmoor cattle. Foxes, Buzzard & badgers in reasonable quantity.
History
Dartmoor forest; Dartmoor prison at Princetown, built during the Napoleonic wars; Conan Doyle's book, The Hound of the Baskervilles featuring Sherlock Holmes is set in foggy Dartmoor.Tin mining has had an important role in Dartmoor's history. The so-called stannary towns had their own assemblies, laws and courts and there was even a stannary gaol.Rabbit rearing was important once and there are places still carrying the name of Warren.More recently the china clay industry provided the raw materials for the Potteries area of Staffordshire.
Understand
The 'Forest' of Dartmoor refers to a hunting area rather than an area of woodland. This is one of the best areas in the UK for bronze age remains and much of the moor seems almost littered with stone circles, stone rows and burial stones.
Landscape
Moorland, rocky tors & quite a lot of wet places called bogs. Tors are hills with granite outcrops.