Our verdict
Tarr Steps without the coach parties — drop into the valley from Hawkridge instead of the car park side and you'll meet more deer than people. Steep in, steep out; the ford-and-clapper-bridge reward at the bottom is the same either way.
Sessile oak woods pitching down from the hilltop hamlet of Hawkridge towards the Barle and Tarr Steps, in one of the emptiest corners of Exmoor. Moss, bracken, red deer slots in the mud, and the river glinting far below.
Steep oak woodland above the River Barle in the national park. Dogs on leads — sheep graze right to the wood edge.