Princetown to Fox Tor Circular Walk, Dartmoor National Park

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Dartmoor National Park is on my doorstep. I live in East Devon, just one hour’s drive from the sweeping landscapes of Dartmoor in South West England, one of the UK’s renowned beauty spots. Over the past 10 years, I’ve spent plenty of time getting to know the national park, and now, I can’t get enough of the various hiking trails.

In this guide, I wanted to share the Princetown to Fox Tor Walk that I did recently. I’ll share the best places to park, all the hiking and route tips you need to complete the walk and the best places to eat and drink before or after your walk. Because what’s a walk without a coffee or beer at the end?

This hike is a relatively easy walk for beginners with few hills and fairly flat terrain and is one of the best walks from Princetown. The trickiest part is navigating if you’re not used to it, as Dartmoor trails can sometimes be difficult to follow due to the rugged moorland.

Princetown to Fox Tor Route Summary and Scenery

This walk is approximately 9.1 miles, starting at the Dartmoor town of Princetown and heading down to Whiteworks, the location of an old disused tin mine. We then hiked across Fox Tor Mires to Childe’s Tomb, up to Fox Tor and over to Nun’s Cross Farm before heading back along the road to Princetown.

The scenery on this hike is beautiful, with vast rolling hills and open plains. You can get a sense of how rugged Dartmoor is as you look out across the untouched landscape. And what’s more, this is one of the lesser-known spots on Dartmoor, so if you want to get away from the crowds, this is a great spot to enjoy nature to yourself.

You’ll likely spot some typical wild Dartmoor ponies, which is always a bonus!

Hike Difficulty

I’d say this route is a fairly easy one, as long as you’re comfortable with the distance. The route is mostly flat, with only a short incline up to Fox Tor. The route from Princetown to Fox Tor is a great hike for beginners or those looking for an easier ramble.

If you’d like to reduce the distance, you can park at Whiteworks and start your walk from there. This will cut about 5.5 miles from your hike, reducing the distance to approximately 4.5 miles.

Difficulty rating – 2/5

Where to Park

As mentioned above, if you want to choose a shorter route, you can park for free at Whiteworks, as shown on the map below. This is the exact parking location.

Or, if you’d like to walk the full 10-mile route, you can park behind the visitor centre and The Old Police Station Cafe in Princetown. This is a pay-and-display car park. This is the exact location for this parking spot.

Princetown to Fox Tor Route Guide

Parking at Princetown, make your way towards Whiteworks via Tor Royal Lane and follow the lane around to the right when you come to Tor Royal, a guesthouse and wedding venue. Follow the road to the end, where you’ll come across two houses and a parking area.

From here, we decided it would be a good idea to cross the notorious Fox Tor Mires to reach Childe’s Tomb as a shortcut, but halfway across the mires, we realised this was a bad call. After jumping over a stream twice and having my husband’s entire leg disappear into the mud, the ground was getting boggier by the minute and we understood the stories about Fox Tor Mires being able to swallow a horse whole was undoubtedly true.

It hadn’t rained for weeks and still, the ground was seriously boggy and sucking our boots into the liquid peat. So we made our way back to the safety of the public footpath as quickly as we could.

Fun fact: It was, in fact, this very mire that inspired Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to write about the Grimpen Mires, the fictional lair of the infamous hound in the Sherlock Holmes novel The Hound of the Baskervilles.

Following the path, you will come to a semi-steep but short incline which leads up to Fox Tor. At this point, we decided to skip Childe’s Tomb and head straight up the hill to the Tor to enjoy the view from the top with a cup of coffee and some snacks.

On most hikes, we always take a gas stove, camping mugs and some coffee so we can stop and have a hot drink at a nice viewpoint. And on this particular hike, Fox Tor is the perfect location for a break.

From Fox Tor, you will see a small cottage on the hill to the left of Whiteworks. This is Nun’s Cross Farm, our next location on the map. This part of the hike is fairly easy as the path follows the hillside towards the farm. As the ground was high, it was also dry underfoot.

Once you reach Nun’s Cross Farm, it is an easy walk along the well-marked path back to the road which leads to Princetown.

Summary

I really enjoyed this beautiful Dartmoor Princetown walk to Fox Tor. I love Dartmoor, and there are endless possibilities for day, weekend or even long-distance multi-day hikes with many Princetown walks to choose from. If you’re looking for an easy ramble through the untouched countryside, this would be a great hike to start on.

If you’re looking for other hikes in Dartmoor National Park, check out this guide to hiking from Postbridge to Fernworthy Reservoir.

If you have any questions about this or any other Princetown walking routes, send me a message via the contact page, and I’ll get back to you.