Excerpt from Cecil Aldin, Exmoor. The Riding Playground of England

( first published in 1935)

The air of Exmoor is like a dry champagne; to breathe it makes old men and women young and gives sparkle and “life” to all young people.  No one can be listless or suffer from a liver on the high altitudes of Exmoor in summer. When we descend to the villages and coombes we may feel the heat, but after wading the cool stream and once again arriving on the tops our spirits rise with Exmoor’s life-giving qualities.

Here, on a fine day, at a moorland meet or hacking party, everyone has that party spirit, which nowadays we are so fond of talking about; not a party spirit gained by drinking numerous cocktails but by healthy exercise and an invigorating atmosphere.

In winter time travel on the hill-tops may by an overrated amusement, for the north and east winds come across the Bristol Channel from Wales in a way that makes anyone journeying over the moor at that season long to reach the  shelter of Exford or Porlock.

When it rains here it does it well and truly, … One can get wetter on Exmoor on a rainy day, or when a cold, drenching fog covers the hills, than in any other place in England.

(from Chapter II  Some of its villages and folk)