Wistman's Wood

Wistman’s Wood is a rare high-altitude oakwood on Dartmoor in Devon, lying between 380 and 410 metres above sea level beside the West Dart River near Two Bridges. It forms one of Britain’s few temperate rainforests and is split into three groves—North, Middle and South—covering about 3.5 hectares on a sheltered south-west slope. The ground is strewn with large granite boulders, while pockets of acidic soil support the woodland. The wood sits just north of the Devonport Leat weir on the same river. Its name comes from the old Devonshire word ‘wisht’, meaning eerie or uncanny, reflecting its strange and gloomy appearance. The wood has stood for centuries and contains some of the oldest oaks in Britain. Tree-ring studies show individual trees may be many hundreds of years old, with the oldest estimated at 400–500 years. In the 17th century they were described as no taller than a man could reach, but since the mid-19th century they have grown taller, roughly doubling in height during the 20th century. The wood is now protected as a Site of Special Scientific Interest and part of a National Nature Reserve. Prince William announced a plan in 2023 to double its size by 2040 through careful regeneration. Visitors find a forest of dwarf oaks with twisted trunks and sprawling branches resting on rocks. The trees carry thick growths of mosses and lichens, and where soil gathers, bilberry and polypody ferns grow on the branches. The ground is covered in lichens, mosses and patches of acid grassland with heath bedstraw and tormentil. Adders live among the boulders, and a fringe of bracken marks the woodland edge. The Buller Stone east of the wood recalls an 1866 attempt to age the trees by felling one.