Short family walks on Dartmoor. Little walks, big moments

A reflection on how the smallest walks can hold the biggest moments.

Short family walks on Dartmoor

The morning hadn’t gone smoothly. We’d run out of coffee, the baby was up 4 times in the night, the jam on the toast wasn't ‘right’ and the 5 year old wanted to wear crocs on a moorland walk in February. We very nearly didn’t go out at all. But we did. We packed the big bag, found a quiet spot not far from home, and started walking. No plan. No end point. And within minutes, the mood began to shift. A patch of blue sky in the grey clouds. A robin flitting across the path. A giant stick. Space for everyone to settle.  

We barely walked a kilometre from where we parked the car. But somehow, it felt full. Like we’d done something important without trying to. And I remember thinking, not for the first time, that it really never is about the distance - It's just about those short family walks on Dartmoor.

It’s not the distance, it’s the doing

Some days we cover ground. Some days we don’t get beyond the car park. But every time we’re out, something happens. A discovery. A conversation. A chance to move our bodies and feel something other than the same old same old. .

As parents, we often think we need to do something big to make it count. A long walk. A summit. A picnic that isn’t half-crushed in the bag. But what kids really need is time. Outside. With us.

They don’t care how far we go. They care that we were there, noticing the same ladybird. Listening to the same stream. Laughing at the same puff of sheep wool stuck to a gate.

The little walks become the big ones

The smaller the walk, the slower the pace. And the slower the pace, the more space there is for all the good stuff: questions, laughter, stillness, and those odd but brilliant kid observations that make us stop in our tracks.

There’s something about these shorter, open-ended walks that encourages kids to feel ownership over the experience. They aren’t being marched along. They’re exploring. Leading. Sometimes crawling.

These short wanderings have laid the foundation for everything bigger. They’ve built our child’s confidence. Their strength. Their love of the outdoors. And our own patience too.

Every outing counts

So if you're ever thinking, "Is it worth it just for a ten-minute wander?", the answer is yes. Always yes.

Because it might not look like much, but it's building something. Curiosity. Trust. Resilience. A relationship with the natural world. And a thousand tiny memories stitched together in ways that last.

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If this sounds like your kind of childhood…

You’ll love what Dartmoor Partner offers. We’ve created a membership of 35 handpicked, child-friendly walks. Some long, some short, all chosen with children in mind.

35-route Membership