WELCOME TO THE WEBSITE OF THE RIVER DART IN DEVON

The aim of this website is to give a brief description of the river which is in private ownership above Totnes weir, to advise anglers on how they can access the fishing available to them for Salmon, Seatrout and Brown Trout and explain to canoeists when and where canoeing is allowed and to swimmers where and when they can swim. Additionally, there is information on Conservation which outlines the steps being taken to improve the fisheries of the river and the natural environment within the river’s catchment.

“By her green hills and delights of woods and valleys, by her many valleys, Dart is all Devon and so incomparably England.“ Eden Phillpotts.

Rising on the high moor north of the Postbridge to Two Bridges road the East and West Darts full rapidly to meet at Dartmeet on the southern slopes of the moor. Between Dartmeet and Newbridge the river flows through a steep rocky gorge and between Newbridge and Holne Bridge through a secondary heavily wooded gorge in Holne Chase before running out onto fertile lowlands and lush meadows on its way past Buckfast Abbey, Buckfastleigh and Staverton to meet its tidal estuary at Totnes, in all length of a little over 20 miles.

The navigable estuary, approximately 9 miles long, with Stoke Gabriel on its left bank and Sharpham and Dittisham on its right bank, eventually enters the sea in Start Bay, just below Dartmouth and Kingswear.

The entire catchment area including some of the wettest country in England, covers approximately 475 km² and takes in a population of over 30,000 people.