Drewe Arms

Pretty thatched pub, warmly welcoming, proper basic bar plus dining rooms, well liked food and real ales; bedrooms

In a charming village and handy for Castle Drogo, this thatched pub is a friendly and pretty place. There's an unchanging and unspoilt room on the left which still has a serving hatch and basic wooden wall benches, stools and tables. And three dining areas – Mabel's Kitchen with its original Raeburn and a history of Aunt Mable (Britain's longest serving and oldest landlady, whom both editors of this Guide remember well), the Card Room which has a woodburning stove, and the back Dartmoor Room which is ideal for a private party with lots of prints and pictures on the walls and an array of copper saucepans. Exmoor Gold and Otter Ale and Druid Ale (brewed by Otter exclusively for the pub) tapped from casks in the original tap room; skittle alley. There are seats under umbrellas along the front terrace surrounded by lovely flowering tubs and hanging baskets, with more in the terraced garden. As well as comfortable bedrooms, they have bunk rooms which are ideal for walkers.

Good bar food includes soup, popular lunchtime platters, chicken liver pâté with a sweet chilli onion marmalade, smoked duck and orange salad, sausages with red wine gravy, vegetarian quiches, beer-battered cod, lamb cutlets on garlic crushed potatoes with a redcurrant sauce, daily specials like cornish sardines, local mussels and beef stroganoff, and puddings like gooseberry cheesecake and chocolate mocha tart; on Wednesday evenings they do take-away fish and chips.