North Bovey

The green and the Ring of Bells

On the village green at North Bovey there is a medieval stone cross that once spent a stretch of its life as a bridge. It was thrown down during the Civil War and laid across a local stream, and only in 1829 was it fished out and set back into the socket-stone that had stayed put on the green the whole time. The experts think the shaft isn't the original, which is the kind of detail that tends to survive longer than the certainty around it. The green itself is large, shaded by a great oak, and comes with a well, a pump and a trough. White granite cottages, many over 200 years old, cluster around it.

The pub is the Ring of Bells, a thatched inn at the south end of the green with a 15th-century arched door frame, low beamed ceilings, open fireplaces and a grandfather clock built into the wall. It caught fire in January 2016, was rebuilt, and reopened in December 2017. Since January 2023 it has been run by Eversfield Organic, the farm-and-butchery outfit owned by Mark and Emily Bury, and the food is now 100% locally farmed and organic. The menu is built around an ox grill for grass-fed beef, with catch of the day, burgers and a vegetarian special alongside. Sunday roast runs from noon to three and gets praised for being "cooked properly and full of flavour." Three changing beers come off the wood-beamed bar, usually Atlantic, Exeter and South Hams, with West Country gins to match. Well-behaved dogs are welcome, and the outdoor seating overlooks the green.

Tin, stone and tinners' rabbits

The Church of St John the Baptist sits nearby, granite-built and 13th and 15th century, restored early last century by Sir Charles Nicholson. It has a timber rood screen and, up on the roof bosses, the "tinners' rabbits" — three hares sharing a set of ears between them, found on several Dartmoor churches. The church was paid for out of the tithes of the village's medieval tin mining, which in the 14th and 15th centuries made North Bovey a reasonably prosperous place. The population has been going the other way since: 519 in 1801, 274 by 2001.

Ways through the moor

For walking, the Dartmoor Way passes straight through. There are circulars to Moretonhampstead, roughly two miles off and the local hub, and a longer Bovey Valley route that climbs to Hunter's Tor for views over the wooded valley. Preserved medieval Dartmoor longhouses survive at Lettaford and Westcombe within the parish, and the Bronze Age settlement of Grimspound sits on the boundary.

Getting here

There is no bus into the village itself; you catch those at Moretonhampstead, and the nearest mainline station is Newton Abbot. The A382 runs close by. It is a place you reach by car and then stop needing one.

The parish hall and July fair

The thatched Parish Hall on the green started as stables for the old Vicarage and became the hall in 1927. It now hosts table tennis, the WI, and children's parties. Every July the village fair takes over the green for an afternoon — dog show, duck race, and trips up the church tower for anyone who fancies the climb.