On Dartmoor's western edge
Peter Tavy
A small village where a historic inn, a granite church, waterfalls and prehistoric moorland sit within one compact guide.
- Best for
- Moorland walks, prehistoric sites and a historic inn
- Give it
- A half day across village and moor
- Don't miss
- The Combe's small waterfalls
The Fox verdict
A small village with a long view into Dartmoor
Peter Tavy pairs a 15th-century inn and Grade I church with a waterfall glen and prehistoric sites on the open moor.
Come for the contrast: slate floors, beams and Devon ales at the inn; granite, medieval carving and Tudor pew-ends at St Peter's; then the Combe, White Tor and Langstone Moor beyond the village.
Where to go
Places in Peter Tavy
Every place below is checked against a published source, listed with what it is and how long to give it.
Local signatures
3 placesChurch of St Peter
A Grade I granite church, mostly rebuilt in the 15th century, with four huge tower pinnacles, an early English font, a medieval painted screen and Tudor carved pew-ends.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 45 minutes
- Locality
- Peter Tavy village
White Tor
A hilltop with a double concentric oval stone wall, recognised as one of only two potentially Neolithic settlement sites on Dartmoor, along with cairns and hut circles.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 90 minutes
- Locality
- among the western tors
Stephen's Grave
A granite post marking the moorland burial place of George Stephens, whose story became a local ghost legend.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 30 minutes
- Locality
- at a moorland crossroads
Walks & outdoors
1 placeThe Combe
A narrow glen just above Peter Tavy, noted in local descriptions for its many small waterfalls.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 75 minutes
- Locality
- just above the village
History & heritage
1 placeLangstone Moor
A Neolithic and Bronze Age landscape containing a stone circle, a faint stone row and the 2.7-metre Langstone menhir.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 90 minutes
- Locality
- between Roos Tor and White Tor
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Three ways to explore Peter Tavy
Signature outings
Prehistory on White Tor
Climb to White Tor to see its double concentric stone wall, cairns and hut circles across the hilltop.
Falls in the Combe
Walk into the narrow glen above the village for the Combe's many small waterfalls.
Langstone's Menhir
Find a stone circle, faint stone row and the 2.7-metre Langstone menhir in one prehistoric landscape.
The village story
Peter Tavy Village Guide
An inn born from church building, a waterfall glen and prehistoric moorland give this small Dartmoor village an unusually deep sense of time.
A Moorland Inn
If you type "Peter Tavy Inn" into a sat-nav it will send you into the middle of the moor, so the pub's own website tells you to enter the postcode PL19 9NN instead. Follow that and you arrive at a 15th-century country inn a mile off the A386, with slate floors, low beams and log burners, two miles north of Tavistock on the western edge of Dartmoor.
The Inn began as lodgings for the stonemasons rebuilding the church, which is one of the more direct ways a pub can come into existence. It is known for its home-made pies — the steak and stilton and the chicken, ham and leek are the ones reviewers keep coming back for — served in portions described as hearty rather than delicate. Puddings run to apple crumble, home-made ice creams and sorbets, and a cheese board of four Devon cheeses. There are up to five local beers on, all from within Devon, including Jail Ale from the Dartmoor Brewery and Sam's Cider from Winkleigh.
Inn Welcome and Village Essentials
Walkers, cyclists, dogs and children are all welcome, and dogs are allowed in the restaurant. Out the back there's a patio and a second, "hidden" garden looking out over the moor. It runs about 4.5 on Tripadvisor across more than a thousand reviews, one of which is titled "Nice food, grumpy owners," which you can take or leave.
There is no shop. For that you go to Tavistock, two or three miles down the road.
From the Combe to Prehistory
The village itself is small — 296 people at the last count — sitting at the mouth of a combe where the moor meets the fields. The tors gather around it: Cox Tor, Roos Tor, White Tor. Just above the village is the Combe itself, a narrow glen described locally as holding "the vast number of small, but exquisitely beautiful falls." A fingerpost points back towards Peter Tavy via the Combe, one mile.
Walk higher and the ground turns prehistoric. White Tor has a double ring of stone walling and is one of only two possible Neolithic settlements recognised on Dartmoor. Across Langstone Moor there's a stone circle, a faint stone row, and the Langstone menhir — 2.7 metres tall, the third-highest standing stone on the moor. At a crossroads out on the open ground is Stephen's Grave, where George Stephens was buried under a granite post in 1763. He had lost the prospect of marrying a farmer's daughter, Mary Bray, and as a suicide was buried outside the parish. His ghost is said to walk the moor.
Granite, Green Men and Roger Mudge
The Church of St Peter is Grade I listed and mostly 15th-century, with a granite tower carrying four enormous pinnacles. The north-west one was taken off by lightning in 1803. Inside there's a font from around 1250, a medieval painted screen, and Tudor oak pew-ends carved with heads, Green Men and mermaids.
The rector W. McBean once sent his churchwarden, Roger Mudge, to clear the parish out of the Inn during services. Mudge — a relative of the innkeeper — would announce himself loudly enough to empty the pub before he got there.
Stay around Dartmoor
Make a longer stay of it
Travel Fox holiday homes around Dartmoor, linked directly to their property pages.
A guide with a point of view
Written from research. Edited for real journeys.
Use the Official site links for live practical details, then use this guide for context, ideas and room to explore.
Sources
Every place on this page is checked against a published source. Each entry links the record we used and names who publishes it.
- Church of St Peter — historicengland.org.uk statutory register or public authority record not machine-readable; publisher restricts automated access
- The Combe — dartmoor.gov.uk statutory register or public authority record not machine-readable; publisher restricts automated access
- White Tor — historicengland.org.uk statutory register or public authority record not machine-readable; publisher restricts automated access
- Langstone Moor — historicengland.org.uk statutory register or public authority record not machine-readable; publisher restricts automated access
- Stephen's Grave — dartmoor.gov.uk statutory register or public authority record not machine-readable; publisher restricts automated access