Upper Bray Valley
Challacombe
An ancient moorland settlement of country-inn cooking, quiet valley lanes and walks onto open Exmoor.
- Best for
- Moorland walking, village history and a country-inn meal
- Give it
- A short stroll, or 4.5 hours for the longer route
- Don't miss
- Holy Trinity's detached rural setting at Barton Town
The Fox verdict
A small Exmoor village with walks at the door
Challacombe pairs a traditional country inn with a short valley circuit and a longer route onto open moorland.
The upper Bray valley brings together permanent pasture, streams and a loosely clustered settlement. Come for a meal at the Black Venus, follow the 2.6-mile stroll past village landmarks, or allow 4.5 hours for the route to the Long Stone; Holy Trinity and the Edgerley Stone add distinct layers of history.
Where to go
Places in Challacombe
Every place below is checked against a published source, listed with what it is and how long to give it.
Local signatures
3 placesChallacombe Post Office & Stores
A current Post Office branch and food retailer offering postal, everyday banking and Drop & Go services.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 15 minutes
- Locality
- EX31 4TT
Footbridge near Town Farm
A Grade II hump-backed footbridge, probably 19th-century, formed as a single segmental stone arch over a stream.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 15 minutes
- Locality
- near Town Farm
Exmoor Zoo
A family option with mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates, including black leopard, cheetah, clouded leopard, African wild dog, capybara and binturong.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 3 hours
- Locality
- Bratton Fleming
Food & drink
1 placeThe Black Venus Inn
A traditional low-ceilinged, beamed stone inn with a sample menu spanning wild-game pie, pulled-lamb curry, fresh fish and Sunday roasts, plus a beer garden and outside seating.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 60 minutes
- Locality
- Challacombe
Walks & outdoors
1 placeChallacombe and the Long Stone walk
An 8.2-mile route past Holy Trinity, open moor above Bray Reservoir and Radworthy, Bronze Age barrows, the Long Stone, the Devon-Somerset boundary and South Regis Common.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow 4.5 hours
- Locality
- Above Bray Reservoir and Radworthy
- Access
- The moorland is tussocky, uneven and potentially boggy; a compass is advised in poor visibility.
History & heritage
2 placesHoly Trinity Church, Barton Town
A Grade II* church with a probably early-16th-century west tower, a probably 14th-century octagonal font, a wineglass-style pulpit and stained glass dated 1901 and 1902.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 45 minutes
- Locality
- Barton Town
Edgerley Stone
A 1.5m-high rough local stone documented in its present position since at least 1207, first marking the Royal Forest of Exmoor and still marking county and parish boundaries.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 20 minutes
- Locality
- beside the B3358
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Three ways to explore Challacombe
Signature outings
Order from the sample menu
Choose from dishes such as wild-game pie, pulled-lamb curry and fresh fish at the low-beamed Black Venus Inn.
Read Holy Trinity's fabric
Look for the probably early-16th-century tower, octagonal font and wineglass-style pulpit in the detached church.
Study the Edgerley Stone
See the rough 1.5m-high stone whose present position is documented from at least 1207 and whose weathered face bears two inscriptions.
The village story
Challacombe Village Guide
Country-inn cooking, upper Bray valley walking and centuries of village history.
The Black Venus Kitchen
The Black Venus Inn sits low and beamed under stone the pub gives as 16th-century, back when it was the Ring of Bells. The Birch family have held it since 2004, and Darren and Sophie run it between them: he works the bar and the kitchen, she grows produce in the garden behind and hangs her own paintings on the walls.
The kitchen turns out a wild game, chestnut and cranberry shortcrust pie, a twelve-hour pulled-lamb curry, pan-fried Atlantic hake with beetroot risotto, and Fowey mussels in garlic, white wine and cream. Fresh fish comes in daily, and Sunday brings a choice of roasts. Pudding might be sticky toffee with caramelised banana and honeycomb ice cream. The cask beer to look for is St Austell Cornish Best Bitter, with two more that change.
From Beer Garden to Village Store
There is a beer garden, a car park, free Wi-Fi, a pool table and a children's play area. Dogs are welcome, and the inn sends walkers straight out of the door and round by the River Bray, its footbridge and ford.
For everything else there is the Post Office and Stores, which handles post, everyday banking and Drop & Go, and is said to stock guidebooks, groceries, snacks and some alcohol.
Valley Life and Two Walks
Challacombe lies along the shallow upper Bray valley, an open plateau of permanent pasture cut by streams. The houses gather loosely around the stream crossing and press up against the road. The southern end is quieter, with older cottages and farmsteads, stone walls, ferns and hedgebanks, and small rendered cottages under slate roofs with stumpy chimneys, a few with the stone left bare.
The walking starts at the door. A 2.6-mile loop takes in the old mill, the schoolhouse, the chapel and the ford before turning back; a longer route of 8.2 miles climbs 325 metres onto open moor above Bray Reservoir, past Bronze Age barrows to the Long Stone and the Devon–Somerset boundary. The moor up there is tussocky and can be boggy, and a compass is worth carrying in poor visibility.
Holy Trinity and the Boundary Stone
Holy Trinity church stands about a mile out at Barton Town, left there when the village drifted towards the new Simonsbath road in the 19th century. It is Grade II*, its west tower probably early 16th-century, the nave and chancel rebuilt in 1850. Inside are a probably-14th-century octagonal font, a wineglass pulpit reached through the vestry wall, and stained glass dated 1901 and 1902. Its annual sheepdog trial still raises money for the parish.
The Domesday surveyors set the place down as Celdecomba: six households, and the whole valued at a pound a year. Older in its position is the Edgerley Stone beside the B3358, standing since at least 1207, a rough local block a metre and a half high that once marked the Royal Forest of Exmoor and still marks the Devon–Somerset line. The weathered initials "F Isaac" and "F Bray" are cut into its face.
Getting There and the 1952 Flood
There is no bus. The B3358 runs through towards Simonsbath and can move fast; the nearest station is Barnstaple, about sixteen kilometres off. It is best reached by car.
A former postmistress remembered biscuit tins floating through the shop in the 1952 flood, though Challacombe itself came through without loss of life.
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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.
- The Black Venus Inn — blackvenusinn.co.uk operator, sector body or destination organisation
- Challacombe Post Office & Stores — postoffice.co.uk operator, sector body or destination organisation record not machine-readable; publisher restricts automated access
- Holy Trinity Church, Barton Town — historicengland.org.uk statutory register or public authority record not machine-readable; publisher restricts automated access
- Challacombe and the Long Stone walk — exmoorcottageholidays.co.uk other published source
- Edgerley Stone — historicengland.org.uk statutory register or public authority record not machine-readable; publisher restricts automated access
- Footbridge near Town Farm — historicengland.org.uk statutory register or public authority record not machine-readable; publisher restricts automated access
- Exmoor Zoo — exmoorzoo.co.uk operator, sector body or destination organisation