The Heart of Exmoor
Exford
A compact village gathered around the River Exe, its green and three-arched bridge, with coaching inns, useful stops and moorland walking.
- Best for
- Riverside village stops and moorland walking
- Give it
- A village visit, or four to five hours for Dunkery Beacon
- Don't miss
- The church's reassembled 15th-century screen
The Fox verdict
A practical base in the heart of Exmoor
Exford brings two coaching inns, everyday provisions, riverside history and serious moorland walking into one compact village.
The River Exe, village green and three-arched bridge give Exford its centre. Pause for the church's medieval details, choose between the two inns, or set out on the official 11-mile circular to Dunkery Beacon.
Where to go
Places in Exford
Every place below is checked against a published source, listed with what it is and how long to give it.
Local signatures
3 placesThe Crown Hotel
A family-run 17th-century coaching inn with a country bar, lounge, log fires, three acres of garden and locally sourced food.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: allow around 90 minutes
- Locality
- around or close to the green
- Access
- Dogs are welcome.
Exford Bridge Tea Rooms
A tea room beside the village green serving breakfasts and light meals.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: allow around 60 minutes
- Locality
- beside the village green
Exford and Dunkery Beacon Circular
An official circular climbing through farmland and moorland to Exmoor's 519 m high point, with views towards Somerset, Devon and South Wales.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow about 4–5 hours
- Locality
- from Exford through farmland and moorland to Dunkery Beacon
Food & drink
2 placesThe Exmoor White Horse Inn
A privately run 16th-century coaching inn with oak-beamed bars, log fires, riverside tables, four changing cask ales and a long malt-whisky list.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: allow around 90 minutes
- Locality
- beside the River Exe
- Access
- Dogs are welcome.
Exmoor Stores and Post Office
The village general store and Post Office, stocking groceries, bread, milk, newspapers, postcards and small gifts.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: allow around 15 minutes
- Locality
- around or close to the green
History & heritage
2 placesSt Mary Magdalene
A Grade II* church with a mid-15th-century tower, vine-leaf capitals, an octagonal font, painted organ panels and a reassembled fan-vaulted medieval screen.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: allow around 45 minutes
- Locality
- up from the green
Exford Bridge
A Grade II stone bridge rebuilt in 1930 on a medieval crossing site, with three semicircular arches and cutwaters.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: allow around 20 minutes
- Locality
- in the middle of Exford
Things to do
1 placeExford Village Green Play Area
The village green has extensive play equipment, with public toilets also listed among Exford's facilities.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: allow around 45 minutes
- Locality
- on the village green
No places match this filter. Choose All places to reset the list.
Three ways to explore Exford
Signature outings
A riverside coaching inn
The inn's menu gives this stop another draw: Exmoor venison pie with red-wine, onion and juniper gravy, plus a traditional Sunday carvery.
A rescued medieval screen
St Mary Magdalene holds a fan-vaulted 15th-century screen rescued from West Quantoxhead and reassembled here in 1929.
Three arches over the Exe
Pause at the crossing to take in Exford's compact centre, with the green, two inns, shop and play area close by.
The village story
Exford: From the River Exe to Dunkery Beacon
Inns, everyday stops, church history and high moorland walking beside the River Exe.
River, Green and Village Inns
The River Exe runs under a three-arched stone bridge in the middle of Exford, and the village arranges itself around that crossing and the green beside it. Most of what you need clusters around the green and bridge: two hotel-pubs, a store with a Post Office, a tea room, a play area and the bus stop.
The Exmoor White Horse Inn sits right on the river, a 16th-century coaching inn with oak-beamed bars, log fires and tables out along the bank. Its kitchen serves Exmoor venison pie with red-wine, onion and juniper gravy, steak-and-Exmoor-Ale pie, West Country Camembert, smoked salmon with prawn and samphire, mushroom stroganoff and a traditional Sunday carvery. The White Horse Inn serves two cask ales in winter and four in summer, with changing beers typically from Exmoor Drinks Ltd, alongside about 200 malt whiskies. Dogs are welcome.
The Crown and Everyday Stops
The Crown Hotel is a family-run 17th-century coaching inn with a country bar, lounge, log fires and a three-acre garden. Its kitchen uses locally sourced ingredients for curry and grill nights and monthly Sunday roasts with beef, chicken, pork or a nut roast. Exmoor Gold and Exmoor Ale are among its regular cask beers. Dogs are welcome.
For everyday basics, Exmoor Stores and Post Office carries groceries, bread, milk, newspapers, postcards and small gifts. Exford Bridge Tea Rooms sits beside the green, serving breakfasts and light meals. A riding and rural-clothing outfitter completes the small run of shops.
Horses, Bridge and Church
Horses have long been part of Exford's life. The village is home to the Devon & Somerset Staghounds, an association dating to at least 1855; hunting, shooting and farming still shape the place. Exford Bridge was rebuilt in 1930 on a medieval crossing, with three semicircular arches and cutwaters set against the current.
St Mary Magdalene, up from the green, is a Grade II* church with a mid-15th-century tower and a south aisle dated 1532 to 1542; the nave and chancel were largely rebuilt in 1867. Inside are a Perpendicular arcade with vine-leaf capitals, an octagonal font and a Sir Ninian Comper organ with painted panels. Its finest object came from somewhere else: a fan-vaulted 15th-century screen, rescued from the demolished medieval church at West Quantoxhead and reassembled here in 1929. The church was once dedicated to St Salvyn. When the Domesday commissioners reached the manor in 1086 they counted five households.
Walks and Ways In
The walking starts at the green. An easy-to-moderate circular of 3.8 miles follows the Exe before climbing into farmland and open moor; the serious version, eleven miles and four to five hours, climbs to Dunkery Beacon at 519 metres, the high point of Exmoor, with views towards Devon and South Wales. Tarr Steps, a 54-metre clapper bridge of seventeen spans across the River Barle, is nearby.
The B3224 brings you across the moor, where livestock may be encountered on the road; Taunton is the nearest mainline station. AtWest's 198 serves Exford on selected journeys between Dulverton and Minehead via Wheddon Cross and Dunster. Journeys differ between school days and holidays, and the bus does not run on public or bank holidays. In the 1870s, John Marius Wilson wrote of the parish's "deep vales and romantic hollows."
Stay around Exmoor
Make a longer stay of it
Travel Fox holiday homes around Exmoor, linked directly to their property pages.
For homeowners
Own a holiday home near Exford?
We manage holiday lets across the UK from 12% commission, charged after cleaning costs, with no lock-in. A co-founder visits before you decide.
How our holiday let management works →
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 Exmoor White Horse Inn — exmoor-whitehorse.co.uk operator, sector body or destination organisation
- The Crown Hotel — crownhotelexmoor.co.uk operator, sector body or destination organisation
- Exmoor Stores and Post Office — exfordparishcouncil.org other published source
- Exford Bridge Tea Rooms — visit-exmoor.co.uk operator, sector body or destination organisation
- St Mary Magdalene — historicengland.org.uk statutory register or public authority record not machine-readable; publisher restricts automated access
- Exford Bridge — historicengland.org.uk statutory register or public authority record not machine-readable; publisher restricts automated access
- Exford Village Green Play Area — exfordparishcouncil.org operator, sector body or destination organisation
- Exford and Dunkery Beacon Circular — exmoor-nationalpark.gov.uk statutory register or public authority record not machine-readable; publisher restricts automated access