East Devon Pubs

Back to Devon for this post, and a handful of pubs on the 157 bus route and just beyond.
The single-decker 157 takes you between Exmouth and Sidmouth on some narrow lanes, just so long as you don't want to travel too late or get anywhere very fast.

So, let's begin in Exmouth and a pub that I think could find its way into a future Good Beer Guide.  There are a few regular deserved entries for the town, but scope for flexibility on the last couple of places, as we discovered passing the bouncers on our way to The Strand in 2023. 

On this occasion, I wandered to the marina, to the point that you can go no further..

With great views across the estuary in front of it and the marina to the side, you'll find the blue-painted Beach sitting on a corner in the sunshine...

The Beach (Victoria Road, Exmouth, EX8 1DR)
This looks like it has had a recent makeover, with the open-plan ground floor space looking smart and modern.  There were a fair few table reservations, fresh flowers, and pastel shades.  All things I'd usually grumble about, yet I liked the Beach.  I wonder if my opinion was swayed by the beer.

Four ales on offer.  Three very regularly seen in Devon: Otter, Tribute, and Dartmoor Legend; one that you have to search a little bit harder for.

It's thanks again to the Wickingman's Bass list, a glance at which made me realise I didn't need to travel to Cullompton to get a pint of Staffordshire's finest in East Devon.

And on great form it was too. Look at the delightful contours of that head!

Hop aboard the Sidmouth bus on Exmouth Parade and you'll find yourself in East Budleigh roughly 27 minutes later.

East Budleigh has a population of 868 folk, no doubt attracted by the quiet village streets, thatched roofs, and historical links to famous Elizabethan explorers.  The local pub is named after Sir Walter Raleigh, born nearby, and commemorated by statue.

Sir Walter was one of the first people to popularise tobacco in England, hence the British American Tobacco Company footing the bill for erecting the statue in East Budleigh in 2007.  Ironically, in the same week that the smoking ban came into force.

The Sir Walter Raleigh Inn (22 High Street, East Budleigh, EX9 7ED)
This is a great-looking Grade II listed 16th century thatched village inn with a superb painted pub sign above the entrance. Inside there are two halves: the bar to the left, tables set up for dining on the right.  All with traditional furniture, wooden beams, and checked carpet.
It's a community run pub, the villagers having taken up an offer by the previous owner to buy the place themselves.

Real ale on offer was all local: Exeter 'Ferryman', Branscombe 'Branoc', Salcombe 'Gold', and - my pick - a well-kept Teignworthy 'Gundog', a 4.3% bronze ale made with Goldings hops.
A steady flow of customers made their way in and I began to feel a bit guilty that I may have nabbed a regulars favourite table in the corner by the bar counter. 

3.2 miles from East Budleigh is my next port of call: Newton Poppleford.
Which contains one of only three pubs that I've played skittles in and been thoroughly beaten by the local ladies of the Women's Institute.

The Cannon Inn (High Street, Newton Poppleford, EX10 0DW)
Despite having visited a few times, I've never set foot in the right hand bar, which I'm guessing is the locals room.  I really should have been adventurous on this occasion, but I know you get a view of the barrels of beer on stillage in the bar to the left, so that's where I gravitated to.

Butcombe 'Original' or Sharps 'Sea Fury' were the two barrels on this occasion.  A bit of a disappointing choice, as I know there is often something a bit more exciting.
Never mind, the Butcombe was on decent form, supped alongside a filling plate of home-cooked pub grub.

From Newton Pop, there are more buses (at least there should be - I spent an age waiting for a number 9) to the Regency seaside town of Sidmouth.

The Swan and the Anchor are the pubs that tend to take it in turns for a spot in the Good Beer Guide. But, as a regular visitor here, I often find every table given over to foodie custom and the drinker forced outside in both those pubs.
So I headed up to the Radway, which is always a good option for anyone who likes a down-to-earth boozer, dogs, Otter ale, and footy on a big screen.

The Radway Inn (1 Radway Place, Sidmouth, EX10 8PY)
This street corner pub faces the Radway cinema and (one-time dubious GBG entry) the Conservative Club.  Head through the door on the corner and the bar is L-shaped, dart board at one end, pool table at the other.  
I settled on a dumpy stool by the window, where I could watch football on the screen and crack a grin every now and again from the banter between the locals.  The locals being everyone else there apart from me.

 

A decent, fresh, pint of Otter 'Bitter' on this visit, with boxed scrumpy cider always being a back-up if the Otter or Doom Bar cask wasn't up to scratch.

A day later, I made the trip a couple more miles up the Jurassic Coast to the village of Branscombe.  Sidmouth attracts coachloads of holidaymakers year round, but you're really in peak East Devon tourist territory when you venture down the lanes beyond the donkey sanctuary to Branscombe.  There's a rocky beach, National Trust buildings, hilly footpaths, and two pubs.

Firstly I called into The Masons Arms (Branscombe, EX12 3DJ), simply because it has generous opening hours.  
Picture postcard pub perfection in the sunshine...

The only problem with the Mason's is that it is geared very much toward booking a table for food, or booking yourself into one of the rooms for an overnight stay.  Not a traditional boozer then, and you'll find the gentlefolk are prone to form a small queue and peer closely at the pump clips, taking forever to make up their minds whether they want the Branscombe 'Summa This' or St Austell 'Anthem'.  Then ending up with a Carlsberg.
'Summa That' for me - a good, strong, peachy pale ale. 

Branscombe is supposed to be the longest village in the UK - something that seems believable when you walk from one pub to the other.  The Fountain Head is 1.1 miles uphill from the Masons, nestled between grassy slopes on either side.

The Fountain Head (Branscombe, EX12 3BG)
It's one of my Devon highlights.
A proper rural inn that serves food but hasn't become at all foody.  Wood panelled rooms to the back, a run of tables on the cobbles out front, and a great flagstone floored front bar.
I grabbed the big chunky wooden table in the corner of the front room, with the fire burning despite it being warm enough outside for me to be in short sleeves.

I guess the thick stone walls of this old building probably don't get let much of the summer heat inside, not that we've had much of that yet this year.
The two ales were both from the very local Branscombe Brewery : 'Branoc' or 'Golden Fiddle'.

And that's where I'll leave this East Devon post.
Content on one of the best tables in the pub, with a local bitter, the dog waiting expectantly for someone to come and serve him.

Next up: a random trawl through some Dartmoor inns.