Choice of 12 Pubs for all tastes on the Dawlish Ale Trail, Devon

This Week ... The Dawlish Ale Trail on the Devon Coast

Despite what people may think, I'm no fan of pub crawls. Taking a walk is the first pleasure and then a pub stop, just one ideally towards the end, is the icing on the cake.

So when I saw the Dawlish Ale Trail was a walk linking 12 pubs, this felt like a pub crawl to me and I almost ignored it. But then I looked more closely and found that nearly half this one hour walk is along the "Brook", running through the centre of the village of Dawlish and abundant with waterfowl. Suddenly this started to seem more appealing.

In fact, this gives a great variety of pubs to choose from and, though I would choose the more traditional ones like The Swan Inn who sent me the trail or maybe The Marine Tavern, others I guess may go for something rather different like The Teignmouth Inn with its Sky screen sports!

So this pub walk has something for everyone and is in fact easily extendable to include longer walks along the Devon coast.

Click on Dawlish Ale Trail to see the full list of pubs on the walk and then click through to the route map itself.

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Pub Walk on the Moors to the Dartmoor Inn, Lydford, Devon

Pub Walk on the Moors to the Dartmoor Inn, Lydford, Devon

This is one of our favourite walks on Dartmoor near Lydford which we only discovered by talking to the locals. It offers typical Dartmoor views of tors and open moorland as well as a river that cascades spectacularly when in flood but otherwise has plenty of paddling opportunities. There is also an optional detour to climb the tor known as Widgery Cross.

The Dartmoor Inn is celebrating its 10th anniversary under current management and continues to win accolades from featuring in Eating Out in Pubs (Michelin Guides) to being included in The Observer’s “50 sexiest places to be fed!”

The food can be on the pricey side but in life you get what you pay for and the food is a joy. For this reason you’ll find it in all the other best pub guides too including the AA Pub Guide, The Good Pub Guide and the even more discerning Alastair Sawday’s Special Places series on Pubs and Inns of England and Wales.

When we stopped here, we told the staff that we were short of time and they obliged with fast, efficient and friendly service. Highly recommended.

For full details of this highly recommended pub walk click on Dartmoor Inn Pub Walk.

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St. Ives wins vote for improved coastal access

St. Ives wins vote for improved coastal access

The Guardian’s ‘Best Seaside Town Award’ has just been won by St. Ives in Cornwall with one of the reasons for it earning this award being cited as improved access for walkers.

The 22 judges included Chairman of the Ramblers’ Association who highlighted members’ enthusiasm for the improved coastal access with public transport around St. Ives helping walkers explore the South West Coast Path.

You might have seen in my previous posting on coastal access that the competition for the Nation’s Favourite Pub Walk has a special "Favourite Coastal Pub Walk" category with its own prize for the person submitting the walk - maybe St. Ives could be the setting for the winning entry for that too!

The coast path here is one of the best stretches in my view with some rugged walking and spectacular coastal scenery. St. Ives also has its share of historic pubs to entice pub walkers and I was already trying to book a last-minute holiday in the area. So keep your eyes open for some new pub walks there this summer (not that I would qualify for my own prize of course)!

To find out more click on coastal access helps St. Ives win award.

Today's pub walk: The Victoria Inn in Plymouth, Devon, which includes a section of the South West Coast Path.


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Rural Pubs to offer Postal Services

Rural Pubs to offer Postal Services

We've all seen it. Alistair Darling, Trade and Industry Secretary, trying to convince us all that the planned closure of 2,500 post offices is actually a good thing and that we'll all reap the benefits. Well, I'm not so sure of that. Readers of my blog will know what I feel about the loss of services in rural communities.

But this time, there could be a few winners. The organisation Pub is the Hub champions the rural pub and is looking to open up post offices in rural pubs across the country. It has already done this successfully in 100 pubs over the past 5 years as it helps pubs expand their businesses into wider community services.

Today's pub walk: The Boringdon Arms near Plymouth, Devon.

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