The Pig at Combe

Character and identity

A 27-room Elizabethan manor in Devon's Otter Valley, set on 3,500 acres overlooking a horse farm and rolling hills, with the windswept cliffs of the south coast ten miles away. The interiors play country-house dress-up (velvet, toile, mullioned windows, a row of Wellies by the door) without tipping into stiffness. Arrival is through a bar pouring local Otter ales. Dining splits between the plant-filled main restaurant, working a 25-mile sourcing radius, and The Folly, a stone outbuilding doing wood-oven flatbreads and garden salads. Service runs warm and informal, more house party than hotel.

Who's it for

Bottom line

The draw here is atmosphere and provenance: a properly old manor, properly relaxed service, and a kitchen that genuinely means it about local sourcing. Book it if you want to slow down rather than be entertained. Couples should aim for a higher-category room in the main house, and combine it with a drive to the coast to break the spell.