What a great little find! Cute place! Lovely service. Beautiful gardens. Clean bathrooms, and most…read moreimportantly, fabulous food. I wasn't expecting much, but left delighted.

From the owner: Quaint and traditional 16th century pub and restaurant on the edge of Dartmoor, offering great…read moreales, Ciders. Only 10 miles from Exeter and 15 miles from Okehampton. Only 1 minute off the A30 Devon to Cornwall road.

This place is a little gem, well worth the detour from Tiverton if you are passing through Devon or…read moreSomerset. The staff were really friendly and welcoming when we arrived and encouraged us to try some locally sourced ciders and gin. There were three menu options - a la carte, an extensive specials menu and a set three course weekend lunch. The food has a fine dining feel in a relaxed, casual setting. The duck two ways was a real highlight.

The UK is literally littered with country pubs, and in many cases it's sad to say, but…read moreappropriately phrased perhaps, that what they serve up as food is pretty rubbish. The phrase 'home cooked' seems to have been superceded my the concept of 'van delivered' all too often. Thankfully that's not the case at the Five Bells in Clyst Hydon. It's one of the very first places I visited when I moved to Devon many years ago, as a friend recommended it, and I've been returning ever since. It's the kind of place you turn to where you just know you won't be disappointed, a foodies rock in an otherwise tempestuous chain pub ocean. The pub's one many awards over the years, so I won't go on about how tasty the food is, but I will say that one of the nice things I've always liked about it is that they are still experimenting. Sure you can get your english staples there like steak & kidney pudding, game pate, treacle pudding, etc., but also other treats such as mediterranean tarts. The chef here is one of those increasingly rare beasts, someone who really knows what to buy and how to cook it. It's not some kind of reinvented gastro pub either - it's just a good pub with good food - why is that so hard to manage anymore? I should say they also stock a fine range of drinks, including the Otter beers, once of Devon's best breweries. Then there's the location and the pub itself. Buried deep in the heart of Devon, near some great woods (with some interesting mushrooms to hunt), wonderful gardens outside and an interior that just seems to keep on going, full of nooks and crannies, games to play, old books to read and much more. I once took a friend and his (very small) three girls for lunch there and the owners and staff didn't blink an eye. Sure they made sure we were tucked around the corner a bit but the girls didn't mind and all loved the food! If that isn't enough to tempt you then how about the fact that Clyst Hydon itself has it's very own lido just round the corner from the pub? Just check the Google map and you'll see it just next door. All in all this place is a gem. A little hard to find perhaps but if you can find it, then you deserve it. P.S. There's a two course lunch menu at £7.95 available from Monday - Thursday and Saturday. This is my favourite as I never know what I'm getting till I turn up at the pub.

we were on a walking trip and had dinner at this restaurant. it was pouring rain and we walked a…read moremile to it. totally worth it! excellent food and service in a charming place, also their house wine was great. very reasonable. the owner heard us saying that we needed to finish our food quickly as we didn't want it to get too dark to walk back to where we were staying. she very kindly left her restaurant at a very busy time and gave us a lift back, saving us a walk in the dark and rain! a big thank you!

Having been to the UK 2x before, I was still waiting to be wowed by any of the food. So this 3rd…read moretrip was a holiday in Devon with my lady. Our cottage in Chulmleigh had a brief paragraph about the Masons Arms and mentioned it was Michelin's 2010 Pub of the Year. Off we went. Stopped by in the afternoon to make reservations for that evening. Enjoyed a nice Cotleigh Tawny bitter while we perused the menu ahead of time. We were delighted with our options from starter to dessert. Couldn't wait for the evening! We arrived for dinner and ordered a drink at the bar. The place is very cozy and staff professional - smiles all around. They are all happy to be there and it really makes the place enjoyable. The Masons Arms was one of my favorite dinner experiences ever. We were brought into a comfy side room with our drinks and handed the menus to review while we munched on complimentary olives, etc. A few minutes later we placed our orders and were left to conversation - which was essentially wondering what would be happening next. The waitress came back and brought us to our little table along the window - where our wine and starter were brought almost as soon as we sat down. Interesting and effective way to do things. Is that common over in the UK? Who cares! Starters: I had the smoked haddock leek and potato soup and she had the chicken liver parfait with chili jam and brioche toast. Both were just sooo astonishingly good. Main: I had the John Dory with clams, butter beans and chive ravioli. Delicious but I think I liked her prosciutto-wrapped monkfish loin with creamed potato in an orange/balsamic sauce. We couldn't stop talking about how good they were. Dessert: We ordered the roasted pineapple pannacotta and the special - chocolate ganache with lime jelly. Both were good and a great end to a great meal. I am not big on sweets but a good dark chocolate hits the spot every time - and the special was really nice. The triangles of lime jelly were a pleasant and delicious surprise, as I didn't think I would care for them. Overall - great meal. Great meal worth every penny - on the high side but well worth it. Of course, we might have gone overboard but it was our holiday! Service was excellent - not one of those places where staff comes by so often it's annoying. They were attentive at just the right times. I will certainly be back should I ever venture anywhere near the Masons Arms again. Great job Mark, Sarah and staff!

Love the authenticity of the surroundings. The room was charming. The food was excellent and the…read moreservice was good. I had the ham, eggs and chips my husband had steak and ale pie. The servings are huge and arrived fresh and hot. I recommend the Strawberry Pimms!

Great, friendly pub with good food, friendly service. We eat the regularly, can recommend the fish…read more& chips, mixed grill, ham egg & chips, as well as their whitebait. Just on the B3254 Bude to Launceston road. Drop in, you'll love it!!

very nice establishment which has recently been renovated and is…read morevery cozy inside. food is mid range in price. very welcoming host who makes an effort to remeber ones name.

Great place. Very good food, friendly service, well kept, good booze, clean, big fire, not pushy…read more Pretty near the perfect pub.

Great pub! Great food n drink. Nice local ales from Devon and Cornwall plus the usual taps n…read morebottles. I'm American and came here w my family to meet friends for a pub lunch and this place is spot on. Our friends were late and the bartender was quick to chat us up and make us feel welcome with three generous tastes of local ale. We ordered some pints and went back to the back garden where we were surprised to find a playground for the kids with a trampoline and other playground activities, awesome for our 8 n 10 year old kids and there were even younger having fun out there. Our friends showed up and we went in for our reservation for 7 and our table was ready. Good kids food menu and great adult menu too! We had bangers n mash, Brie n cranberry Wellington, prawn wrap, Lasagna and the kids had nuggets n chips w the peas which were better than the pub yesterday. Highly recommended. And I should note the staff was extremely attentive and very nice, best service in England so far this year.

This is a great country pub. Well cooked hefty portions and friendly staff. A lovely place…read more It's a little out of the way, the parking is fair but I would imagine, from the size of it, it can be full during busy periods. I would recommend booking if you are planning a visit so that you make sure that you get a table

Beautiful place to sit and be with nature and watch the river and world go by, lovely cream teas…read moreand meals. Lovely setting lovely place to walk the dog.

I just stayed here for a wedding. Decent sized parking area with a very nice garden. Beautiful…read moreplace. It was very welcoming and clean with all new bathrooms with cozy robes, complimentary beer, fizzy water, biscuits, and we enjoyed some great food. Breakfast was included. Also very dog friendly! They provided a dog bed for the family dog. Oh and very lovely beer brewed on side! Will be back for sure!

An absolute gem of a pub in one of Devon's prettiest, most tucked away coastal villages. The…read moreMason's Arms is, quite simply, a fantastic place in every sense of the word. I've stopped off for a snack or a quick drink a couple of times, and it's always really impressed me, and the lunch my parents and I had recently ranks as one of the best pub dinners the Andrews family can remember. Their crab sandwiches were fresh, as were the fish in their delicious creamy leek fish stew, while the ploughmans was huge. Desserts of chocolate and pecan brownie and banana fritters with toffee sauce were gobbled up. Ok, it's not cheap for a Devon pub, but the food is worth every penny - there was hardly anything on the menu I didn't want to scoff down. The pub itself is a charming sprawl of wooden rooms, and a small seating area out the front. It's homely and although the staff run a slick operation, they're still friendly and helpful. The pub was recently taken over by St Austell Brewery, so there's a good range of their beers, plus a couple of guest ales. This includes one local beer brewed in Branscombe. It's quaint, delicious, comfy and sits in one of the most stunning areas of the Devon coast. It is, quite simply, a perfect pub.

Good food, friendly service and nice atmosphere at a fair price. Went at a busy time so food took…read morea bit longer, but overall a good spot.

very friendly staff, dogs welcome, very nice food and very reasonably priced. would highly…read morereccomend to friends / family.