Ring O’ Bells Inn (Devon)

The Ring O’ Bells is a “traditional thatched Dartmoor inn. Our friendly staff are always ready to make your stay with us a memorable one. Enjoy a relaxing getaway with home comforts and attentive service.” It looks lovely. That ‘attentive service’ ethos was on full display, incidentally, in a photograph taken by Debbie Fuller, the Dartmoor Animal Photographer: she captured the glorious morning in 2023 when “the sun shone on South Devon Hunt this Xmas Eve as it met on North Bovey Green, Dartmoor, just outside the Ring of Bells Pub”. Her image isn’t included in the Inn’s own photo gallery which leans heavily on the ‘chocolate box’ rather than on its hunting connections…which is strange because at the tail end of 2024 the Bells was very keen to help out the hunt, allowing it to leave from their premises on Boxing Day because South Hams District Council wouldn’t give permission to gather in the Quay car park as it had done for many years, and telling visitors to its social media feed that hunting is ‘an old tradition’ – like badger baiting and shoving kids up chimnies perhaps…