Lustleigh

Acting in the capacity of tourist information...Devon branch (unpaid).
If ever passing through Dartmoor on the way out of Devon or in to Cornwall I recommend stopping off in the village of Lustleigh. To be found nestling in the Wrey Valley between Moretonhampstead and Bovey Tracey off the A382 it is a great place to stop and admire old Dartmoor architecture. There are many old thatched cottages snook away down little lanes, an old Celtic Cross on the village green, the May Queen Throne made of granite stone in The Orchard, there's a Bishops Stone and an old Anglican Church (St John's). A beautiful Dartmoor village. (Like Widecombe-In-The-Moor, Manaton or Postbridge).
The village dates back to 600AD and was originally called "Sutreworde" - means "South Of The Wood" in Anglo-Saxon. I've done my history. Every year you will find me at some time camping in a field just outside the village. I have done since 2002, with the wife doing it since 1972. (She would have been 4 months old at the time). It's tradition. Parker Family Tradition. Once Dave Uden came to stay for a couple of nights and he recorded the sound of the campfire crackling and the ripple of the River Bovey that passes through the village. These sounds were used when Dieter Muh played in Augsburg, hence the piece being called "Sutreworde". Side B of "The Call" LP. (Worth pointing out as a note here that camping is not allowed in Lustleigh and the villagers are likely to set upon you with pitchfork and flaming torches....we know a farmer who kindly lends us a field)!
There is a great pub in the village called "The Cleave" - does standard vegetarian fayre and lager is £3.40 a pint. It is open 11-11 every day, there's also Primrose Tea Rooms for Cream Teas and Scones and an open all hours shop that is hardly ever open. (Also 24 hour toilets...very handy when camping in a looless field).
Like most Dartmoor villages Lustleigh has its' famous residents. Either now or at some time in the past ten years it has been home to Lol Tolhurst (of The Cure) and half of Jive Bunny. It is pure rumour that "C" Grade TV Personality and proto-fascist dictator Noel Edmunds had a mansion above Lustleigh. Sorry about that.

Pictures:
1: Entrance to Lustleigh from Higher Knowle.
2: Setting up camp.
3: The Cleave pub.