Ferry Boat Inn

The Ferry Boat Inn sits on the river in Dittisham, a village a few miles upstream from Dartmouth on the Dart, and it looks the part - a pink-washed frontage right on the water, log fires inside for winter, and a large outdoor terrace for the rest of the year. It's a proper village local as much as a destination pub, the kind of place people arrive at by boat as often as by car.

The bar keeps four real ales on and a wine list built for more than an afterthought, and the kitchen runs a pub menu of freshly prepared pizzas, sides and a specials board that changes daily depending on what's in. Old beams and worn stone floors keep the character intact rather than polished away. Between the water frontage, the fires and the ale selection, it's built its reputation as one of the best-loved pubs on this stretch of the Dart, and it gets busy on warm weekends when the terrace fills up with people who've come by ferry or on foot along the coast path.