The best restaurants in Tale Vale East Devon South West

This is a gem of a village pub, warm & friendly. A good mix of locals and visitors. It had been recommended by our helpful landlady at the Little Clyst William Farm Barn just up the road. We weren’t disappointed. My husband had the ‘whale of Cod’ which lived up to its name, the batter was very light and the cod perfect. I had a lovely chicken dish. We returned two days later, this time I had the Buddha Bowl which was really interesting with a cold side & hot side divided by roasted new potatoes and topped with a delicious tahini sauce, my husband had the steak pie, a real pie with a top & bottom and lovely pastry. We never usually have puddings at restaurants but we were won over by a beautiful roulade and a honeycombe cheesecake that was really light and had lots of lovely crunchie toppings. We were really impressed on our second visit when the staff had remembered my husband couldn’t eat raw onion and came to check if that applied to cooked onion too as it was present in the steak pie. Add to this great service, and managing to have a chat while obviously really busy. We only wish we lived nearer as we’d love to try the Christmas menu.

We booked rather late but glad we did, lunch for 5 that was just delicious, great service, a glorious day in the garden and good company made for a very relaxed afternoon. Despite other reviews, i found the staff very friendly and helpful, definitely worth a trip

A rare Gem. Great food great service and a lovely location. We booked a table for 71st birthday meal. Staff were attentive and efficient despite being very busy. The carvery was excellent. The chef was clearly proud of his offering. Brilliant thank you, we will visit again.

A really lovely and welcoming community pub. The landlord went out of his way to make us feel at home and was very attentive to our needs. The pub had a great atmosphere and we chatted to both the staff and punters when we were there. Would thoroughly recommend.

Lovely location which we've supported regularly over the last several years, but feeling very sad to have to leave a poor review. We have found a general decline over the last year and notably our visits over the last 6 months, including our very recent this weekend, have re-confirmed each time that the quality and standard of food has dramatically dropped. This used to be a wonderful place for mediterranean styled food cooked really well and was always a high standard. Sadly now the food is tasteless and ill-prepared. It's not the quality of the ingredients that's lacking, it's a clear failure to understand how to work with them, the food is essentially being ruined. My husbands Club Sandwich was salted to such a degree that it was inedible, my sweetcorn and halloumi fritters were more like pancakes, and totally bland and uninteresting. Our friends fried breakfast looked dried out, with beans with a congealed skin on the top. On previous visits we have had to return food. The arrancini used to be lovely, it's now tasteless and coupled with a passata type sauce that just doesn't go. The Sunday roasts over the 2023 winter were excellent, we're hoping these may come back. I am writing this review to implore the owners to please address this, we love Heron Farm and in the hope this situation can be quickly addressed and reversed.