The Elephants Nest Inn

This place used to be a cracking pub. I have reviewed on my memories of rocking up in the 90s. Sometimes lunchtime, sometimes Sunday evenings. My favourite memory was my Yorkshire dad asking the landlord if he knew how to cook roast beef on a large family Sunday lunch gathering. The beef was perfect by the way, dad didn't do 'pink'. Used to be buzzing, and sat out on a summer evening in the beer garden was bliss. Anyway sorry for the reminiscing....point is however good the place is now it is no longer a pub in a wonderful Dartmoor location. Sad...another one gone, but at least the current incumbents are keeping the place alive. I just hope it may find its way back to being a proper English pub one day.

This was a visit best forgotten. We arrived at what we had assumed to be a pub (described as B&B in a pub setting) at around 6pm and to our surprise the car park was empty. Following signs to the main entrance revealed a notice telling us that it was not open till 6.30 but as we made our way back to the car we were intercepted by a lady who asked if we were staying there. She took us back to the car park and in through the back door to the accommodation area. The door mat being very worn made it difficult to wipe the mud and gravel from the car park off our shoes which probably explained why the stair carpet looked so tired. And there was an unusual smell in the entrance hall that I could not quite identify. The bedroom was spacious with reasonable hanging and drawer space plus a small fridge. However the bathroom lacked any shelving for personal items so it was sponge bags on the floor. We went down for dinner at around 7.30 - usually peak eating time but there was just one table laid up and we were the only diners all evening which does not make for a pub atmosphere. It turned out that the pub was closed a few years ago hence the phrase “in a pub setting”. It was a warm evening which made it somewhat frustrating when we discovered on going to bed that the window in our room would not open so there was no means of cooling it down. All in all it was far from the experience we’d been looking forward to and I could not recommend this place

Extremely disappointing and would advise you to avoid at all costs! We arrived to find the place deserted, rang and rang the number and knocked on multiple doors (multiple times!). Then eventually the landlady appeared asking "are you staying with us?". Ummm, no just thought I'd hang around in your car park looking lost for 20mins for the shear fun of it?! We were showed to our room and on first appearances seemed ok, but the more you looked the more you didn't really want to! So much muck and dust. Every surface I had to wipe with antibac wipes, which I luckily had packed. I even made the mistake of catching sight of behind the sink in the bathroom, as I was washing my hands. The thickest, biggest cobweb covered in thick layers of dust, so obviously hadn't been cleaned in an absolute age. The fridge was in the wardrobe, one of the most bizarre places, when there was plenty of other floor space it could have been placed. Only 1 tiny bin in the bathroom, so for saying we had our dog (and all her food packaging etc) with us as well as snacks for ourselves, just having one small bin was completely inadequate. The enclosed patio was ok, but stagnant water in an old bowl wasn't a great first impression, especially with a dog. Beds were SO soft! I guess if you're used to/like a soft mattress then that wouldn't be a problem, but it made for a very uncomfortable and sleepless night. The next morning the breakfast room followed the same theme as the bedroom regarding standards of cleanliness. Every surface was pretty much covered in layers of dust, there were a couple of blue bottles flying around, so we didn't even want to touch the dried up looking fruit salad or the butter that was out in the open. As with a similar previous review the landlord and landlady didn't ask at all how our night's sleep was, how we found the room, what our plans were for the rest of our stay. All pretty standard things you chat about at a b&b. It was a very strange atmosphere and vibe. Not at all homely or friendly unfortunately. We were meant to stay for 3 nights, but made a quick exit after breakfast, so only stayed the 1 night. As I was unable to find any other availability in dog friendly accommodation within budget, we decided to head home. Got home and enjoyed all the Jubilee celebrations from the comfort and cleanliness of our own home! Such a shame, as we were so looking forward to a break on Dartmoor over the extended BH weekend. I have given just 1 star....for the nice poached eggs for breakfast (felt that was the safest option!), good effective shower with plenty of hot water and (thank goodness) clean bed linen. I wish I had taken heed of previous reviews before booking and wasting so much money! Unfortunately, the whole stay had to be paid for but I knew that from the T+C's before deciding to leave early, so just had to deal with that. We couldn't have stayed there any longer. Think twice before you book!