Chagford Day Out for £50 or Less: How to Do It

Short answer: Chagford is cheap if you stay out of the paid attractions. Parking on the square is the easy start, open Dartmoor access is free, and the village itself costs nothing to walk. The Old Forge cream tea is the one thing worth the money.

Start on the square

Park on the square and you are a minute from everything, which also means you are not paying for a day's parking at a visitor attraction before you have done anything. The village is free to walk around and the buildings are the reason to do it.

What costs nothing

• Open access across Dartmoor — free, unrestricted, and directly reachable from the village edge.
• The village itself: the square, the lanes, the church.
• Walks out onto the moor from Chagford, with no car park fee at this end.
• Fingle Bridge and the river walk below Castle Drogo.

The one to pay for

The Old Forge does a superb cream tea and excellent breakfasts. In a village with this many eating options, that is the one people single out. Closed Monday and Sunday, so plan around it.

Where the money goes

The attractions nearby all carry admission: Castle Drogo is National Trust, Becky Falls charges, and Stone Lane Gardens has an entry fee. Doing two of them in a day is most of a £50 budget. Pick one, or none, and spend the day on the moor instead — it is free and it is the reason the village exists where it does.

Eating for less

The Globe Inn does an outstanding Sunday roast with an excellent vegetarian option. Ring O'Bells is the proper village local with good vegan options. The Birdcage does excellent scones with tables outside, closed Tuesday and Wednesday. None of these is cheap-cheap, but a pub lunch and a free afternoon on the moor comes in well under the number.

A day around £30

Park on the square, walk out onto the moor edge in the morning, back for lunch at Ring O'Bells, then the village and a cream tea at the Old Forge in the afternoon. Nothing in that needs a ticket.