Chagford is officially home to Devon’s best places to eat out after two of the town’s establishments won Gold at the Devon Food Drink Awards on Monday (October 6).

The Mill End Hotel and The Chagford Inn were crowned as the best in Devon at an awards ceremony at Sandy Park on Monday (October 6).

Judges said the food at The Mill End Hotel’s two AA Rosette restaurant was ‘well considered, well balanced and excellently presented’. They were impressed with the way chefs at Devon’s Best Fine Dining Restaurant prepare classic British dishes crafted from locally sourced ingredients that reflect the changing seasons. The hotel was also awarded a Gold Hospitality Award.

Seasonal and locally sourced ingredient-led menus also helped The Chagford Inn to victory as Pub of the Year. The pub’s warm hospitality and outstanding food that ‘celebrates Devon on a plate’ resulted in judges claiming The Chagford Inn was ‘the best pub they had ever judged’.

Chudleigh also earned its place as one of the best towns in Devon for food and drink with the Ground Up Cookery School named best training school. The Ground Up Cookery School champions local, foraged and sustainable ingredients and practices. Devon Food and Drink Awards judges said ‘the tutor’s passion for ferments and preserving seasonal produce was infectious’. The Ground Up Cookery School also won a gold sustainability pioneer award.

Also in Chudleigh, Huxbear Vineyard won Wine of the Year for its Blanc de Blanc 2021. The award-winning wine is made from 100% Chardonnay grapes and has ‘fine, persistent bubbles and delicate aromas of green apple, sultana, apricot, toasted almonds and brioche’.

Cofton Holidays just outside Dawlish won a Gold in the Sustainability Pioneer and Hospitality Awards and Dartmoor Estate Tea, which is currently celebrating its ten-year anniversary, was also awarded a sustainability pioneer gold award as well as two Gold product awards for its Dartmoor Ancient Forest Green Tea and its Dartmoor Golden Vein Black Tea.

Other Teignbridge businesses to win a Gold Hospitality Award were: Gidleigh Park, Ilsington Country House and Spa; Rafikis in Ashburton; the Social Bar and Kitchen in Newton Abbot; the Bucket and Spade Restaurant in Shaldon; and the Orchard Kitchen at Dean Prior, Buckfastleigh

In the Retailer Awards, Shaldon Village Store and The Cheese Shed in Bovey Tracey won Gold.

Teignbridge food and drink makers were also well represented in the product awards. Kingsteignton-based Barbers Bean To Bar came away with a Platinum award for its Single Origin Peruvian Wholebean Cocoa Tea and four Gold awards.

Kingsteignton bakery Truly Treats picked up a Platinum award for its Carrot Traycake and a Gold for its Victoria Sponge Traybake.

Other Platinum product awards went to Frenchbeer Farm in Chagford for its Organic free-range turkey, Dawlish-based South Devon Teas for its Dartmoor Caravan Organic Tea Blend and Kingsteignton’s Truly Treats for its Carrot Traybake. Truly Treats also picked up a Gold for its Victoria Sponge Traybake.

Dawlish businesses were well represented in the Gold product awards. Ice cream maker, the Local Scoop picked up four, the Shepherd Shack won three and chocolatier, the Melting Whisk, won one.

Elsewhere, Gold product awards went to The Husbandry School in Newton Abbot, Boo Chi Kombucha, which is based at Seale Hayne, and Buckfastleigh’s Voyager Coffee.