When you arrive in the little village of Woolsery, population 1,100, you wonder if you’ve reached the right place. Just three miles from gorgeous Clovelly, which tumbles down the wild North Devon shoreline, Woolsery might have a quaint medieval church but it’s never going to win any prizes for Britain’s prettiest village. Nor does it have the charisma of Padstow further down the coast in Cornwall, where chef Rick Stein has fingers in so many pies, it’s known as Padstein. It’s more the kind of place you’d drive through to get somewhere else, except that it’s not on the road to anywhere in particular.
Yet this out-of-the way place, which also goes by the virtually unpronounceable Anglo-Saxon name of Woolfardisworthy, is getting quite a reputation for itself as a foodie escape. Gourmands are beating a trail down the M5 to eat at the revamped Farmers Arms; since last summer, they have been able to stay in The Collective at Woolsery’s beautifully designed rooms and
