EXMOOR, EXBRIDGE & EXFORD

 Tiny hamlets, which lie on the border of Devon and Somerset. In fact, the border is on the bridge which forms the divide between the two counties. There's a pub next to the bridge, the Anchor, which has a pleasant garden running alongside the River Exe. 

EXBRIDGE

A small place on the edge of Exmoor - actually little more than this pub, The Ship. The pub has a big garden on the bank of the River Exe, and an orchard to roam around.

Exebridge lies on the border between Devon and Somerset, England. It lies at the confluence of the Barle and Exe rivers. Exebridge is named so because of the bridge over the River Exe that also marks the border between Devon and Somerset. 

The eastern half of the village lies in Morebath parish (Devon) while the western half is in the parish of Brushford (Somerset).

This is a Grade-II listed bridge. There was a medieval bridge on the site, but the present bridge dates to the early Georgian period. When the medieval bridge fell into decay in 1694 it was the responsibility of the residents on the Somerset bank to repair it.
The 18th-century structure was altered in 1853 and restored in 1929. The parapets were rebuilt in the latter half of the 20th century.
The bridge is constructed of local rubble and has three semi-circular arches with a low cutwater on the downstream side.

EXFORD

Tiny hamlet in the centre of Exmoor, it has a very pretty pub, which is dog-friendly, and which does an excellent Devon cream tea. (No, I'm not being drawn into THAT argument! ) 

The Exmoor White Horse Inn is a beautiful privately owned and run 16th Century Inn. The inn is shown on historic mapping. A club room above the stables hosted many social events, and was used as a temporary school while the village school was being built.

Now, the White Horse Inn stands on one side of the bridge, and this cottage on the other bank has a small white horse above the door - which begs the question, what is the link between the two ?(no, I don't mean the bridge)

EXMOOR

Probably my favourite of the three West Country moors. Straddling the border between Devon and Somerset,  Exmoor is a bleak, windswept place, full of purple heather, and wild ponies.

The Exmoor Pony is a British breed of pony or small horse. It is one of the mountain and moorland pony breeds native to the British Isles, and so falls within the larger Celtic group of European ponies.

In the twenty-first century it is a gravely endangered breed, with a total of 95 head reported in the United Kingdom for 2021, and an estimated population world-wide of 330. Its conservation status is listed by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust as 'priority', the highest level of concern of the trust.