The Royal Oak sits at the centre of Winsford, opposite the ford, and is the kind of thatched country pub the rest of England spent the twentieth century trying to imitate. The building is fifteenth-century, the bar is small and beamed, and the open fire is lit from October to April.
The food is solid country cooking — locally-shot game in season, sticky toffee pudding, ploughman's lunches with West Country cheddar. Exmoor ales are well kept. The garden runs down to the Winn Brook and is a fine place for a summer lunch.