The remains of the George Hotel in Hatherleigh have raised hundreds of pounds for firefighters...

The remains of the George Hotel in Hatherleigh have raised hundreds of pounds for firefighters, the North Devon Journal reports.

The 600-year-old pub started to "rise from the ashes" earlier this year with some help from local potter Jane Payne, of Hatherleigh Pottery, who came up with the idea of creating pots and glazing them - using ruins salvaged from the historic pub.

She has already raised more than £200.

Together with her husband Mike, Jane managed to recover some of the smaller pieces of badly charred timber when the pub, which dated back to 1450, went up in flames at Christmas.

More than 100 firemen from across the county were drafted in to help fight the blaze at the coaching inn which was still burning well into the early hours of Christmas Eve.

Jane and Mike were among the crowds watching in horror as the listed building burnt to the ground.

They were re-burnt in the couple’s woodburning stove and then sieved when cold and ground fine with a pestle and mortar. The ash was mixed with a transparent base glaze which covered the small pots.

Jane said: “I was being very cautious because of the limited amount of ash but they all came good when they went into the gas kiln and I was absolutely delighted with the result.”

The £2.5 million rebuild of the George is due to begin in October.

Among the keep fit fanatics, I attend a festival of many local ales

The idea of holding a beer festival in a temple of fitness certainly appealed to me.

While the keep-fit-on-Friday-night bods were humping bits of iron about and whacking little balls at each other, you could be sipping a fine ale, watching the sun set over a particularly swollen Spring tide (who WAS that man on the big boat with the large beard?).

And why not? Friday evenings gurning in Lyrca are not my idea of fun. (Official medical note: you will die younger if you don't do some form of regular exercise, which can include a weekly moderate session of beer-drinking).

In the cafeteria area of the North Devon Leisure Centre there probably wasn't enough beer to fill a swimming pool, but there was certainly enough to replenish a large outdoor bath: 40 brews, and only 18 not local. I thought back to the recent North Devon Show which had no North Devon beer in its beer tent.

I was accompanied by two cheerful comrades who each voluntarily opted to drink cider. None of our party wore beards that evening, although we had briefly toyed with the idea of wearing heavy hairy disguises. As my companions were both women, the disguises might have come across as jovial, rather than serious, attempts to blend in, so we didn't go incognito in the end. 

I drank some good North Devon beer. Again, the Wizard brewery from Ilfracombe seemed to offer something special; its Lundy Gold (4.1%) was clear, refreshing, bitter, and satisfying. Second best was probably Country Life's Golden Pig (4.7%), which is such a startlingly friendly and summery drink that you would probably feel like a fizzly golden piglet after a few of them. I also tried for the first time beers made by Forge, from Hartland, and they were well-structured and quaffable scoops. If you see any of these beers in a pub, you should try them.

To be honest, and fair, I have never been to a beer festival without having at least one beer which I suspect has been included as a joke, given its total repulsiveness, and this occasion was no exception. I had a half of one foul-smelling stinker which looked like it had been scooped out of the River Taw and dosed with caster sugar. But, because I was quite, but not stupidly, trousered, I can't remember which one it was. And, such are the vagaries of the human tongue, someone probably thought it was indeed fine to imbibe in all seriousness. It wasn't from any of the breweries mentioned here.

We left after a good couple of hours of beer exercise at the temple of leisure. Joking aside, I'm not sure the cafe at the leisure centre is the very best venue in terms of atmosphere for a beer festival; the organisers had invited local music acts to perform on a stage, but I kept being distracted by sweaty-looking people in tracksuits (insert joke here). It was interesting to note that this was the least FMAMWBy (fat-middle-aged-men-with-beards-y) ale shindig I'd been to. There were lots of women and younger people there, and very few beards among either group.

There were 20 beers from North Devon on offer. The breweries represented were: Barum, from Barnstaple; Clearwater, from Torrington; Country Life, from Abbotsham; Forge, from Hartland; Jollyboat, from Bideford; and Wizard, from Ilfracombe. There was also cider from Winkleigh. These were complemented by 18 "guest beers" from other parts of England.

A courgette, a banana, plastic window frames, and a lesson from the Holy Land

You know you're tired when it takes two hours for the thought "why is there a black banana in the fridge" to become "it's not a black banana in the fridge; it's a courgette, a green courgette. I have never seen a black banana in our fridge ever before".

I hadn't had more than four hours of consecutive sleep in about two years, so maybe my guard was down. For what other reason was I about to almost stop loathing plastic windowframes in pubs? And what do you call a run of non-sequiturs?

I had about £7 sterling left in my bank account and, before you judge me, after all the bills were paid and the boy had a new pair of secondhand shoes, and after the usual endless toll of housework-after-work, I decided to go loco and spend all my "spare" loot on ale in local pubs. You should do the same if you're ever in the same twist. What else are you going to do? Buy two "meal deals" from a chemist? I don't think so, chico.

We set off, pockets full of valued metal, my friend and I, amid the amber dying of a midsummer North Devon Saturday. The severe British recession, caused, I thought as I strolled cheerfully along, by a ludicrous and disgusting property bubble and its greedy spivs, had not abated since our last Adam's Ales investigation in Barnstaple, despite our government attempting to reinflate the ludicrous and disgusting property bubble by giving all our money to the greedy spivs who naffed it all up in the first place, and, as before, many pubs were half-empty; I don't think they will, alas, all survive the year.

We walked past a former dive by the riverfront which Wetherspoon's are refitting and turning into their second pub in the town. As I have mentioned before, Wetherspoon's will survive anything; they are unfailingly popular, like Tesco. What else is there to say?

INTERLUDE...I was once sleeping in a hot hovel, a bit like a cave, in Jerusalem, when a red beetle buzzed heavily on to my bed. I whacked it and slammed it with my boot but the biting creature was totally indestructible. That's not a non sequitur; that's a lesson from nature. The lesson is: even the insects are awkward in the holy land...INTERLUDE ENDS

Anyway, enough of those memories of the holy land. Pubs are where English men and women should be able to talk freely (as long as they aren't talking about house prices). At the risk of starting another interlude, imagine keeping a tally of the topics of conversation in North Devon pubs in one hour of one evening. It would provide unique anthropological data and a snapshot of our lives. Entry One: Wilshaw is condemning the idea of using homes as investment vehicles. Anyway, enough of those anthropological studies and interludes; they are nearly as relevant as the immortal beetles of Jerusalem. Back to the courgette.

Of course I always knew of the Windsor Arms in Bradiford, a village on the outskirts of town. I live nearby and have been past the place many times. I have always been struck by the plastic windowframes. Now I was forced to confront my irrational dislike of PVC windowframes in public houses, particularly old country alehouses.

I know, I know, I know. Plastic is cheaper, lasts longer, gives better weather protection, and pubs have hardly got any spare cash to lavish on wooden sash window frames. I know. I know I'm a bit of a fanatic when it comes to plastic windowframes in pubs. In short, I hate them as much as I would a PVC frame in the local Victorian church.

But, I will say this: the Windsor Arms is one of the best pubs around. It is a Proper Local, with character and decent beer, as well as a cosy and unpretentious decor and atmosphere, not to mention the superb shove ha'penny. You should go there without question, my friends. They had Barum on draft from the nearby Pilton brewery of the same name, as well as a refreshing and well-cellared scoop of London Pride. Depressingly, the pub was almost deserted when we arrived at peak drinking time. Was everyone in Wetherspoon's or drinking beer from Tesco at home? We also called in for one at the Corner House in the town centre, which, I am glad to say, was packed out in full 1970s-style boozer mode. I've written about that place before, so I won't go on. If you want to pretend you are in an episode of Life on Mars, it's the place for you. It's great.

And it's strange how things are not always as they might at first seem. The next day I looked in the fridge and just could not believe my peepers. There, as bold as busts of Blair and Bush on a brass bedpost, was a black banana on one shelf and a courgette on another. This could only be a lesson from nature and the lesson was...er, hang on...

The Windsor Arms, Bradiford, Barnstaple

Adam's Ale Rating: 4 out of 5

Drink This: Barum Original or London Pride

Return to home-cooked food at rural Torridge pub

The new chef at the Green Dragon Pub in Langtree, Karen Knight, has brought her speciality home cooked pub food to the menu.

Colin Edworthy, landlord of the Green Dragon, said he is excited by the fresh ideas and high standards she is bringing to his pub.

Karen said: ‘We are working on an exclusive menu which will see daily home cooked specials alongside customer favourites, such as steaks, gammon and fresh fish. In addition there are plans to install a carvery, and also a lunch menu for just £5.95.”

Bookings: 01805 601342.