Pack o'Cards Inn, Combe Martin

Early 18th century building (their exhib made a mention of starting in 1690) with wrought iron balustrades at the top. This unusual "folly" was reputedly built as a private house by George Ley following a spectacular win at gambling in 1690, the number of original windows, doorways, chimneys etc., each reflecting the component features of a pack of cards. four storeys to reperesent the four suites; thirteen rooms for the number of cards in a suit; fifty two windows, fifty two stairs, (fifty two doors?) and was supposedly built on ground measuring fifty two square feet. The shape was that of a house built of cards. The sundial has a date of 1752 and carries the initials "GL" of George Ley Junior. All the principal rooms have moulded plaster cornices, and good-quality raised and fielded panelling joinery survives throughout.

The public bar has fielded oak panelling to picture frame height all around and a brick fireplace with carved wood surround all of which could date after new owners took over in 1933 and changed the name from the King’s Arms; the toilet block was added in 1935. An old photo of the bar shows a plain 1930s counter front and mirrored bar back with 2/3 shelves with casks of beer behind. The present bar back of shelves on a mirrored back has changed. This room was no doubt original two, probably joined in the 1930s There is good plaster ceiling decoration in the front section. To the left there is a flagstone passage leading to a chunky wood bar counter possibly of the 1950/60s (?) and a bar back of similar age. There are a number of dining rooms one of which has a small counter which looks to have been there for some time, a skittle alley-cum-museum.

According to the listed description "The first and second floors are unspoilt, with decorative plaster ceilings to the principal first floor room in the left-hand wing and to the through-corridor. Both corridors are panelled as is the central room on the third floor has a built-in desk at which Marie Corelli reputedly wrote "The Mighty Atom", a tale centered on Combe Martin." The Oak Room (now the office) has a door believed to be 500 years old. Some windows were bricked up to become "Pitt's Pictures" after the Prime Minister who introduced the infamous Window Tax in 1784. There are two Adam-style fireplaces in the upstairs rooms and fine window glass. As the toilets are upstairs it is possible to view the hall but no other rooms, a number of which are letting bedrooms.

The pub closed in 1985 and this was followed by two years pf neglect, and vandalism when many of the original bar fittings were probably lost; then there came along Alan and Marion Furnifer who spent five years restoring it, reopening the premises in 1992? Michael Parkinson spent his honeymoon at the Pack o'Cards in August 1959. In 1987 an episode of the Paul Daniels Magic Show was filmed here. Some information from The Pack o'Cards, the story of a village inn by Donald F. Taylor.