The Belfry Hotel

The Belfry Hotel, formerly a village school, dates to 1872 and was converted to a hotel around 1970. It is constructed of local stone and flint rubble with Hamstone ashlar detailing, stone rubble stacks, and a red tile roof. The main block is built across a hillside, facing southeast, and consists of two rooms. Behind the main block are two parallel rear wings; the northeastern wing is slightly shorter. The outer side of this rear wing is set back slightly from the end of the main block, and an entrance porch is located on this side, leading into the rear wing directly behind the front block. The rear of the main block features lateral stacks serving both the front and rear blocks. Originally a single-story school, an upper floor was inserted during the 1970 conversion. The building is in the Tudor Gothic style.

The front facade is symmetrical, featuring two windows. Dormer casements on the upper floor are 20th-century additions, while the ground floor windows are original; they are Hamstone ashlar, six-light with a central king mullion and Tudor arch-headed lights. These windows are separated by a buttress, and there are diagonal buttresses on the corner ends. The roof is gable-ended, with original wavy bargeboards on both gables and the gables of the rear wings. Large windows with pointed segmental heads and Perpendicular tracery are found in the gable ends. On the right-hand end gable, there is a plaque bearing the Drake arms above a window and an inscribed foundation stone below, laid by Lady Elliot Drake in 1872. To the right of this end gable is a gabled entrance porch with a timber frame set on low sleeper walls and a pointed segmental arch containing the original studded plank door with ornate strap hinges. The sides of the rear wings feature Hamstone windows with Tudor arch-headed lights similar to those on the front, along with large windows in the end walls; a segmental pointed arch window with Perpendicular tracery is on the right wing, and a square-headed five-light window with two sets of transoms is on the left wing. The front windows have 20th-century glazing, but most others retain original diamond-paned leaded glass. The interior was thoroughly modernised around 1970 when the upper floor was added. The Belfry Hotel is considered an attractive building within the group of listed buildings in Yarcombe.