The cosy UK pub visited by King Charles that is home to a 5,000-year-old standing stone

The Oxenham Arms in Devon is a pub with a history rich enough to rival almost any other in the country.

The ancient inn has hosted the great and the good for centuries, and boasts artefacts you would expect to find in a museum.

The pub, in the village of South Zeal, is actually a 12th century monastry and its prized possession is the South Zeal Menhir – a 5,000-year-old neolithic standing stone, which was used for Pagan worship ceremonies.

The standing stone can be found in the pub’s snug, and pre-dates stonehenge by 1,000 years.

Landlord Simon Powell originally set out to purchase a castle, but ended up with something far older.

He told : “What attracted me to it was you can go into a pub and when you wander around all the old bits someone has added an extension or changed it, but this one was original and intact, even in its design and detail.

“It had not been modified apart from the toilet block which was built around 1908. It has a colossal amount of varied history which started with the neolithic standing stone in the middle of it.

“It started life as a monastery and then became a manor house in later centuries. It was once owned by the Oxenham family and the famous sea captain John Oxenham was born here.

“He is generally regarded as the first recorded pirate who sailed with Sir Francis Drake and there has been searches for the gold he raided from Spanish ships.”

The landlord added: “It has been owned by fabulously interesting people over the years, such as Lord Kitchener’s nephew and Dickens has visited here.

“It’s such an incredible old building that just has to be seen. When you walk through the door there is a lovely feeling that comes across you and people don’t expect it to be such a beautiful building; it is all made of Devon and Dartmoor granite and oak beams.”

The ancient splendour of the pub has attracted an impressive list of visitors, including the King, Horatio Nelson, and David Bowie.