It is sited in the steep rolling meadows and ancient woods of the Yarty Valley on the south edge of the Blackdown Hills, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

[1] The small village centre has a Norman church, dedicated to St John the Baptist,[2] an old inn with monastical roots, a hotel, a bed and breakfast and a cluster of houses, but there are also many outlying farms and hamlets which make Yarcombe a large parish.

There are other small businesses in the community, such as accommodation and catering, building and joinery, motor services, furniture making, and rural crafts.

Earl (later King) Harold briefly owned the manor in the village, prior to his demise at the Battle of Hastings.

In the Hundred Years War money was sent from Yarcombe by its French owner to the armies of France, to help them fight the English.