Exeter is the county town of Devon in the South West of England i.e. it’s a big old place. Yet as you follow the road to Topsham, one minute you are in suburbia and the next . . . a quaint ‘town’ (the 2021 census the population was 4,146) full of historic references from its official beginning in 1300 by Royal Charter courtesy of Edward I. The seagoing trade has long gone, but as you wander the street closest to the River Exe, the Dutch style houses give a glimpse to its past along with local names such as the quayside inn called the Lighter (a flat-bottomed barge used to transfer goods/passengers from ships) and Goat Walk (so named, as local legend tells it, by a local man irritated by a number of ‘fanciful suggestions’ at a council meeting burst out “But it’s nowt but a bloody goat walk!”)
So it’s a great place to go on a lovely, sunny, early evening in August . . . somewhere to sit, watch the water lap round you ankles (dry thanks to the Goat Walk) or maybe a pint and a nibble somewhere . . . oh . . . and a perfect place for a few camera shots!
