On a grey but warm Saturday, Steve and I hopped on a train to Topsham. It’s a short journey from Exeter.. About fifteen minutes maximum.

We go quite often as its so close and easy to get to. You feel like you are getting away to a small town far and away from the craziness of Exeter on Saturday.

Our first point of call was the weekly market at St Matthews Hall. It’s a mish mash of a market but I love it for its old fashioned charm. Steve wanted to get some flowers and plants for the courtyard and I fancied picking up some foodie treats! We were lucky.. There was a nice big plant stall and plenty of foodie ones. After having a good look around I decided that the cheese stall would be my first point of call. We had a good taste of all on offer.. The Stilton style cheese really was delicious so we took a chunk of that and then to the cheddar. Just mature enough for our tastes and left a lovely taste in the mouth.. A chunk of that was taken away too!

 We then fancied a jar of the homemade Seville orange marmalade made by Jill from Kenton. ( A village very near to Topsham ) we can’t wait to try it for breakfast. I hope it’s nice and tangy! Fingers crossed!

Steve and I went to the man selling plants next.. We spent a while deliberating on what to get. Since our holiday in Italy we have wanted to get some more flowering plants to try and get a bit more colour into our courtyard. Just like all the courtyards and window boxes we saw in Trevignano Romano. We plumped for some beautiful golden marigolds and some pink flowering plants. ( not sure what they are called! ) Steve couldn’t wait to get them home to pot up and brighten up out already very pretty courtyard.

After the market we mooched through the Main Street. You have to ‘mooch’ in Topsham! There is no other way.. For those of you that know me can tell you I am not much of a ‘moocher’. I normally like to get to places as quickly as possible! Anyway, I got to grips with moving slow and went with it! We popped into a few charity shops too which I enjoy.. Vintage nick nacks are my thing. They have a few good charity shops to rummage in.

  
 We picked up some other plants as we went along with some bits for a little picnic. We stopped at the grocers and picked up lovely cherries, the butchers for a locally made steak pasty for Steve and I picked up a sandwich from the bakers. Oh.. And I mustn’t forget the apricot flapjack that we got to share. We walked through the church yard and walked down the steps to the waterside where we found a bench to set up our feast! I found a little tiny doll by our bench. I made sure I left it on display for the owner to pick up when passing again.

After a lazy lunch by the water we decided to walk the ‘Goat Walk’. It’s a short walk that takes you along the Exe Estury and around back into Topsham. It takes about half an hour or so. Not a long walk but a very pretty one. On this particular occasion we hardly passed a soul. Blissful. ( Apart from a lovely black puss cat! ) We managed to weave our way through the countryside back up to the train station where we caught our train back to Exeter. We had a lovely few hours pottering in Topsham. It’s well worth a visit.