My Valentines Day

I am not the kind of girl who gets sucked in by the Valentine’s Day hype. Why would you make one day of the year the only day you do something nice with your partner? I enjoy doing nice things with Steve all the time and wouldn’t limit myself to focusing all my attentions on one day. We exchange cards but there are no gifts or romantic meals out. Why should one day make you do the things that you should be doing regularly with your partner?

For me Valentine’s Day fell on a day off which to me means doing something nice regardless of the title of the day. I don’t get many days off from work so it was nice to know that Steve and I could do something together. The weather was pretty good too.. Blimmin’ cold but sunny and bright for the most part.

We decided on visiting Artigiano to get a coffee and a slice of the matcha tea and strawberry cake that I had written about a week or so ago. You can taste the green tea element in the sponge alongside a citrusy burst. The strawberry icing was delicious with crushed real strawberries mixed in. The beautiful pink hue next to the green of the tea infused sponge was so pretty.

From our cake “pit stop” we tootled off to the train station to get our train to Exmouth. The journey is a beautiful one along the Exe Estuary where the views are stunning. You follow the estuary all the way to Exmouth. It is a beautiful journey. 

Once in Exmouth we made our way to the beach. We both fancied a stroll to take in the sea air. It happened to be around lunchtime so what better seaside lunch than some freshly cooked chips with lots of salt and vinager. We stopped at The Harbour View fish and chip shop mid way along the promenade. There was a long queue but I have to say the chips were worth it.. Real potatoes and cooked to perfection. We got a large portion to share and took ourselves down onto the beach to eat them where we found some rocks to sit on. 

After our lunch we walked back towards the train station and followed the signs for the Exe Estuary Trail. This took us along the estuary on foot where we walked the two miles to Lympstone. The views across the water towards Starcross and Cockwood were fabulous. The sun was pretty low in the sky and it gave for some wonderful photo opportunities.

Once in Lympstone we stopped off at Oh Sew Devon. A cafe that had just opened after a winter break. It had a retro seaside feel with lots of pink candy striped accessories. We ordered tea to warm up and the second piece of cake of the day! This time it was homemade coffee and walnut.. One of my favourites. We were sharing so I didn’t feel so bad with it being our second slice. (We shared our matcha cake too by the way!)

We caught the train back to Exeter from Lympstone where our little day trip ended. We both enjoyed our day out together but not because we felt obliged to do something for Valentine’s Day but because we both had the day off, the weather was good and we genuinely like doing nice things together!

I hope you all celebrated Valentine’s Day in your own way regardless of whether you have a partner or not. I hope that you did it because you wanted too and not because you felt that you should.

Photo credit: Steve Kitch

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