Messing about by a river ;-)

Situated on the River Exe estuary, is the pretty little town of Topsham.

As you stand here and look up the river towards Exeter, you can't help but notice the lovely 'Dutch' house...in fact Topsham has many beautiful "Dutch" houses, with delightful small courtyards and gardens . These houses were built by Topsham merchants around 1700, from Dutch brick, brought back as ballast and they were obviously built with Dutch architecture in mind . Holland was then the largest customer for Devonshire serges and these were the greatest days of the port of Topsham.

Topsham is one of our favourite haunts and the journey makes it all the more special as, to get here, we travel along a beautiful stretch of the River Teign, a gorgeous section of South Devon coastline and then up the River Exe to Exeter. From Exeter we have to travel a couple of stops down the other side of the River Exe,although this time the river is hidden from view.

Just to give you some idea, here we are at Topsham, sitting looking down the river Exe towards the sea, with Exmouth in the distance, on the left.

We started our journey somewhere over the green field, on the right.

Topsham has many delightful little shops, pubs, cafes, charity shops and there's a lovely old bookshop, a cheese shop, butchers, florists, shops with all things nautical, gift shops, antiques shops etc. and much more...

And it has many pretty little touches, here and there.

We wend our way to the Quay, stopping first at The Lighter Inn...our fave place for a snack lunch. This always sets us up well for the rest of the day.

After quite a long browse at the antiques centre,(as there are a few floors) we set off again..so...

Let's all go down The Strand!

I love 'The Strand' and I could happily live here!

This is where I get quite nosey! ;-)

I love peeping into the gardens and courtyards, some of which have river frontage.

As we walk back up the main street, this lovely mural greets us.

The mural depicts salmon fishing in the Exe estuary. Salmon fishing was once a thriving industry on the river.

A river which has different uses nowadays...

But is still as lovely as ever...just as the day was!

;-)