Now I would like to tell you that we headed West somewhat like this...
... but in fact it was courtesy of a more modern and less glamorous variety of train! But no matter, because the sun shone (remember that) and off to Exeter we headed. It was a first for me to visit this city and I was looking forward to it, not least because our abode for a couple of nights was to be here:
This is Southernhay House, located brilliantly right in the centre of town, just behind the beautiful cathedral. This is the latest venture by the folks who own Burgh Island; you may or may not know this is a place dear to our hearts, so we had high hopes for its towny counterpart.
The building is actually Georgian but like Burgh Island, is decorated with a nod to art deco inside. There are only ten rooms, we stayed in "Sugar", all the rooms being named after tradable commodities (in keeping with the occupation of its original owner). It was a welcome sight after a fairly long rail journey. Comfy-looking, huge bed... goody.
The bathroom was pretty dreamy, too.
Not to mention the little touches in the bedroom, like Smarties to go with the water.
There was much to see and do in Exeter, and having been very helpfully briefed in advance by city dweller Joe, we knew the best places to go. We set off for Fore Street, home to a burgeoning vintage scene.
We very much enjoyed a mooch in Otto Retro, lots of lovely goodies at reasonable prices. All beautifully arranged by an artful eye.
I did not come away from here empty handed!
We also stopped by Reloved 52 which had an intriguing window display.
There were a couple of vintage clothes shops in town and my impression was that the trend here is more towards the '60s and '70s than the '40s and '50s in which we happen to be interested. We did have a good time in Relevant, particularly chatting to its charming owner, Lady Lace!
I wanted to buy the shoes the lady herself was wearing! Instead, I settled for two lovely brooches (if you follow me on Instagram you will already have seen these, including my prize skiver leather find!)
It is fair to say that the West Country folk did not disappoint and were customarily chatty and lovely. In Good Golly Miss Molly, we had a good old chin wag with its owner and ogled the pretty goods, often made by talented locals, (including Joe!), on display for sale.
All shopped out, we headed back to recover for our adventure on the South Devon Railway the next day.
The day dawned beautifully bright and sunny again, it was so nice to be back in our beloved Totnes.
I hadn't actually been on this preserved railway line previously; usually the boys head for the railway and I head for the town and its shops! Well, I had obviously been missing out. There was beautiful scenery at every turn; snowdrops, a babbling brook and grazing sheep.
The coach in which we rode was an art deco masterpiece, straight out of Agatha Christie.
And after each enjoyable but tiring day, there was always that rather splendid bath tub to which to retire!
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Other business:
1) Apologies for lack of links: do add in the comments if you know of links to the vendors mentioned. I don't think any of them have blogs but may have Facebook pages and I don't know what I am doing on that thing!
2) I posted quite a lot of shots on Instagram while we were away, including the lovely vintage goodies we bought, so I will post a few of those soon in with my weekly IG round-up, as some readers but non-Ig'ers have suggested.
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