fudge

Wednesday 14 September 2016

Topsham - A Little Gem

I have just spent a glorious day with my sister in Topsham, a charming maritime town on the Ex estuary in Devon.

Topsham is just a short train ride from Taunton but it's like stepping into another world.

There are many beautiful Dutch style houses dating from the time when Topsham was an important cotton port exporting to Holland and Dutch bricks were brought over as ballast and used to build houses there.

Our first stop was  Pink String, a previously undiscovered (by me) shop which had a sign outside saying 'stock clearance'.

Well, I can't resist that and I'm SO glad I didn't.

Look!







How pretty is this place?  I could have bought everything in it!

But I didn't ...

I limited myself to just these pretty lavender coloured candles (because lavender may be my new grey ...) and a few delicate metal butterflies because they were just too pretty to leave:


After a little mooch around a few Charity shops we stopped for a restorative cup of tea at the The Cafe - not the most imaginative of names but it makes up for it with bundles of charm, great food and a pretty courtyard garden:



Thirst sated we headed down the hill towards the harbour passing by some of those beautiful merchants houses:






Aren't they stunning?

Many with equally stunning views across the estuary:


to the harbour itself:




To the right lies my Topsham house (I have at least one house in almost every place we go, it's the house that I would buy were money no object).




What do you think - will it do?  I hovered in the gateway to take this photo, I would of course have preferred to walk right in and get a better one but I'm learning not to do that kind of thing ...

To the left we passed by the Topsham museum with it's period town house and popped in for the briefest visit (it really deserved far more consideration!).






After a final stroll up the hill we went back to The Cafe which, shock, horror!!!  had run out of scones so NO cream tea for me!!!

But a pot of tea went down pretty well without it and we walked back to the train station hot, happy and with an even deeper love for Topsham.

5 comments:

Polly said...

oh WOW your posts just get better and better. I’m drooling over Pink String, what a beautiful place, you were very reserved! Good choice of house to buy, I really like the pink house and the white one above it. Topsham looks lovely. Running out of scones! no cream tea! I would have been inconsolable.
I didn’t know what cape meant, thank you for the explanation. Glad you didn’t get arrested for perving, don’t be disturbed by it, I’ve done it, no harm in admiring!! :-)

Unknown said...

Loving the lavender candles. Grey is currently my new white, maybe it will be lavender next then! I want lots of pink and grey in the baby room. Sad to hear about the scones though - I would have been gutted. I love shops like this one. I always find it hard not to spend my money.

Sarah said...

I WAS very reserved Polly, there was so much that I could have bought (and I'm still kind of wishing I had) - I love all of those houses, I wish I could have got a better one of my favourite. I was a little upset at the lack of cream tea but I did console myself with a handmade Elderflower and Gooseberry ice lolly.

Grey has been my new white for a while Holly but I'm thinking a touch of lavender and sage would go with it very nicely. Pink and grey will be lovely and restful in the babies room. I adore that shop - I'm hoping stock clearance isn't another way of saying closing down although it did seem that everything was in the sale.

Sarn said...

NEVER heard of Topsham . . . but it sure looks pretty! I love the look of your new house! xxx

Sarah said...

Topsham is lovely Sarn and just around the corner from Budleigh Salterton and Exmouth xx