Teal, turquoise, marigold yellow: the house blocks lining the marina pop with paintbox brights, whereas the gleaming yachts tethered beneath bob on gently lapping waves. On the far finish of the boardwalk, persons are tucking into hand-churned gelato and knocking again Aperol spritzes on a sun-kissed terrace. Am I in Portofino, maybe? Or some French Riviera resort? Assume once more: that is Exmouth, East Devon.
Once I was rising up within the space, this was a conventional buckets-and-spades city. Sticks of rock, soggy pasties, drained arcades – you get the thought. Consuming out round right here (a rarity in itself) meant visiting a quaint tearoom, chip store or musty pub. After all, these spots nonetheless exist, however recently, an inflow of gourmand choices with a extra outward-looking ethos has been shaking issues up. It’s occurring all alongside the River Exe estuary, which meanders its method from Exeter some eight miles inland and spills out into the Channel at Exmouth Seaside. Micro-breweries, espresso roasteries and artisanal chocolatiers now rub shoulders with antiques outlets and fishermen’s cottages. Order a glass of Devon’s best and lately you’re as more likely to obtain an award-winning glowing wine as a pint of scrumpy.
One key determine driving this transformation is Michael Caines. The Devon-born chef has been steadily increasing his native food and drinks empire, harking back to Rick Stein’s presence in Padstow. There’s Mickey’s Seaside on Exmouth esplanade, the place the seafood-centric menu contains sea-bass ceviche, spiced monkfish tail and Lyme Bay scallops with seaweed butter, along with the de rigueur fish and chips (let’s not throw the infant out the bathwater, eh?), served on the suntrap roof terrace. Downstairs, the pastel-hued interiors of Café Patisserie Glacerie are as delicious as its delicately iced éclairs, tarte aux fraises and choux buns. Pastry chef Sylvain Peltier’s ache au chocolat would absolutely get essentially the most discerning Parisians licking their fingers, whereas the café’s barista-crafted flat whites are a lifeless ringer for these served in a Hackney hipster joint, proper all the way down to the feathery latte artwork.
The jewel in Caines’ crown, although, lies a few miles additional up the estuary. At first look, Lympstone Manor is your traditional nation pile – a good-looking Regency villa the color of Devon cream, surrounded by manicured lawns. Then you definitely realise 11 acres of these grounds, unfurling all the way down to the riverbank, are actually coated by a winery. Again in 2018, Caines planted some 17,500 vines – principally pinot noir, chardonnay and meunier – and the ensuing positive wines at the moment are raking within the accolades, together with Gold and Finest in Present by Nation on the 2024 London Wine Competitors. There’s a traditional cuvée made within the conventional Champagne technique; Isabeau, a pale, bone-dry Provençal-style rosé; and the sunshine, fruity triassic constructed from 100% pinot noir. Simply this spring, to mark the resort’s seventh birthday, it added a barrel-fermented chardonnay, a eau de vie (an fragrant fruit brandy created from the grape pomace remaining after winemaking), and a gin to the line-up. Miniature bottles of the latter seem in every visitor room, accompanied by Luscombe tonic, for mixing right into a complimentary G&T welcome drink.
Overlooking the vines, Lympstone Manor’s just lately opened restaurant-bar the Pool Home brings Soho Home-esque airs to the sleepy East Devon coast. In addition to being open to resort company, there’s a membership possibility for locals who want to spend their summers lounging across the heated out of doors swimming pool and lunching within the glossy, glass-fronted restaurant beside it – a extra informal various to the resort’s Michelin-starred fine-dining restaurant. One other newer addition to the grounds is a smattering of bijou shepherd’s huts with out of doors hearth pits and soaking tubs – some even have golden roll-top baths fitted inside, for further smugness – which seemingly goal a youthful, cooler viewers than the principle manor home.
Proceed to Topsham, the subsequent village alongside the Exe’s easterly banks, and also you’ll hit one other foodie mecca: Darts Farm. As soon as a easy, one-note farm store, the positioning has dramatically diversified over the previous few years, gaining every part from a elaborate Japanese coffee-roasting machine to a wellness spa, bean-to-bar chocolate making to a cidery, and – yep, you guessed it – a winery. The meals corridor alone would put any West London division retailer to disgrace, full of artisanal producers’ stands and seasonal veg shows. On the calendar of gourmand occasions, take your choose from a intestine well being and fermentation workshop, cheese membership, group apple-pressing classes within the autumn, or a 10-course one-off tasting menu centring on one unlikely hero ingredient: tinned fish. ‘We attempt to create theatre all over the place,’ says George Dart, a third-generation member of the household who owns the shop.
Talking of meals theatre, Topsham neighbour the Salutation Inn kicks off its seafood supper golf equipment within the restaurant’s on-site fishmongers, giving diners an immersive speak on all issues shellfish as they tuck into their amuse-bouche and Lyme Bay brut. Final yr, this little village of simply 4,000 residents welcomed its first micro-brewery faucet room, the Previous Fireplace Station, with street-food vehicles out entrance offering sustenance alongside its 20 in-house beers; and the South West Pizza Co, which tops its pillowy sourdough bases with charcuterie from Topsham-based Good Sport and fior di latte mozzarella from neighbouring Somerset.
Such elements are a reminder that East Devon’s new culinary cool isn’t a case of blindly aping the Med. As a substitute, it’s about taking inspiration from the best way that tradition prizes recent, seasonal, high-quality elements, and making use of this to our personal produce. Assume native pork cheek cured into salami or air-dried into guanciale by Good Sport; or gelato constructed from the milk of cattle that graze on the West Nation’s notoriously lush countryside. Neither is the world’s emergence as a staycation hotspot so unprecedented, it seems. Taking to Exmouth’s ‘therapeutic waters’ was really helpful by King George III’s private doctor, prompting modern Nineteenth-century wellness seekers to flock there. I’m unsure whether or not sampling the brand new wave of native wines, sourdough pizzas and pâtisserie treats would precisely match physician’s orders, but it surely’s actually an interesting option to fill a weekend, and all lower than a three-hour prepare experience from London.
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