Christian’s mother has decided to call Exmouth home, after trying various towns across the south coast of England. The town of Exmouth is … wait for it …  located at the mouth of the river Exe. At the bottom corner of East Devon, the town is a major hub for the area.

We visited Exmouth, and the nearby town off Sidmouth, and the small village of Otterton, as a part of our Northern European Tour.

The town of Exmouth

Christian’s mum ran a small business in Exmouth for around five years, had a shop on the High Street for her Interior Design business, decorating homes – mostly for the wealthy. Average citizens do not seek out an Interior Designer, however the time-poor and wealthy will want someone to recommend what to do for their homes.

The town has a few significant services that the surrounding areas need, and the supermarkets and speciality stores fill the gap from the small village shops. Exmouth also boasts restaurants and bars that people from the surrounding areas come in to utilise.

There are some historical buildings and businesses, but the architecture is a blend of old and more modern. Some old buildings date back to the 1700s.

Exmouth by the sea

Exmouth varies from many other seaside towns in East Devon, in that it has a wide and long sandy beach. Most other towns, like Budleigh Salterton and Sidmouth, have a shingle beach – round pebbles about the size of your fist.

The sandy beach attracts visitors every year, but in the depths of Winter when we visited, the only people on the beach were dog walkers.

We went for a walk on the beach, after having a bite to eat in one of the many beach-side cafes and restaurants.

Although it was, cold, wet, gray and uninviting when we were there, Exmouth is great for the short British summer.

Sidmouth

The seaside town of Sidmouth is popular for the shingle (pebble) beach and the dramatic coastline. Only accessible by a couple of very narrow single-lane roads, the small town has beautiful houses and a few stand-out architectural buildings.

Famous for being a childhood home for the future Queen Victoria, the town now is a magnet for summer holiday beach goers. We enjoyed the quaint buildings and shops, the small streets and the fresh smell of the sea, with the sound of seagulls overhead.

The river Sid enters the sea here, and the brown cliffs enclose the town on either side.

Otterton

The small village of Otterton is around ten minutes from Exmouth, and accessible from Sidmouth by a winding single lane track across farmland, with 2 metre high hedgerows or banks on either side of the road. With only small passing spaces, you have to be good at backing up if someone is coming the other way!

Otterton has a small stream running along the road through the village, and most of the houses are thatched, and have walls of cob. The cob walls are over a metre thick, and are mud, straw and animal dung, covered by a thick layer of lime plaster. Most buildings in Otterton are over 800 years old.

The Mill on the river Otter, at the entrance to the village, is the oldest continually operated business in the UK, and has been there since 1075. When we visited, we saw the mill wheels turning, and the stone mill wheels grinding flour.

Otterton is also the small village where Christian grew up. We had prepared for our visit by contacting the new owners of Christian’s childhood home, and they were kind enough to show us around, so Christian could show Bianca where he grew up! It was a very unusual experience to be able to have access to a home that was sold over 15 years ago.