The last full day in Exmouth

They say time goes by quickly when you are enjoying yourself, and this holiday is evidence enough of that.

Thirteen days ago, we had only just arrived in Exmouth town, now it seems we have visited its nooks and crannys and can find short cuts and easy routes around and beyond the town - a perfect outcome to the holiday.

Morning

Being Thursday, as I explained in the blog post last week, I spent the morning dealing with Parish Admin duties including drafting the newsletter for this weekend. Drew read his novel while I was typing away, so things were quiet.

Walk

At Midday, tasks complete, it was time to take a walk. I have mentioned before that Phear Park runs behind the accommodation - we can hear the sounds of the park when sitting on the balcony. Strange then that we had not gone to explore it before today.

The park has a grand entrance and lots of green areas, both manicured and wilder forms of parkland.

From the park, the walk continued to one of Exmouth's many churches. The Church of St. John the Evangelist in the Anglican parish of Withycombe Raleigh with Exmouth, an oddly named parish given Exmouth's size compared to Withycome's!

This is a large church, but unfortunately was locked, so the photos are only of the outside, but that in itself is quite impressive.

From St. John's we continued to a sister church closer to the town centre called All Saints. There was a parish meeting happening in the vestry, so, though the church is normally locked we were able to get in to take photos of its attractive stained glass - more photos can, as always, be viewed on Flickr.

This church clearly stands in the High Anglican or Anglo-Catholic tradition with the presence of Stations of the Cross, something not seen often in Anglican churches in my experience, but the third set I've seen in Devon's Anglican Churches in the last fortnight. Perhaps the strength of Methodism in this region made the established church more likely to steer in the High Church direction? 

Returning to Phear Park, Drew photographed the memorial to the wars and to the World Trade Centre bombing (9/11). The memorial includes some materials from the South Tower which fell that day.  

We got back to the house at 2pm having walked 4.5 miles.

Afternoon

The afternoon was time to start packing and beginning to plan our departure from the house tomorrow morning. We sorted everything that wasn't needed in the morning, ready to do the last elements of packing then.

At 6.45pm we left to walk down to Rockfish, where we had our first dinner in Exmouth, and where we now have our last.

Dinner

As I explained, when we came to Rockfish at the end of July, this place is all about the fish, and much of it about fish which arrives in Brixham from the fishing boats that have been out to sea in the last 24 hours.

The menu has some regular options, but the major part of it is a list of fish, which the server marks to indicate which ones have come in fresh today. Tonight, Ben, our server, highlighted the Brill, the Devon Lobster, the Plaice and the Ray Fin.

While we decided we enjoyed the Sourdough with spicy Anchovy Mayonnaise. It was delicious, fluffy, well raised bread with a sharp tangy mayonnaise with generous amounts of anchovy mixed through.

For starters Drew had crisp fried cuttlefish served with Singapore chilli sauce. Drew really enjoyed this, having had cuttlefish (Jibia) in Spain when he refers to it as 'Budgie Food'. In Spain it is often hard and chewy and used to bulk out a stew, here it had a soft texture tempered by the light batter in which it was fried.

I choose the large red prawns, fried in a tempura batter also served with Singapore chilli sauce. The prawns were huge, as you can see below, the tempura was light and crispy. The overall impact was of well-cooked prawns being hugged be a gentle friend in the batter, the chilli sauce was slightly fruitier than Sirchia, and combined well with the tempura.

Drew was taken by the motto, only visible after he had eaten his starter, which indicates that Rockfish food is recommended by the locals, with pictures of seagulls, the real natives of this area!

For mains Drew chose the fresh plaice, this came filleted and was cooked to perfection. There was a gentle salting to the fish with no hint of bone. The skin was crisp and char-grilled for added flavour, the fish was soft and mellow as only Plaice can be.

I had the freshly caught Brill, not a fish I eat a lot of something that I really need to change, as it was delicious. The top of the fish (there is a whole question of whether fish have a top or bottom side, but as it was cooked this way, I'm going to call the side facing me in the picture the top!!) was scoured, to allow for cooking all the way to the bone, and this made the flaky flesh ease away from the bone. The underside was crisp, but still easy to extract the flesh from (once I'd finished the top and turned the fish over). I think brill reminds me of sole with its lightness, but with a more robust taste bringing it closer to Turbot. 

The side dishes we choose were [Co-Pilot's Note: Unlimited, dear readers, Unlimited 🍟] chips,

Green Salad

and wild samphire. The samphire provided a salty note and the greens had a sharp vinegarette which made them very appealing

Drew decided as it was our last night in town, he would have a dessert. It was a simple Lemon Posset with Raspberries. He says it was lovely, with a nice amount of Lemon to add freshness without being either to sharp or two sweet. It was perfectly set and folded on to the spoon. The raspberries were juicy and fresh and blended well with the posset.

We finished out meal with an espresso each.

Then went for our last walk around the town and up towards out accommodation. Even though it was 8.40pm by this time, the beach and sea were still full with people enjoying the light sea breeze.

The sun went down, bringing the day, and our time in Exmouth to a delightful end.

We got back to the accommodation at 9.30pm and uploaded the photos to Flickr and beginning this post. We were in bed by 10.30pm

Woodbury Castle and Woodbury Common in the day - Dartmouth at night

Today was a day split between two things. First a lovely walk on Woodbury Common and in the Evening dinner at The Angel, Dartmouth. But first a little about the morning.

Breakfast

I woke at 5.15am, a little earlier than the last two days and uploaded my photos on to Flickr and began the blog post for the day before. The car had finished charging at 5am.

Drew got up at 7am and we listened to podcast and finally, after buying them on Sunday, wrote our postcards. 

A note on planning this holiday  

When drafting an outline plan for the holiday I booked a number of what one might call 'posh dinners'. Starting with Lympstone Manor at the beginning and ending with Whatley Manor at the end.

In between I had identified four other places I wanted to visit in the area - The Angel in Dartmouth; The Elephant in Torquay; The Five Bells Inn in Cullompton and Twenty Seven by Jamie Rogers in Kingsbridge. Checking their availability and opening times I managed to book each of them respectively on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Tuesday of the second week. 

The plan was to have travel days, when we got out to see places and eat, either at the places we were visiting or back at Exmouth, and dinner days, when we spent the day walking more locally and then taking the car and driving direct to one of the restaurants. All four of the above bookings being for 7pm. 

The plan went slightly awry when on Friday when we were in Exeter Cathedral, I had a voicemail message to contact the Angel. It turned out that due to staffing constraints (a common sign of these post EU times) they were not able to open on Tuesday - they were able to accommodate us on Wednesday, so we moved the booking. This meaning we have had three travel days in a row and today sees the first of two dinner days in a row. This isn't a problem, but I thought it was worth explaining why this happened rather than people assuming I planned it this way.

Woodbury Common Circular Walk

We identified the nearest walk provided by the East Devon Way Partnership. While the East Devon way focuses on walks for ramblers and hikers starting in one place and moving day by day onto another, they also offer six circular routes for day trippers. The first of these, and the nearest to Exmouth is the Woodbury Common Circular Walk. So, armed with the PDF of the route downloaded to my phone, we drove the 4.5 miles from the house to the start of the walk at Woodbury Castle Car Park.

We were amazed on arrival to see how full the Car Park was, it appears that lots of parents had decided to take their children to Woodbury Castle this morning. The Castle is an Iron Age Fort on the top of an easily defendable hill with the typical characteristics of Iron Age Forts - large mounds (or banks) and ditches. Woodbury is a good example of this, with the inner area still feeling protected and cut-off from outside even 2,500 years or so since it was built. 

The fort is not complete, as the B road cuts through the banks at two points, but is still an impressive sight. 

The Route we followed looked like this:

Leaving the Castle we followed the East Devon Way track until we came to a public footpath running alongside the Woodbury Park Golf Club and Hotel, indeed the footpath crosses between the 18th tee and the 18th green at a point where there is both a water hazard and a bunker.

The four men that walked down from the tree and crossed the path in front of us noted how lucky we were to have come along after they had taken their shots as none of them had been particularly high or long, so we might have been at risk 😉

The path continued until it led us to a large (well it seemed large to me) septic tank. On noting how large it was Drew said: It is smaller than the one I used to manage at Rhydefelin!" I'd forgotten he began his time at the University researching applications for wastewater treatment until this point [Co-pilot's note: Mine, dear readers, was bright yellow and got foamy on Wednesdays, washing day in Cilfynedd!]. The conversation continued on this slightly murky subject until a horse rider come on the path beside us. 

We didn't think photos of the lady and her horse were appropriate, but the horse did leave us a little gift, above, after our conversation. The conversation reflected on how much nicer it was for riding/walking today - the temperature is 21C and it is overcast, so while still warm it is not beating down with sun like yesterday. She also noted how dry the ground was - something which seems common across the country this summer.

The path took us over a few small roads and across ditches and through hayfields, with some amazing views - all of which can be seen on Flickr - click here for the start of the walk and click left to continue.

The path brought us up to an Exe Estuary viewpoint which had spectacular views all the way along the Estuary. From there is was a short walk back to the Car Park.

The walk took us 2 hours and 15 minutes to go 5.7 miles, 13,600 steps. It was worth the effort both of the views and for the close look at the countryside that the route gave us. I'd recommend the walk by East Devon Way and may use another one later in the holiday. 

Back to the House

Given we had written the postcards this morning, we searched Google Maps for a post office and found one four miles away on the road back to Exmouth. We needed a post office for the postcard to my brother and his family in Australia, but posted them all together at the same time. From there we popped into a local supermarket for toilet rolls and fresh milk and headed back to the house.

The whole journey had been 11.1 miles by car, so we put the car back on to charge for an hour or so, to ensure it was full for tonight.

Dinner at The Angel, Dartmouth

Dartmouth is 47 miles from here, so we left at 5pm to take a gentle route down to the town for dinner which is booked for 7pm. We arrived at Mayor's Avenue Car Park at 6:35pm (another RingGo place, so simply to pay without looking for change) and walked straight from the Car Park to the town's bandstand.

From there it was a few metres to the estuary front. The light was stunning and the views delightful.

We walked along the harbour until it was time for dinner when we headed to the Angel.

The team were ready for us and one of the two men who were waiters this evening showed us to our table. It was only a few moments before Elly Wentworth, the Chef Patron, was out in the Restaurant. You can see her behind Drew's shoulder in this shot.

We have followed Elly's career since she first appeared in Masterchef: The Professionals in 2016. In the final she was runner up to Glasgow's Gary Maclean, but both of us had decided we would have preferred her menu on the day. Elly popped up again in Great British Menu recently and it was then that we took down the details of her current place and built a visit into the plan for this holiday.

Elly not only served us food, chatted about where we had eaten before and where we were going next, but was also busy at the pass given direction to her team, also, due to staff shortage, she became her own pastry chef, cooking the dessert courses herself. 

We selected the tasting menu and this began with warm Parmesan polenta served with a topping of spicy Tomato gel and Cherry gel. The tomato one had a bite of chilli to it, making it a perfect foil for the polenta, the cherry one provided an alternative with a sharp flavour, tickling the tongue with pleasure. 

We then had seeded rye bread and cultured butter (before you ask cultured butter is not butter that wants to go to the opera, but is butter to which a live culture, like buttermilk has been added, it also involves a lot of work separating curds from whey), but in tasting it you can see why the hard work is worth it. The butter becomes rich and tangy working really well with the dark earthiness of the rye bread. 

The next appetiser arrived, this was Gazpacho with peach drops and was served in an Angel Espresso cup, a noval way to serve soup - Drew said he'd never had a Cup a Soup in a restaurant, but the flavour of this soup was nothing like any CupaSoup from a packet. It felt like a long-lost Spanish friend had come to visit us in the Community Orchard in the Vale of Glamorgan. The flavours of the cold soup was just as I have had them in Spain, but the introduction of the little drops of peach moved this into a British orchard dish - what a wonderful combination and a perfect example of summer food. 

The first course then arrived, it was Bream with buttermilk, gooseberry dashi and borage oil served with radish and herbs. The tiny pieces of bream at the bottom of the bowl were enhanced by the delicious richness of the buttermilk, the gooseberry added a sharpness which convinced me we had come to the right place. This food is no nonsense in flavour, but sharp and tongue tingling, which is just perfect for me. The borage wasn't there for the medicinal purposes for which it has been used for centuries, but it did make me feel really healthy as I eat it along with the rest of the dish.

The second course was Milk Cured Liver (Foie) with roasted peach two ways, Sauternes jelly and chamomile. The liver had been cured in the milk for 24 hours and it had taken on a mousse like texture rather than the rougher edge that is sometimes associate with Foie, the peach was sliced on top of the liver and then a thicker segment was angled across the top of that, excellent. The Saturnes jelly worked as a seasoning and with the camomile, flowers and leaves, added a slight sweetness to the milky richness of the rest of the dish. 

We weren't done with milkiness however, as the dish was served with a milk brioche which, thankfully, had none of the sweetness associated with French brioche, but was light and fluffy in texture, a great accompaniment.

Our third course was Roasted Sea Bass with artichoke, heritage tomatoes, tomato puree on a bed of buttered greens with broad beans all in a Lemon Grass Beurre Blanc sauce. Thankfully, this dish was also served with knife, fork and spoon, as the sauce would have been enough for a meal in itself with its complex Asian flavours, but better than that the sauce was a genuine accompaniment to the fresh cooked sea bass which held together perfectly and, much to Drew's delight, had a crispy skin. There was nothing left on either plate.

Our main course was the Aged Fillet of Red Ruby Beef, silverskin onions, shimeji mushrooms and Horseradish buttermilk. Red Ruby is a Devonshire breed of cattle and it is clear from the flavour of this one that it did not die in vain. The gentle scattering of sea salt on top really brought out the flavour and the onions and shimeji mushrooms were both fun to see (Drew says the onions looked like eyeballs) [Co-pilot's note: Very nice eyeballs, dear readers, very nice eyeballs.] but were gentle and soft to eat alongside the full flavoured beef. 

The main was served with Truffle potatoes and a Red Wine jus, the potatoes were very gently whipped and worked well to mop up the rest of the jus, so the plate was as clean at the end as it would have been before it had food added. A real winner of a dish.

The pre-dessert was Cucumber granita, cucumber balls, curd cheese and 0% gin. I don't normally eat dessert, but cucumber is one of my favourite summer flavours, so I did eat this little taster and it was lovely. The granita was rich with cucumber flavour and the little cucumber balls added some crunch. The gin was also there to provide the floral flavours, rather than any alcohol hit, so the 0% worked really well.

The dessert was Dark Chocolate ganache, Dulce, microherbs and Cherry Sorbet again not an excessively sweet dessert, but an extremely tasty one with the sharpness of cherry again being used to balance the range of flavours. If all desserts were like this I could become a regular sweet eater. 

The meal was topped off with a lovely, Angel Blend, espresso and Petite Fours - which were coffee fudge and berne noisette. Drew, disappointed not to get second dessert, did have all four of these pretty dainties to himself.

It had got dark in Dartmouth, but with Drew's camara we were able to capture some lovely images of the bright moon over the town.

The drive back took an hour and half and we got home at 11.20pm, but the car on to charge and went to bed at 11.45pm.