topsham teashop trip.

exeter university has made some kind of deal with the weather people: wednesdays in this term are open days and they are always sunny. whereas every other day we are subjected to the exeter deluge (which they don't tell you about in the prospectus!) so this wednesday was no exception so april and i decided to leave the exeter confines behind for an afternoon and head to topsham, which is only a short journey away on the train.

we had been before for the bonfire night display but never during the day. i can tell you it was well worth the visit! it is one of the cutest places ever, each twist of the little streets reveals something else that makes you want to pack up your bags and retire. this includes the baking delights that are available for purchase.

after a little wander around, including exploring the three-storey antiques warehouse, we visited shaul's for lunch. we both had the bacon and brie paninis which were really nice (but perhaps lacking in a sauce, some red onion chutney would have finished them off perfectly). this was our savoury stop although they had so many cream cakes on offer it was hard to walk out!

april and her panini

 

 

not a great photo but you can't complain when you finally get to see some sunshine!

so for our afternoon treat we went to the cafe. from the outside i was a bit dubious - it looks quite expensive and that can sometimes mean unwelcoming. however the story was very different once we got inside. as you walk in the door you are greeted by the very welcome sight of their display of cakes. we had to spend a good ten minutes deciding what we wanted.

then you take a seat in the delightful collection of mismatched furniture and get waited on.

we decided to share a slice of the lemon drizzle cake and the apple crumble cake. for the latter we got asked if we wanted it heated up with cream (stupid question really!) but this wasn't just a jug of cream - this was a proper dollop of clotted cream!!

the lemon drizzle cake is at the front and the apple crumble cake at the back

 



i haven't had lemon drizzle which then has frosting on top before but it was a nice combination of crunchy and creamy. the sponge itself also had pockets of lemon curd which was really yummy!

 

apple crumble cake complete with clotted cream!



unfortunately as we were digging into these gorgeous cakes we realised that our train was due so we had to gobble up the last bits and make a quick exit. (the only way to end a rather impromptu day!) so it was not quite the relaxing affair that we could have wished for but that just means we'll have to go back soon!

love,
nen
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