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Edit No.35

East Devon, Off the Coast Road

The Pig at Combe · River Exe Café · Beer Quarry Caves · Blackbury Honey Farm · Darts Farm

The River Exe Café, a floating barge moored on the Exe Estuary at dusk

East Devon, Off the Coast Road begins at the end of a mile-long drive outside Gittisham, where The Pig at Combe has turned a Grade I-listed Elizabethan manor into a country-house hotel built around its kitchen garden — and a Sunday lunch worth the journey on its own.

Down on the Exe Estuary, River Exe Café is moored between Exmouth and Starcross with no road to it at all: a floating gastro shed reached only by water taxi, where the fresh local fish makes the crossing worthwhile.

Beneath the hillside west of Beer, two thousand years of hand quarrying left Beer Quarry Caves: vaulted chambers cut for the stone that built Exeter Cathedral and Westminster Abbey, and later home to a secret chapel, smugglers and hibernating bats.

Down a lane near Colyton, Blackbury Honey Farm is a working beekeeping business first and a visitor stop second, with free gardens, excellent honey and marmalade, and teaching expertise few in the country can match.

Outside Topsham, Darts Farm has grown from a 1971 roadside hut into one of Britain's best food halls, still run by the Dart family on the land behind the building, with lunch at The Farm Table worth booking.

In this edit

The fields of Darts Farm running down towards the Exe Estuary, with the farm buildings and food hall beyond

Place

Darts Farm — Fifty-Five Years of Selling What the Field Grew

A working farm near Topsham that grew into one of Britain's best food halls, where the produce still comes out of the fields behind the building.

A white hive among summer flowers in the gardens at Blackbury Honey Farm

Product

Blackbury Honey Farm — The Sweet Side of East Devon

A family-run honey farm near Colyton where the quality of the produce is matched by beekeeping credentials nobody else in the country can claim.

Carved Gothic window tracery in Beer stone standing inside a cavern at Beer Quarry Caves

Experience

Beer Quarry Caves — The Underground World That Built England

Two thousand years of quarrying created an extraordinary underground landscape near the village of Beer. The stone helped build England's cathedrals; the chambers went on to hide priests, smugglers and a wartime mushroom farm.

River Exe Café floating on the Exe Estuary at dusk, seen from the air with moored boats beyond

Place

River Exe Café — A Restaurant Worth Taking a Boat For

A floating restaurant in the Exe Estuary, reached only by water taxi, where the fresh fish gives you a reason to make the journey beyond the novelty of eating on a boat.

The ivy-clad Elizabethan front of The Pig at Combe across its gravel forecourt

Living

The Pig at Combe — The Country House Where the Food Comes First

An Elizabethan manor house near Gittisham, where a kitchen-garden philosophy is backed by the quality of the ingredients and genuinely excellent hospitality.

Questions

What is in Edit No.35?
The Pig at Combe, a country-house hotel and kitchen-garden restaurant in an Elizabethan manor at Gittisham, near Honiton; and River Exe Café, a floating seafood restaurant on the Exe Estuary reached by water taxi; and Beer Quarry Caves, the hand-cut limestone workings that supplied stone for England's cathedrals; and Blackbury Honey Farm, a working honey farm and beekeeping teaching centre near Colyton; and Darts Farm, the Dart family's farm shop, food hall and restaurants on a working farm near Topsham.
Where is The Pig at Combe?
Gittisham, near Honiton, East Devon, EX14 3AD, reached by a long private drive.
Where is River Exe Café?
Moored in the Exe Estuary between Exmouth and Starcross, East Devon, just off the water-ski lane.
How do you get to River Exe Café?
By Puffin Water Taxi from the visitors' pontoon at Exmouth Marina, EX8 1XA. The crossing is arranged with your booking.
Where are Beer Quarry Caves?
Quarry Lane, Beer, East Devon, EX12 3AS, about a mile west of the village. Parking is free.
When are Beer Quarry Caves open?
From the week before Easter to 31 October, by guided tour only. Booking ahead is advisable on 01297 680282.
Where is Blackbury Honey Farm?
Southleigh, near Colyton, East Devon, EX24 6JF.
Is Blackbury Honey Farm free to visit?
Yes. There is no admission charge for the gardens, hives, shop and tea room. Courses and organised activities are charged separately.
Where is Darts Farm?
Topsham, near Exeter, East Devon, EX3 0QH, on the banks of the River Clyst.
Where can you eat at Darts Farm?
Several options across the site. The Farm Table is the most ambitious, with AA Rosettes and a Good Food Guide listing; there is also The Yard, Cow & Cacao, the Fish Shed and the Shack.