We headed out from Ottery-St-Mary to the exhibition centre at Westpoint. Today, after all, was the wood working show. The exhibition hall was huge - but we noticed it had been partitioned - perhaps a warning sign. We started or clockwise circuit of the exhibitors. An hour later we had spent £13 between us, had a coffee and were finished. It was a great disappointment. Some of the tools were brilliant, but we didn’t need them, and other than that there was just a load of chaps doing wood turning.
We noticed on arrival that there was a Crew Clothing sale going on in the other half of the hall. We wandered round. Well that was an eye opener. There were rows of trestle tables piled high with clothing. It looked a bit like pictures you see from a jumble sale. On the right hand side of the hall were women’s clothes, on the left hand side, men’s.We wandered round. There was some lovely apparel. The problem was that it had already been open for several hours and the choice of sizes was limited. Barney Rubble was interested in a jacket and went raiding the rails, the Gorse Fox wasn’t really in need of anything but did end up seeing a big chunky cardigan that had been reduced from £80 to £20. He hunted around and finally found one in his size and joined the queue to pay. This was epic. It stretched down two sides of the exhibition hall. In the queue stood people with boxes full of clothes. The Gorse Fox almost felt embarrassed to limit his choice to just one cardigan. We got chatting to the chap next to us and that passed the time. Our conclusion was that many of these people were buying up stock and would then sell it on the Internet. If our suspicions were correct there will be a lot of good bargains coming up and people will make a good profit.
We headed off, stopping at Dart Farm for a look at the outlets. Dart Farm was absolutely heaving and whilst there were places to eat, there were long queues to be seated at any of them. We moved on towards Topsham and e stopped at the Bridge Inn for a pint and a ploughman’s lunch while sitting in the sunshine on the banks of the River Clyst. Despite being close to the road, it was immensely tranquil until a squadron of four swans decided to take off in formation. The clattering of their wings and their squawking as they picked up speed demanded everyone’s attention.
After lunch we toured round Topsham then headed back towards Exmouth. This was interesting as the Silver Vixen used to live in Exmouth when she was little. We went down by the Coastguard station where Barney Rubble volunteers, and then headed back to Ottery for a cup of tea.
This was idyllic. It was pleasantly warm, the sky was clear, and there was a comforting feel to the town as people enjoyed the late afternoon sunshine. Children were still playing in the sea and dog walkers were enjoying the space. We must have spent about an hour wandering about - first along the promenade but then through the town itself. The Gorse Fox made a mental note that it would be a good place to revisit for short break.
We stopped for dinner at The Golden Lion in Tipton, on the way back to Ottery. This is a pleasant little gastro-pub which is, apparently, run by a well known chef from one of the big London hotels. The Gorse Fox could well believe that. The quality of the food was exceptional and the choice was clearly dictate by what was available, fresh, from the local farms and boats. The Gorse Fox had a venison pie which was quite delicious. (It was also excellent value for money).
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