A Jolly Nice Day Out

A couple of weeks before Christmas hubby and I both took a day off work and had our "Working From Home Christmas Party/Outing". Because we both work from home we tend to miss out on work-related parties and outings, so we decided to have one of our very own. And it was lovely.

We dropped DC off at nursery and headed straight for the River Cottage Canteen in Axminster for breakfast.

I had the most delicious mushrooms and poached eggs on toast and a yummy mocha which hubby tucked into a bacon sarnie. If you are ever in the area, I can highly recommend a trip to the Canteen; I've been three times now and have been very impressed with the food on each occasion. Plus the deli sells some wonderful cheeses, pies, meats, beers, biscuits, etc.

We then had a little wander round the town and found the antiques centre where I picked up the hostess trolley that now lives in the snug, as well as a couple of pieces of the cream and green kitchenalia hubby and I like to collect.

Then it was on to Exeter, for a bit of a wander, a spot of shopping and some lunch. We ended up spending just two hours there; much as Exeter is a lovely city with its amazing cathedral and green slap-bang in the centre, we weren't really in the mood for everyday, high street stores (although I was very excited to find Starbucks, and indulged in a seasonal Gingerbread Latte). Although I'm probably being unfair to Exeter, and there are undoubtedly lots of "one-off" shops to be found, had we taken the time to do some hunting; unfortunately, time was somewhat limited since we had to be back at nursery by 5.30pm to collect DC.

We were very keen indeed to get to our third and final destination of the day Honiton, with its masses of antique shops. As soon as we stepped onto the main street I turned to hubby and said "This is better". As you can see, we certainly weren't fighting our way through crowds of Christmas shoppers! The lack of hustle and bustle, compared to Exeter, encouraged a much more leisurely pace and was more conducive to strolling and window shopping. And a little bit of ooh-ing and ahh-ing over antiques that we mostly couldn't afford, like this gorgeous dresser.

And this beautiful painting of Lyme Regis. If it's still there when we've won the lottery I'll buy it.I also quite like the look of this rather patrician-looking gentleman who I thought might look rather fine hanging in the snug. What do you think? Could I claim him as an ancestor?!There are many, many antique shops to browse, most with large rooms of furniture, mirrors, paintings, decorative items, and all manner of treasure and tat.I love the colour of the walls in this room.And I was sort of tempted by this old camp bed - something to drag out for those unexpected guests?!We just had time for a spot of afternoon tea before heading back for DC. A thoroughly delightful works Christmas party and not a sore head to deal with the next day or embarrassing incident with the photocopier to worry about.