It’s been a hot, hot hot summer this year, and so when the chance came to pop down to The Captains Cottage in a surprisingly un-booked week in July we grabbed it with both hands – and the plants in our garden were very grateful that we did!
(If you are staying with us over the summer, we’d really appreciate it if you can find the time to water the Torbay Palms in pots in our back garden, as whilst they are drought-tolerant, the sort of weather we have been getting in recent years is really pushing the boundaries of what that means in practice. There’s a watering can and an outside tap by the back door at the very bottom of the steps, and even dousing the pots just once during your stay would go along way towards keeping the palms alive for other guests to enjoy)
Brixham looked stunning in the late July sunshine – and also in the evenings too of course.
As well as doing some much-needed maintainance in the garden – basically everything that we don’t really want to grow seems to have thrived in the hot, dry weather, and everything that we’ve planted ourselves has been struggling – we did manage to get around and try out some new places, new restaurants – and some old favourites too.
Two new places have opened since we were last down – Eventide on the Quay has moved into what used to be JR’s (or The Lusty Wench before that) and immediately has lept right to the top of our “must visit each time we’re in Brixham” list, with its fantastically prepared fish along with a full roster of other dishes too.
We’d already say that Eventide on the Quay is already the best all-round restaurant to open in Brixham since The Lytehouse in Fore St (now replaced by Castaway) sadly closed down when the owners Katherine and Daniel , moved from Brixham to take over The Hostelrie at Goodrich, a historic 19th-century gothic inn located in the village of Goodrich, just five miles outside of Ross-on-Wye (which we’ve also been to and is still great!)
There are also new owners for the former Shoals site overlooking the Lido – Stones Throw is more of a cafe / beach bar rather than the “top end seafood” vibe of Shoals, but for an outdoor breakfast overlooking Torbay it is going to be rather hard to beat!
Finally we ventured up the coast to Sidmouth to see the latest outpost in the Rockfish empire – and are glad to report that it’s just as good as the one in Brixham, with sea views and another spectacular building to boot.
With all of these new restaurants it’s worth remembering some of the old favourites too, and a lunch at the Breakwater Beach cafe is still very hard to beat – the halloumi bites were a great starter, especially with this view !
No trips is complete without heading up to Berry Head – which we often do on our way home after checking out of the house and leaving it ready for the next guests.
The headland itself was pretty brown – but the views were still spectacular as ever, as were the doorstep sandwiches at the Guardhouse Cafe !
Here’s a few more photos of Brixham from this trip.
