Where to Stay in Exeter, England

What is Exeter known for?

Exeter is Devon's county town. Rougemont Castle sits above the streets on its old red mound, and the Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery gathers the region's collections a short walk away below it. Stretches of the Exeter city walls, Roman in origin, still ring the old core.

Down at the water the Old Exe Bridge and the restored Cricklepit Mill mark where the River Exe once drove the town's trade. For its size the place packs a lot in.

What are the main landmarks in Exeter?

Rougemont Castle crowns the old town. Around it survive long runs of the Exeter city walls, first raised by the Romans, and the Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery gathers the region's finds within them. Down by the water the Old Exe Bridge and Cricklepit Mill recall the River Exe at work.

Medieval fabric survives elsewhere in St Nicholas Priory, and the Bill Douglas Cinema Museum keeps a stranger collection out by the colleges.

What is the history of Exeter?

Exeter is a Roman foundation. The Romans walled a town here on high ground above the River Exe, and long stretches of those Exeter city walls still stand, among the fullest to survive anywhere in the country. The line they drew has shaped the streets ever since.

After the Romans came the Normans, who threw up Rougemont Castle on the red mound at the town's edge to hold the new country. From that base Exeter grew into the seat of Devon. It became the county town, the administrative centre for the whole south-western peninsula, a role the old records still recall.

Trade came up the Exe to the quay below the walls, where the Old Exe Bridge and the mill wheels at Cricklepit Mill turned on the river's water. St Nicholas Priory served the medieval town from within the walls. Much of that fabric survived the centuries, so the modern city still reads as the layered thing it is, Roman below, Norman above, medieval between.

The Exe runs past it as it always has.

Where is Exeter?

Exeter stands on the River Exe in Devon, South West England, a little way in from where the river reaches the sea. The Exe runs down past the city toward its estuary and the coast beyond. Plymouth lies away to the south-west, Bristol far to the north-east, with Exeter set between them near the neck of the peninsula. The old core sits on high ground above the river's east bank.

Devon spreads around it.

What is the climate of Exeter?

Exeter has a mild and rather wet temperate climate, typical of the south-western peninsula. The nearby sea keeps its winters gentle and its summers cool rather than hot, with hard frost uncommon along the Exe valley. Rain arrives often on the westerly winds off the Atlantic, which reach Devon before much of the rest of the country.

Green stays the dominant colour. The river runs full for most of the year.

How do you get to Exeter?

Exeter gathers the traffic of its corner of the country. Main railway lines run in from Bristol and beyond to the north-east and out toward Plymouth to the south-west, all meeting at the city's stations, so trains from either direction pass through it. Roads down the peninsula funnel through here as well.

Devon narrows past this point. Many travellers pause in Exeter before pushing on into the wider county, and from the stations the walled core above the River Exe is a short way off.