The Fish Shed at Dart's Farm

Darts Farm is a food lover’s haven and being conveniently located just off the M5 near Exeter it makes the perfect stop-off on the way to or from Cornwall. Sadly we were now on our way home but hit Exeter around lunch time, which inevitably meant a short detour for lunch at the Fish Shed at Dart's Farm. It certainly beats the motorway services!

Dart's Farm is a huge farm shop and deli, stocking produce from up to 200 different local food producers. There is also a restaurant which reportedly serves one of the best breakfasts in Devon (although I cannot confirm this) and the Fish Shed, which is both a wet fish shop and a great fish and chippery.

You pick your fish straight from the counter and it is cooked to order – either deep fried in batter or simply grilled. The fish, caught daily off the coast of Exmouth, is incredibly fresh and there is a good variety on offer - from cod and haddock to bream, sea bass and Dover sole. You can even have mussels poached with white wine, garlic and pesto or go the whole hog and order lobster and chips.

There are picnic tables in the outside courtyard and conveniently you can buy a drink to accompany your meal from the deli inside whilst you wait for your order to be cooked, which is exactly what we did.

Dave went for the monkfish which looked amazing, not least because it was served in a very generous portion.

I had battered scallops which made a nice change and although the portion wasn't as large it was very good indeed.

Both the chips and the batter were deliciously crisp and crunchy, fresh and just as good fish and chips should be.

We agreed that both the fish and chips were maybe even marginally better than Rick Stein's and undoubtedly the perfect way to round off our trip!

Darts Farm
Topsham, Nr. Exeter, EX3 0QH

This post forms part of a series about our 2010 gastro camping trip in Cornwall.