What’s on in Exeter this month

It might be tiny, but Exeter’s first roastery is a must-visit if you know your Aeropress from your Chemex. Hit the ground (sorry) running with a perfect flat white in the upstairs café, made with beans roasted right there in the basement. Owner Steve Pearson has been a fixture on the city’s coffee scene for years, and there’s a lifetime of expertise in his seasonal espresso blend and selection of single-origin coffees. If you book ahead you can bag a spot on one of his budding barista workshops. 

A brewery, distillery and smokehouse with a steampunk vibe, this old Victorian pub is an Exeter legend. The on-site works produce gin, rum and vodka, plus bottles of their own-recipe moonshine (don't ask) and a cracking selection of craft ales. Whether you’re in the market for brunch, a Sunday roast or just a quiet pint, The Fat Pig will do you proud. Sister bars Tabac and The Sample Room, meanwhile, are the places for classic cocktails and boutique gins respectively.

Built 600 years ago, this turreted stately home has had an unlikely second life as a live music venue in recent years (it hosted Radio 1’s Big Weekend in 2016). But at heart it’s still a genteel English manor house, complete with landscaped grounds and loads of living history. An afternoon here is a soothing way to escape not just city life, but the twenty-first century: go for a stroll in the Deer Park, promenade through the Rose Garden and watch a blacksmith at work in the fully functioning Forge. Trump who?

Next to Liverpool’s, this is (probably) the most famous Cavern club in the UK. Opened in 1991, Exeter’s longest-running live music venue is studenty without being naff, and the drinks are implausibly cheap. The place has history: over the years it’s played host to everyone from Biffy Clyro to The Cranberries, Mr Scruff and Napalm Death. There’s something on every night of the week, and whenever you go you’re pretty well guaranteed a good time.