Summary

Sally Prag recounts a family day trip to Exeter, a city rich in history and charm, where they explored its narrow streets, ancient buildings, and cultural heritage, though they didn't find the desired prom dress.

Abstract

Sally Prag took her teenage daughter and father to Exeter, a city known for its historical significance and quirky charm, to find a prom dress. They enjoyed the city's old-worldly architecture, including the Exeter Cathedral and the narrowest street in the world, Parliament Street. Exeter's history is deeply intertwined with famous figures like Charles Dickens, J.K. Rowling, and Charles Babbage, and it has inspired literary works and the birth of computing. Despite the city's allure and the variety of shops, the mission to find a prom dress was unsuccessful, but they did come across unique clothing and enjoyed the city's vibrant culture and springtime beauty.

Opinions

The author appreciates Exeter's historical and architectural beauty, highlighting its old doors, Tudor buildings, and gothic cathedral.
There is a sense of nostalgia and admiration for the city's ability to inspire literary greats like Dickens and Rowling.
The author expresses surprise at the city's extremely low arch, questioning the historical average height.
The city's diverse cultural offerings, from indie gigs to classical concerts, are celebrated by the author.
A touch of disappointment is conveyed regarding the lack of suitable prom dresses in physical shops, despite the initial preference to shop in-store.
The author values the unique and retro clothing finds and the overall experience of exploring the city during springtime.
There is an implicit recommendation to visit Exeter to explore its historical sites and cultural events, as well as to support local businesses.

EXPLORING PLACES CLOSE TO HOME

Discovering the City with the World’s Narrowest Street and Harry Potter’s Origins

I took my countrified children and my father to the city for the day and here’s what we found

Blinded by the sunshine in Exeter, UK. © Sally Prag

In my attempt to keep up with our strange new American love of teenage proms, I needed to take my sixteen-year-old soon-to-be-school-leaver to find a dress for her leavers prom this summer.

Living pretty much smack bang in-between Devon’s two cities, Plymouth and Exeter, we had the choice between the two. We decided to go to the pretty one with all the old quirkiness of times gone by — Exeter.

The city of old-y world-y quirks

Not that I blame Plymouth for not being especially pretty, old or quirky. The poor city was bombed to smithereens by the Germans during World War II, making it the worst-hit city after London, and leaving all of its oldy-worldy beauty destroyed.

Heading to Exeter instead meant that we saw wonderful old doors like this:

A carved wooden doorway in Exeter. © Sally Prag

And beautiful old buildings like this:

Tudor buildings on Exeter High Street. © Sally Prag

I didn’t whip my phone out when we passed Exeter Cathedral with its stunning gothic architecture dating back as far as 1050, but it looks like this:

Some fun facts about Exeter

Charles Dickens spent a good deal of time here, married an Exeter-born girl, and took ideas for his characters from those he would observe while drinking his favourite city-centre inn — The Turks Head.
J.K. Rowling went to Exeter University where she studied French with Greek and German. During her time in Exeter, she made a lot of notes filled with ideas for books. The seeds of Harry Potter were likely sown right here in this city.
Charles Babbage — known as ‘the father of computing’ for inventing a machine that calculated mathematical problems — originally came from a town near me, but went to school on the edge of Exeter.
The city was originally named Isca when it was first founded by the Romans.
Its oldest building, The Guildhall, is also the oldest civic building in England, dating back as far as 1160.
It is home to what is believed to be the narrowest street in the world, Parliament Street, which, at its narrowest point is 64cm wide. Below you can see my Dad, too wide to fit down it with his elbows out.

Collage of photos of the ridiculously narrow street! © Sally Prag

We also found this extremely low arch. I mean…how tall were people when this was built?

My eldest daughter under the arch — she is average female height. © Sally Prag

A city bursting with character

If you think that a city must have some unique and exhilarating traits to have inspired the characters of novels such as those of Charles Dickens and J.K. Rowling, you would be right.

The city is a diverse collection of unusual streets (that could easily have been the creative birthplace of Diagon Alley in the Harry Potter series); Roman ruins, bearing remnants of the old city wall; canal and riverside walks and quays where sail boats coming in from the sea can come no further, and proper old wonky buildings that are some of the oldest in England.

Gandy Street, probably the original Diagon Alley. By Chris Holifield via Wikimedia Commons

A street close to the cathedral by Derek Harper via Wikimedia Commons

It’s no wonder that there is an eclectic blend of creative, intellectual, theatrical, artistic and musical interests that fill the city. There is fashion for every taste and ethical standard. There’s high street food outlets as well as independent, vegan, artisanal, or bohemian cafes.

While there, we saw an advert for seventies rock band, Gong; there are venues that hold indie gigs, traditional folk dances, ballets and classical concerts. And my girls once had the most unexpected experience of being invited to take part in a performance of Benjamin Britten’s opera, Noye’s Fludde, at Exeter Cathedral, produced by and starring members of London’s Royal Opera House. My younger girl was chosen to play the important character of the dove.

Watching it in that incredible space was out of this world. Her Royal Highness The Countess of Wessex was also in the audience for the performance.

The pressing question on your mind…

I know, I am ranting on about all of these fun and interesting facts, and showing you photos of us being tourists in our local city, but the real question on your mind must be…

Did we actually succeed in the important mission of finding a dress for the prom?

Nah, course not.

Not that we didn’t try. She tried on two dresses and discovered what she didn’t want. We learned that looking online at the range of dresses a company produces isn’t representative of what you will find in the physical shop.

So, despite making the decision that we would go to physical shops to find a well-fitting dress, rather than order online, it turns out that ordering online is basically the only way these days 🙄

But, we had heaps of fun in the quirky, alternative and retro clothing shops and the girls came away with some funky trousers and some vintage sweaters.

The early spring sunshine added some zest to the city vibe, and we found spring flowers greeting us in droves. Ah…spring in the city is divine.

Do you also love exploring when the spring arrives?

This time two years ago, I was admiring the early spring flowers in a city in Northern Germany, just as Covid was kicking off, but that’s another story, which you can read here:

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