Higher Shapter Street

Cottage to its core, this three-bedroom house is complete with an inglenook fireplace, a window seat with leafy views and a postcard-pretty blue and white façade. Two of its bedrooms are tucked beneath the eaves, an idyllic spot to hunker down during the winter months. Minutes away from the River Exe Estuary, the house sits amidst an abundance of walking and cycling routes and is a short walk away from Topsham Station, which runs regular train services into all Exeter stations, with direct services into central London.

Setting the Scene

Salty air and the distant creaking of masts make Higher Shapter Street an ideal spot to experience a slice of riverside living, just strides away from the foreshore at Fisherman’s Causeway. Separated from the estuary only by rows of other seaside cottages and distinctive Dutch gabled merchants houses, it has a private, secluded feel, added to by the trailing plants and vines that tickle the ground around the house.

The cottage is over 400 years old, its age showcased by an inglenook fireplace, impressive crux beams and Dutch stairs. The bricks in the fireplace were once used as ballast for ships sailing from Holland to the South West of England. Several hundred years later, the house was the childhood home of Richard Pym, an English footballer whose family’s profession earned him the nickname ‘The Fisherman Footballer’.