The Kitchen at Combe Garden

Garden centre cafes have a reputation to overcome, and the kitchen at Combe Garden Centre in Honiton seems well aware of it. Run by Fat Cow Catering, it sits alongside an indoor retail shop and outdoor nursery on the edge of town, within easy reach of Sidmouth, Axminster and Seaton. Leather sofas in the quieter corners, sun-catching picnic benches outside, and a stated preference for keeping things down to earth.

The menu runs from coffee and breakfast through lunch and afternoon tea, with local sourcing the guiding principle. They will tell you their pancakes and English breakfast are the best around Honiton, and they are not shy about it. Worth combining with a proper wander round the plants and the boutique rather than treating it as a quick stop. Come early if you want the breakfast, and pick your seat by the weather.