Devon Has One of the Best Food Scenes in the Country — And It Starts at the Farm Shop
There's a particular pleasure in walking into a proper deli or farm shop. The kind of place where the cheese is cut to order from a wheel, where someone behind the counter can tell you exactly which farm the eggs came from, where the bread was baked that morning, and where the shelves are stacked with jars of chutney made by someone who lives three miles down the road.
Devon has this in abundance. The county's combination of rich farmland, a mild climate, a coastline that delivers extraordinary seafood, and a community of producers who genuinely care about what they make has created a food landscape that rivals anywhere in Britain. From sprawling farm shops with their own butcheries and fish counters to tiny neighbourhood delis specialising in cheese and natural wine, there's something here for every appetite and every budget.
This guide covers the best of them — from the nationally recognised destinations to the neighbourhood gems you might walk past without knowing what you're missing. Whether you're stocking up for a dinner party, building a cheese board for an evening with friends, or simply looking for a better way to shop for food, these are the places worth knowing about.
And here's the social truth at the heart of it all: assembling a cheese board from a proper deli isn't just shopping. It's an act of friendship. It says, "I thought about what you'd like. I chose these things with care. I want us to sit down together and enjoy something good." If you're looking for affordable ways to bring people together over food, our guide to socialising on a budget has plenty of ideas.
The Destination Farm Shops
Darts Farm — Topsham
If you could only visit one farm shop in Devon, it should probably be Darts Farm. Situated in the historic estuary town of Topsham, overlooking the Clyst Valley, this is a place that started life as a small pick-your-own operation in 1971 and has since grown into one of the most celebrated food destinations in the South West.
Walking through the doors feels less like entering a shop and more like arriving at a food festival that happens to be permanent. There's a butchery counter with meat from local farms, a cheesemonger with more varieties than you could taste in a month, a deli bar, a food hall overflowing with fruit, vegetables, pies, pasties, freshly baked bread, homemade desserts, jams, pickles, chutneys, local gins, and ciders. Hundreds of local suppliers contribute to the shelves.
But Darts Farm is more than just a shop. There's also a cidery, a chocolatier, a vineyard, a wellness spa, and a restaurant — The Farm Table — which serves seasonal dishes made with ingredients from the farm itself. The Good Food Guide has reviewed it, and it's the kind of place where you could easily lose an entire morning browsing, tasting, and spending slightly more than you intended.
For building a cheese board, the cheesemonger here is outstanding. Ask them what's at its best that week — they'll steer you right.
Price range: ££-£££ | Hours: Check website for current hours | Location: Topsham, EX3 0QH | Phone: 01392 878 200
Darts Farm is just a short drive or bus ride from Exeter, and it pairs brilliantly with a walk along the Exe Estuary Trail. Combine a morning at the farm shop with a stroll along the water, and you've got one of the best half-day outings in Devon. Topsham itself is worth exploring too — our guide to the best restaurants in Exeter covers several Topsham spots.
Greendale Farm Shop — Farringdon, East Devon
Greendale is a different kind of farm shop experience — bigger, brasher, and with a distinctly family-friendly energy. Located on 15 acres of farmland on the A3052 between Exeter and Sidmouth, just 3.5 miles from junction 30 of the M5, it's become a destination in its own right.
What makes Greendale special is that they produce much of what they sell. The butchery counter is stocked with meat from Greendale's own farm. The fish counter sells fish from Greendale's own boats. There's a delicatessen, a fruit and veg department, a bakery, and shelves packed with local produce that you can also order online for home delivery.
Beyond the shop, there's the Greendale Kitchen restaurant, a fish and chips takeaway, Oscar's Drive-Thru, a farm trail for kids, tractor trails, and seasonal events throughout the year. The opening hours are generous too — later than most farm shops, which makes it genuinely useful for a midweek evening shop.
Price range: ££ | Hours: Check website for current hours | Location: A3052, Farringdon, near Exeter
Ben's Farm Shop — Staverton, Totnes, and Yealmpton
The Watson family have been farming in the Dart Valley for over forty years, and Ben started the business in 1983 by making sausages and selling them at Totnes Market. From those humble beginnings, Ben's Farm Shop has grown into three thriving shops across Devon — in Staverton, Totnes town centre, and Yealmpton near Plymouth.
The Staverton shop is the flagship, set in the Devon countryside with a traditional butcher's counter, a fruit and vegetable area, carefully chosen ranges of provisions, wine, beer, cider, soft drinks, and an impressive cheese selection. There's a bright conservatory cafe for coffee and food, making it a proper destination rather than a quick stop.
What sets Ben's apart is the butchery. The meat here is exceptional — organic and free-range produce from farms they know personally. If you're planning a roast dinner or a barbecue for friends, this is where you come.
Price range: ££-£££ | Hours: Check website for current hours | Location: Staverton, TQ9 6AF
Pipers Farm — Cullompton
Pipers Farm is technically an online butchers, but it deserves a place on this list because it represents something important about Devon's food culture: the idea that great produce should be accessible to everyone, not just people who live near a farm gate.
Founded in 1989 in the rolling hills near Cullompton, Pipers Farm works with a network of sustainable, nature-friendly British farms raising traditional and native breeds. Everything is properly free-range, 100% grass-fed, and slow-grown. Their in-house artisan butchery team processes everything, and they deliver nationwide — including, naturally, to anywhere in Exeter and Devon.
The meat boxes represent excellent value if you're feeding a group. Order a box, invite friends round, cook something simple but brilliant. That's the Devon way.
Price range: ££-£££ | Delivery: Nationwide | Location: Cullompton, EX15 1QN
Quicke's Cheese Shop — Newton St Cyres
If cheese is your thing — and if you are reading this guide, it probably is — Quicke's deserves a special trip. The Quicke family have been farming at Home Farm in Newton St Cyres since 1540, and they started making cheese in 1973. Today their clothbound cheddars are some of the most celebrated in the country, made on-site with milk from their own grass-fed cows.
The Cheese Shop on the farm is fresh, modern, and packed with their entire range of cloth-bound cheeses and whey butters, alongside artisan crackers, chutneys, wines, ciders, and cheeses from other regional producers. The staff are knowledgeable and generous with samples — ask them to walk you through the range and you will leave with far more than you intended. They also run behind-the-scenes Cheese Tours, which make for a brilliant group outing if you are looking for things to do in Devon that do not involve a beach or a pub.
Price range: ££ | Hours: Check website for current hours | Location: Home Farm, Newton St Cyres, EX5 5AY | Phone: 01392 851222
Powderham Farm Shop and The Bistro — Powderham Castle Estate
Set within the grounds of Powderham Castle on the banks of the Exe Estuary, this family-owned farm shop combines an in-house butchery, delicatessen, off-licence, gift area, and — rather usefully — a community Post Office. The butchery sources meat from Westcountry farms, and each autumn you can buy Powderham venison from the estate's own deer park.
The Bistro serves homemade food using produce from the shop, and the setting — with views across the deer park to the estuary — is hard to beat. It is the kind of place that turns a shopping trip into a proper outing. The deli counter is strong on local cheeses and charcuterie.
Price range: ££ | Hours: Check website for current hours | Location: Powderham Castle Estate, near Kenton
Powderham is just a short drive from Exeter along the estuary road. Combine a visit to the farm shop with a walk through the castle grounds or a stop at nearby Starcross for a waterside stroll. If you are exploring the wider area, Topsham and Darts Farm are both easily reachable in the same trip.
The City Delis
Chandos Deli — 1 Roman Walk, Princesshay
Chandos Deli sits right in the heart of Exeter's Princesshay shopping area, which means it gets overlooked by people who assume anything in a shopping centre must be a chain. It's not. This is a proper independent deli with an identity all its own.
The coffee here is consistently described as some of the best in Exeter — Colombian coffee served alongside Birchall teas. But it's the food that keeps people coming back. Fresh homemade baguettes, toasted sourdough sandwiches with innovative fillings, quiches, soups, and a display counter of pastries that includes Portuguese tarts (pastéis de nata), brownies, and millionaire shortbread that reviewers describe as moist, rich, and dangerously moreish.
The deli counter stocks charcuterie, cheese, wine, and beer, with brands that are exclusive to the South West. For a quick lunch that feels a cut above, a sourdough sandwich and a flat white from Chandos is hard to beat. Vegetarian and vegan options are plentiful and praised for their creativity.
Price range: £-££ | Hours: Check locally | Location: 1 Roman Walk, Princesshay
Magdalen Cheese and Provisions — 71 Magdalen Road
If Chandos is the city-centre all-rounder, Magdalen Cheese and Provisions is the specialist. This small, beautiful shop on Magdalen Road puts cheese at the heart of everything it does, selecting different varieties on a weekly basis to ensure they're always served at peak flavour.
The range covers British, Irish, and Continental cheeses, and the staff here know their stuff — they'll guide you through what's best that week, suggest pairings, and help you build a board that tells a story. Alongside the cheese, you'll find rare UK grain crackers, sourdough bread, traditionally made pickles and ferments, organic unhomogenised milk, whey butter, free-range eggs, charcuterie from Somerset to Piedmont, and a carefully selected range of natural wines, ciders, and beers.
This is the kind of shop that makes you rethink supermarket shopping entirely. A visit here before a dinner party transforms the evening from "I bought some bits from Sainsbury's" into "I put this board together with things I chose from a specialist."
Price range: ££ | Hours: Check locally | Location: 71 Magdalen Road, EX2 4TA
Magdalen Road itself is one of Exeter's best-kept secrets for independent food shopping. Within a short stretch you'll find a fishmonger, a baker, and several other independent shops alongside the deli. It's the kind of street that still feels like a proper neighbourhood — the sort of place where shopping is a social activity rather than a chore. For more on Exeter's independent food culture, check out our guide to the best brunch spots.
The Heavi Deli — 56 Fore Street, Heavitree
A recent addition to Exeter's deli scene, The Heavi Deli opened in Heavitree in December 2024 and quickly established itself as a neighbourhood favourite. The concept is simple: exceptional and ethical foods, premium teas, freshly baked cakes, pastries, sausage rolls, pies, and sandwiches, all sourced from local, sustainable producers across Devon and the South West.
It's a modern deli with a cafe attached, meaning you can sit in and enjoy a coffee and a sausage roll as well as filling a bag to take home. The focus on sustainability and ethical sourcing gives it a distinctive character — this isn't just a shop, it's a statement about the kind of food culture Exeter wants to build.
Heavitree itself is an increasingly interesting part of Exeter, and having a proper deli on its high street feels like a turning point for the neighbourhood.
Price range: £-££ | Hours: Check locally | Location: 56 Fore Street, Heavitree, EX1 2RR
How On Earth Plant-Based Deli — 76 South Street
This entirely plant-based deli on South Street has been quietly changing minds about vegan food since it opened. How On Earth serves 100% vegan sandwiches, cheese alternatives, cold cuts, cakes, drinks, and condiments — the majority made in-house with ingredients sourced from makers across the South West.
The clever part is how they approach vegan food: not as a compromise, but as a creative challenge. Plant-based versions of deli classics — southern fried chicken, BLTs, wafer-thin ham, salami, and an American-style Reuben sandwich — sit alongside inventive originals that don't try to imitate anything. The handmade meat alternatives are genuinely impressive, even for committed carnivores.
If you're hosting and you've got vegan friends coming, this is the place to shop. You'll find everything you need to build a board that nobody will feel excluded from. Our guide to vegan and vegetarian restaurants in Exeter has more options if you're looking for sit-down dining.
Price range: £-££ | Hours: Check locally | Location: 76 South Street
The Wider Devon Circuit
Riverford Field Kitchen — Buckfastleigh
Riverford isn't a farm shop in the traditional sense — it's an organic dining experience set in the heart of Wash Barn, where the veg is grown just metres from the kitchen. But it deserves a place here because it represents the absolute pinnacle of Devon's farm-to-table philosophy.
The restaurant serves a set menu in a single sitting, with dishes brought to your table in one long flow to share. There are no starters or mains — just a succession of beautifully cooked, 100% organic vegetable-centred plates. The kitchen garden alone grows dozens of tomato varieties, alongside sweetcorn, salad leaves, aubergines, squash, herbs, chillies, and cucumbers.
Service is deliberately leisurely — set aside most of an afternoon or evening for it. You can arrive early to explore the polytunnel and kitchen garden, and the farm walk is a lovely way to build an appetite.
Guy Singh-Watson started growing organic veg here in 1987, and the restaurant opened in the mid-2000s. It's become a pilgrimage for food lovers across the South West, and with good reason. Book ahead — tables go quickly.
Price range: £££ | Hours: Check website for sittings | Location: Wash Barn, Buckfastleigh, TQ11 0JU, off the A384
Riverford is ideal for a group outing — the communal dining format is designed for sharing, both food and conversation. If you're looking for a way to bring friends together that's more memorable than a regular restaurant meal, a long lunch at the Field Kitchen is hard to top. The drive through the Devon countryside to get there is pretty special too.
Building the Perfect Cheese Board: A Social Guide
Since we're talking about delis, let's talk about cheese boards. Because there are few things in life as simple, as satisfying, and as inherently social as a well-assembled cheese board shared with friends.
Here's how to do it using Devon's delis:
Start with the cheese. Three to five varieties is the sweet spot. Go to Magdalen Cheese and Provisions or the cheesemonger at Darts Farm and ask what's at its best that week. A good board has variety: something hard and crumbly (a Devon cheddar), something soft and oozy (a brie or camembert), something with character (a blue, or a washed rind), and maybe something unexpected that the cheesemonger recommends.
Add the accompaniments. Crackers, sourdough bread, chutney, pickles, olives, dried fruit, nuts. Most of these you can pick up at the same deli. The Heavi Deli and Chandos both stock excellent chutneys and crackers.
Don't forget the drinks. Natural wine from Magdalen, local cider from Darts Farm, or craft beer from any of Devon's excellent breweries.
Arrange it on a board. It doesn't have to be fancy — a wooden chopping board works perfectly. The point isn't presentation; it's invitation. A cheese board on a table says: sit down, take your time, help yourself, let's talk.
Cost. A cheese board for four from a Devon deli costs less than a round of drinks, depending on how generous you're feeling — and it creates an evening.
Why This Matters
We talk a lot at Dinners With Friends about the ways that food brings people together, and Devon's delis and farm shops are proof of the principle. These aren't just retail outlets — they're gathering places, community anchors, expressions of local identity. When you buy bread from a baker who sources flour from a Devon mill, cheese from a maker who tends their own herd, and wine from a vineyard you can actually visit, you're participating in something bigger than a transaction.
You're also making it easier to be social. A bag of good ingredients from a proper deli takes the pressure out of hosting. You don't need to cook a three-course dinner to invite people round — you need a board, some cheese, some bread, and the willingness to open your door. That's it.
Practical Tips for Deli and Farm Shop Shopping in Devon
Go seasonal. Devon's food calendar is one of its greatest strengths. Spring brings new-season lamb and asparagus. Summer means soft fruit, salad leaves, and tomatoes from Riverford's polytunnels. Autumn delivers game, orchard fruit, and mushrooms. Winter is for root vegetables, hearty cheeses, and slow-cooked cuts. Ask the staff at any of these places what is at its best right now — they will always steer you towards the best value and flavour.
Bring a cool bag. If you are buying cheese, charcuterie, or fresh meat on a warm day, a cool bag in the car makes the difference between a brilliant purchase and a disappointing waste. Most farm shops sell them, but it is cheaper to bring your own.
Talk to the people behind the counter. This is the single biggest advantage of shopping at a deli or farm shop rather than a supermarket. The staff at places like Magdalen Cheese, Quicke's, and Darts Farm genuinely know their products. Ask for recommendations, ask what is new, ask what they would put on a board for six people at the budget you have in mind. You will always get a better result than choosing by yourself.
Combine your trips. Several of these places are within easy reach of one another. A morning at Darts Farm in Topsham can include a stop at The Galley or The Globe for lunch. A visit to Quicke's pairs naturally with a drive through the Devon countryside. And a trip to Greendale can easily be combined with a day out in Sidmouth.
For more on Exeter's food scene, have a look at our guide to the best pubs in Exeter — many of them stock local produce from the very farms and delis on this list. If you are interested in cooking for friends, these delis and farm shops are where the best dinner parties start. And for those exploring Devon's broader food heritage, our Devon food and drink heritage guide tells the wider story of why this county produces such extraordinary ingredients.