Exeter photography: A guide to the city's best portrait locations

Exeter Cathedral Close: The City's Premier Portrait Setting

The Cathedral Close in Exeter is the administrative and architectural centre of the city's medieval heritage. The Cathedral itself — built primarily between 1270 and 1370, in a Decorated Gothic style with extraordinarily complete original fabric — is flanked by medieval and Georgian buildings that create a precinct of consistent architectural quality. The Cathedral's distinctive twin Norman towers, incorporated into the Decorated fabric at the crossing, give it a profile found nowhere else in England. For portrait photography, the Close provides a richly textured red sandstone backdrop that photographs particularly well in the warm afternoon light of south Devon's generous sunshine hours.

Southernhay: Georgian Exeter

Southernhay, a few minutes' walk south of the Cathedral, is Exeter's finest Georgian residential development — a formal crescent of brick townhouses arranged around a central garden. The combination of brick, iron railings, and mature plane trees creates a portrait setting of polished, understated English elegance that provides an effective contrast with the Cathedral's medieval stonework. Southernhay's west-facing aspect catches excellent late afternoon light.

The Quayside

Exeter's Quayside — the historic canal basin 15 minutes' walk from the city centre — provides a completely different portrait environment: converted Victorian warehouses along the canal, a working waterway, and a busy but characterful mixed-use setting that reads well for more informal and creative portrait photography. The Quayside's industrial heritage gives it a distinctly different quality from the ecclesiastical grandeur of the Cathedral Close.

Rougemont Gardens & City Walls

Rougemont Gardens, occupying the site of the original Norman castle motte immediately north of the Cathedral, provides a compact Victorian public garden with the original red sandstone city walls as its boundary. The gardens are quiet, well-maintained, and provide a varied portrait backdrop in a small area — well suited to family or individual sessions that need variety without extensive travel between locations.

The Devon Countryside Beyond Exeter

For sessions that seek something beyond Exeter's urban character, the Exe Valley's wooded riverbanks begin immediately north of the city. The National Trust's Killerton Estate, 5 miles north of Exeter, has gardens and parkland of exceptional quality. Dartmoor's northern edge is 25 minutes away. For Devon professionals and families who want something wilder and more expansive than the city provides, combining an Exeter city-centre session with a short drive to Dartmoor or the Exe Valley creates genuine variety within a single half-day.