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Fascinating shopping paradise seen by thousands who use the train

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Fascinating shopping paradise seen by thousands who use the train

Right about now there’s a piece of furniture, let’s say it’s a Raj-era sideboard, being loaded into a cargo container and making the four-week journey from its exotic home in India all the way to Devon. It will take four weeks to get here via the Cape of Good Hope because the Houthis are currently using Western-bound ships as target practice in the Gulf.

Finally it will arrive at the reclamation yard in Exeter and take its place among the multinational array of household objects. Tobys Reclamation – which celebrates its 40th anniversary next year – is home to quirky, rustic, quality, reclaimed antique furniture from around the world.




When you visit the former railway station site in Exminster, every corner holds a surprise, every item has a tale to tell. It might be that colourful sideboard from the subcontinent, or it could be a 19th century table from Scotland, a garden statue from a stately home in Devon, a fireplace from an Edwardian villa, a travel trunk from the attic, or a table from a monastery in Belgium.

If you don’t have room in your home for humongous French stained glass doors, or you wouldn’t know where to put a ride-along Thomas the Tank Engine it doesn’t matter. You can just snoop around for an hour and wonder who in their right mind does.

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Olly Heriz-Swift, owner of Tobys Reclamation in Exminster(Image: DevonLive)

Olly Heriz-Swift, a self confessed ‘old hippy’ in a capitalist world, is the owner. “My thing is I like this place to be quite eclectic,” he says. “It sounds crazy but it’s anything I like that I think my customers will like.


“The minute the shop looks too one way we can really notice business drop off. People like to come here, walk in and see.

“If you walk out now you’ll see an Indian cupboard next to a Belgium sideboard next to an antique mahogany English table. All of these things are mixed together. I like it to be this boiling pot of different things

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