[My last flight into Exeter was my solo XC, which was around 6 years ago, so info may be a bit dated!]
Nice regional airport that like Bournemouth, has pretensions of getting big, but which is not too busy. Used to fly in the back end of Chippies a lot out of Exeter when the RAF had an AEF based there; they moved out because of getting charged £70 for EVERY landing (which got kind of expensive for 20 min sorties!).
If you're after hard runways and cheaper landing fee, try Dunkeswell which is very close and has the conventional 'nice cafe' and friendly staff. Doesn't have full ATC - not sure if that's essential or not. Try not to confuse with Upottery (hint: check runway headings!) and also remember to start cranking the altimeter sub-scale early as there's a few turns required from QNH (although being a pro, I suppose you stick with QNH, but that's anothe thread
).