Anyone in North Devon? town or country - where to live?

[northdevonnewbie]

We have just moved from a big city to north Devon, where we are renting a house in a little village near Barnstaple and looking for somewhere to buy. We keep going round in circles about whether we want to stay in a similar rural spot, or move into town. We have kids age 12, 9 and 5, so our kids being able to get around on their own is a big pull (oldest is at secondary school in Barnstaple) - that's what we were used to in our old location & feeling like I spend all the time in the car is a bit of a drag. But love the greenery of being further outside of town... What does MN think?

Ooh me! I live in Barnstaple - ask me anything

I'm in Barnstaple too. Grew up in Lynton which was lovely, but a LONG way to anywhere. Something I actively choose not to have for the children where we are in Barnstaple, round the corner from both the schools they attend but not far from lots of lovely green.

Have you looked at Bishop's Tawton? It's a village Dh and I both like and the potential for dc to be able to get into town in the holidays easily.

Lynton is definitely too far away! Actually we did look at a house to rent in Parracombe but there was no space in the primary school so didn’t end up there.

I do know Bishop’s Tawton but I don’t quite get it. What do you get living there that you don’t get living in one of the suburbs of Barnstaple proper? It feels neither town nor country to me somehow.

What is Barnstaple like? I go in a lot for the shops etc but no sense of it as a community. I think what I miss most from our old city suburb is having an active community with opportunities to get involved in projects etc so the idea of finding that again draws me into Barnstaple. But I love the idea of having a detached house with a few fields too...

My parents lived in Braunton for several years. They loved it - they felt it was a real village, rather than simply a seaside town. And of course, it’s not actually on the coast, although my dc loved visiting and surfing on Staunton Sands. I know nothing about the school situation, though.

That’s Saunton, not Staunton, obvs.

Yeah DH keeps suggesting Braunton. I just worry about our eldest going to school in Barnstaple from there.

Is there a school bus to Barnstable? Generally speaking, I don’t think it’s a problem to travel to secondary school if everyone is. But I lived in another rural area growing up, and so it was normal for me.

I’ve always had a bit of a fantasy about living in Braunton, but I don’t have kids that would need ferrying around. Is there a school bus that goes to Barnstaple?

there wouldn’t be a school bus from Braunton because Barnstaple isn’t the catchment school - there’s a secondary school there. I think there would be pretty regular public buses though. I won’t move my kid out of their school in Barnstaple though as we’ve moved a lot and it isn’t fair on them any more.

So town or country as a child/teen then matilda, if you had rural experience? DH and I are city kids!

I now live in a smallish town (20,000 or so) because... well, jobs. I was chatting to friends and said, “I’d only move to live in a smaller town, this one’s a bit large for me”. They had all grown up in cities and actually thought I was joking.. the idea that somebody could think our town was large was simply incomprehensible.

I’ve got used to a town now. But I’d still say go rural if I had the choice.

We're in Newport. Come try cake club on a Wednesday morning at the church on South Street if you want to get to know the community there, very welcoming and fantastic cake. We've discussed Bishop's Tawton as future dream because of dc potentially being able to get themselves into town easily but quieter than the area we're in now. Particularly intrested to see if an underpass comes to pass as it would mean a doable walk into town by our standards.

Compared to Lynton it is wonderful to not have to be in the car for the best part of an hour to start getting anywhere. I hated traveling for school and probably missed out of quite a bit when parents weren't able to give lifts quite a lot due to the hours they worked and the amount of time dropping and picking up would have taken and bus service stopped early. It was very easy to get summer and weekend work! Not something I wanted for our children particularly as teens. Our oldest is 6 and is loving trying out the various activities about. The novelty of the climbing walls in one of the churches is something she loves.

Traffic would bother us too much in Braunton!

For various reasons there is no way that I would want to bring my children up in braunton - I did used to live there, hubby does work there, the traffic is an absolute nightmare in the summer, and I think I won't be alone in saying it can be a tricky place for teens to grow up.

I also used to live in Ilfracombe and loved it - it had a lot going on in the summer and was a nice place to be. Quite far from Barnstaple though.

Currently I live in Barnstaple as do most of my family and friends. If I was looking to buy I would look at either the Newport or Pilton areas of town, they give you a far more "villagey" feel (I don't live in either but know people who do). If you want proper villages then others that are nice are goodleigh, muddiford, shirwell, landkey, bishops tawton. I would probably avoid roundswell/bickington/fremington if you have to do a morning commute as traffic that way is also a nightmare. There are lots of nice places on the edge of town where you only step outside and you're in the countryside, nothing but fields being me and I technically live in town.

We used to live in a lovely village near Clovelly went shopping in Bideford and I used to work in Barnstaple. The village had a great community spirit BUT I was always ferrying the kids around and if we had stayed after they finished school, we moved to the city, I would have moved to Barnstaple to save all the travelling. We still go back to see family and friends but kids still prefer to live in the city. Great childhood for them though down to the beach after school with all the other local families.

I grew up in a village outside Bideford (Parkham actually) and as a teenager it was awful. Had to be ferried by parents everywhere, or catch dodgy lifts from unsuitable people. I couldn’t get out fast enough. Wherever you end up make sure the kids can get around on public transport.