Moving to Devon

[notanothermonday5]

We are relocating to Devon for dh’s work and are currently deciding where to live. His office will be in Exeter but he’ll work from home a few days a week. We’ve looked at a few properties in Shaldon (on the edge of Teignmouth) and I was just wondering if anyone knew anything about the area (what the schools are like, what it’s like to live there etc). Dh really loves the look of it and has his heart set on living there but it is expensive and I worry that the summer holidays may be difficult with lots of tourists. We have 3dc and a Labrador.

Shaldon is lovely, but commuting into Exeter by car on the A380 for 9am is grim, massive queues to get into Exeter. (I used to travel the opposite direction every day and thank my lucky stars!) For that reason I would think about whether you’d want to be in walking/biking distance of Teignmouth station.

It’s busy in the height of summer but lots of second homes so quiet out of season. You’d soon suss out the best spots if you want to avoid summer crowds. Some of the beaches round here are no dogs May-Sept so this could restrict the spontaneous beach trips lifestyle if your nearest has these rules.

Shaldon does have a villagey atmosphere, compared with Teignmouth which is definitely a town. If you have a Shaldon budget I’d suggest also looking at Stokenteignhead, Coombinteignhead, Topsham and the villages on the Exe estuary - all very lovely!

Devon does have some of the country’s lowest average salaries vs highest housing costs with all the socio economic problems that can bring, so do careful research on area as you would anywhere else.