Totnes & South Devon - Villages

[flutterbye88]

Totnes & surrounding areas Recce – Tips Welcome!
We’re heading to Totnes and the surrounding South Devon area this weekend for a 2-day recce with our 3 little ones, hoping to find a place to call home and lay roots.

We’d love any recommendations for pretty villages with a great community vibe, a good primary school, and young families.

We're staying in Stoke Gabriel and will be taking the car out to drive through the surrounding villages of Totnes. I'm putting out itinerary together now as we drive down.

Any tips from local Mumsnetters much appreciated – thank you!

Dartington is a great community - if you're around on Sunday, visit Things Happen Here and buy kebabs and sexy spuds from The Big Kebabski.

Bovey Tracey, Buckfastleigh and Ashburton are lovely with Kids.

@StillNoFuckingEyeDeer amazing, thanks! We'll check out Dartington on Sunday and drop by for a sexy spud! Xx

I don’t know the villages specifically around Totnes as we live further out on Dartmoor, but what I would say is focus on getting a feel for the general area and where your search perimeters will be.

Devon, even South Devon, isn’t so much like the Home Counties, where you can decide you want to live in these 2 villages you really like and expect to find a house there that fits your search criteria.

There actually aren’t loads of houses for sale and villages are small, so it’s more a matter of finding a house that fits the bill and then working out if the community is one that will be a good fit. Unless you have lots of flexibility, aren’t too picky about the house, and can wait it out for a house to come up in a specific village.

If a village has a primary school, it will be more likely to attract families (some villages are literally just pensioners, we once lived in a small village where we were truly the only people under 55 and the only ones with kids). If there is a village shop, see if they have a village/parish newsletter or notice board. See if the village or village hall has a website or facebook page, which will give you an idea of community events and how active the community is.

Harberton and Harbertonford have a nice community but are small villages so you'd have to get out and about to socialise more. How many bedrooms do you need and what's your budget?

@mindutopia Thanks for the heads up. It's good to have the knowledge that the system's a little different in Devon. We're lucky that time's on our side to wait for the right house in the right location.
Some great tips there about the school, parish mags etc - thanks :)
Gosh, that village must have been funny for you to live in. Hopefully, your children were well adored by all the 'olds'! :)

Thanks for these tips! We've added these villages to our list to explore today.

We're looking for a 4-bed property within a £775k budget, but we're also open to 3-bed homes with potential to extend, where possible.

Hi @flutterbye88 how did the recce go? Funnily enough we are doing the same this weekend (bit of a lower budget though). I'd be really interested to find out your thoughts of the villages you've seen.

We have found a house we like plus it's very affordable but it's in a small village with no school or shop - I'm nervous it's going to be too restrictive for our 2x 3 year olds as they grow older.

@KatEddy How did it go?
We loved all we had to see in the Totnes area and all the gorgeous people we got to meet and chat with on the way.

Our fave villages were:
Haberton & Habertonford
Blackawton (we went to their International Worm Festival day, which was hilarious and shone a light on the village)
Stoke Gabriel was great too (which is where our Airbnb was)

Mainly as they're all very pretty, have a great community feel and they all have a school, community shop and a walkable pub.

We heard a lot of great things about Dartington (close to the centre of /totnes, great community feel, great school etc) so we went down to check it out. We were blown away by the playground/pizza/tap room (called 'Things Happen Here') set up. It was packed with families having fun, eating, drinking and playing outside - (and obvs, we joined in) However, personally we're wanting somewhere that has a bit more of a traditional village feel to it as well.

Ashburton - This was our favourite place, the size of it and the amenities available. It's probs closest to what we're used to now living in Lewes.
Lots of gorgeous houses for sale on Rightmove too.

We've realised that we might struggle to move to a village with just one shop.
I need a little more so I can float around with the little ones and be social. We love our cafes and playgroups (especially in the colder months)

I put a shout out on a Totnes group and received a lot of very useful comments about villages - check it out!
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1729874937209722/permalink/2721313794732493/

We literally drove around about 15 villages and spoke to everyone possible about them. Feel free to pm me about any specifics!

and Good Luck! xx

I have two close friends and the DH is of Bangladeshi origin. Unfortunately he experienced some racist comments and said that he felt very uncomfortable in that area.

What about Modbury? A small town, with all the basic amenities.

Ugborough is lovely.
You do need to consider the roads, and if you will be driving the kids to school beyond infant school.

I met a lady at the playground with her little ones who’s thinking of moving to Modbury. She said she and her husband feel a bit “Totnessed out” after living there for 10 years. But she always gets a really good vibe when she goes for coffee in Modbury.
She did recommend living in Totnes town itself though, she said it's been lovely and they've made great friends living there.

I’ll definitely check out Ugborough—thanks! 😊

Hey!! Just wondering if you've moved yet? We relocated from Essex to Devon last June, and we're really drawn to living in Totnes or a village close by. We're renting in Tavistock at the moment, which is beautiful, but there's just something about Totnes. It'd be great to know how you got on!!

Have you looked at Chillington? Shop / Post Office, pub, playground, GP, primary school one village along and walkable (Stokenham Area Primary). Maybe too small?