To leave London (burbs) to live in Exeter

[Tinywavesandripples]

I have worked in admin at various universities in London for the last ten years and am increasingly fed up with living in the great big smoke. I have only been to exeter once and loved it. Am I bu to consider selling up, taking dc out of her very good infant school and starting over in Exeter? It appeals to me as it's a university town and close to the Sea. Would it be a culture shock?

Go on, tell me the good, the bad and the ugly!

There's nothing wrong with Exeter, & there are plenty of great places around Exeter too - Topsham, Lympstone etc.
I'd avoid Torquay/Paignton though.

Bath is beautiful and has some really good independent shops

and if you move to Bath I won't be the only MNetter there

The buses and trains are atrocious though. Most people do drive into the city centre which is full of car parks. The Uni is a massive employer and still expanding. The city economy is doing very well, and there is low unemployment compared to the rest of Devon. The water rates are outrageous.

Most places don't have a JL and waitrose, actually - the London borough I'm from doesn't.

Most seaside towns to the east of Exeter are hugely posh, so no need to worry too much about poor people (except you might need to worry about house prices) (but you could buy a manor even in these pretty towns for the price of a bathtub in London).

Fudgey I wouldn't move to cranbrook. It's been built on a floodplain.

Can't think of many other places in Devon that have a JL and a Waitrose.

Torquay has a 98p shop. Almost same as JL....

There's a waitrose in okey. No JL west of Exeter. We are getting an ikea too joy of joys (not).

I moved from SE London 7 years ago, I did really REALLY miss it for a while.

But we are all happy here now!

Good Luck

I'm lucky in that I still work in London. So I get elements of the best of both worlds. But I also get the trains. Swings, roundabouts.

It's a shame you're fed up with London, it's one of the best cities in the world. We considered moving our when the DC's were little but are so glad we didn't.

Educationally london schools now do the best academically with market and coastal towns really under performing (not all schools I know before anyone flames me)

Once you leave london it's unlikely you'll ever be able to afford to move back.

My DC's are teenagers now and adore London, they say they are so glad they don't live anywhere else as they really take full advantage of all London has to offer.

If you do decide to move OP, take you time and make the right decision for your family not just now but in the future too - good luck.

Wow a 98p shop. bargain!

Agree with avoiding Torquay. It suffers with all the social issues that go with being a seaside tourist resort. I doubt Exeter will be a problem. Not really getting the angst over the one way system.

The best school on the country serves Exeter (along with every other place in a 50 mile radius). Of course, it only takes 120 kids each year, so you can't bank on getting in. But I know several families who moved down here purely to be able to access the school (we didn't, DH worked at the Uni and we moved before we had kids).

I did my NCT classes in Exeter, having moved from N London. Every couple bar 1 had moved out of London in the preceding couple of years. All are now really settled and happy in Devon.

Rafa - the only thing wrong with the one way system is bits of it (to do with JL) are relatively new (and part of it changed direction about 12 years ago). Other then that it's completely unremarkable.

Hedgehog - snap. Except I was sarf lunnon.

I'll not lie - I will never stop thinking of home as being home. But we've been here for 18 years now. We might stay forever, or we might move to Falmouth when the kids are all gone.

Your salary will be a lot lower in Exeter than it is in London on a like for like job basis. There will also be fewer jobs and more people going for them.

That said, I was born in Devon and lived I Exeter for a few years, and would move back if I had the chance.

I grew up in Exeter. It was a bit quiet in those days, but there is lots going on now. There may be better places to live and there are certainly worse. I did a stint at the university in admin. I enjoyed it.
Left for good in 1988, though, and only go back to visit family. Have lived in Europe since then. Have you considered an admin role in one of the European institutions?

Tbf Herc, I never drive into the city centre I always get the bus. I just hadn't noticed anything particularly unusual about it. Mind you if its like the bit they reversed direction of down here people will just think fuck it and drive down it anyway.

Hi we moved from Bishops Stortford to devon 2 months ago. I work in Exeter and we live in south devon - so far so good

I have a friend who moved to Exeter a couple of years ago, and although she's enjoying it, she does keep commenting that it's a long way from anywhere else. (I point out it could have been worse - she could have been in Plymouth.)

If It were me, I'd look at what I like about where I am now, what I don't like, what attracts me to Exeter, and look at whether it's really Exeter, or somewhere with similar characteristics to the ones you like which I really want.

Had a friend moving from N london burbs to Exeter when her kids were in primary. They all love it to bits.

I'd die.

nowahousewife I think you need to take care before you make a claim like that. And it may depend whether you're talking state schools or indies. Incidentally the school Herc is talking about now takes 124 a year, so the chances of a place are vastly increased :) There are clear advantages culturally to living in London but equally clear advantages in terms of quality of life in living in Devon.

How about Poole or Bournemouth? There is a University and its a great area to bring up a family.