To ask where to put a question about moving to Exeter area?

[SaveAHorseRideAHighlander]

Hi,
I had a look through the topics and couldn't work out the best place to ask this - if anyone can let me know I can re-post or ask to move the post.
It looks like my husband will need to re-locate to the other side of the country for work (previous company was a COVID casualty and his line of work isn't easy to come by in our current area). We (me, DD 9 and DS 6, plus a cat) would be re-locating too within a few months. The area is just south of Exeter, and we could move anywhere south of Exeter down to Paignton area and surrounding. I'm basically looking for information regarding the area, recommendations etc. We will obviously make arrangements to visit and research (I have made a start but none the wiser yet). We are not city/large town folk, preferring village life with perhaps a pub or two and good local schools, including secondary as my DD will be starting in another 2 years.

Thank you for reading.

I live in Exeter and I moved here 9 years ago. Personally I would advise you to stay closer to Exeter than Torbay as the road from Torquay/Paignton/Brixham is shit for commuting. There are lots of nice villages within a commutable distance from Exeter.

Topsham is lovely and you can enjoy village life without being far from Exeter City Centre. Train station and regular bus service too which takes you to Exeter or Exmouth if you fancy the beach. Some very good pubs!

It’s lovely here :) I shall second Exmouth and Topsham and also St Leonard’s in the city centre (can be expensive though).

Thank you, do you have any recommendations for schools? Will carry on looking - thought our moving days were behind us but here we go again! It was much easier when you didn't have to worry about the kids!

Catchment school for Topsham is Isca in Exeter . A lot from Topsham go to St Peters also Exeter which is the church school , was over subscribed . Isca is improving but heard things on the grapevine that some might be window dressing eg the strict uniform and attendance policy . Can you dm me with the job location if you don't want to say on here ? Exeter rush hour can be a bit mad and it helps to be on the right side of the city .

Lots of good villages around . We have 2 good branch lines too so worth looking at places on the railway line .

Worth looking at Ottery st Mary area too. E Devon. Kings there has A good reputation. Or villages north and east of Exeter which feed the Broadclyst secondary school. Good also .
Going west QE at Crediton also good. So maybe Newton St Cyres area ?

Exminster south of Exeter has a nice village atmosphere especially the old village. Lots of development going on though . Local secondary is West Exe I think. Exminster primary is good. ( other named schools are secondary but I guess you are interested in primary too given children's ages. To be honest most village primaries are good , tend to be small maybe 2 years per class.

@2beesornot2beesthatisthehoney I always thought secondary for exminster was dawlish?
There is a Facebook page called mums in Exeter @SaveAHorseRideAHighlander where you could also ask advice.

@purplepots you could very well be right . If so I think Dawlish has a better reputation than West Exe ? So if the job were at Matford then Exminster might be a good place to start?

Thank you all this is great - will get looking over the weekend. Will DM the location @2beesornot2beesthatisthehoney .
Definitely interested in primary as well, just panicking a bit more about secondary as it's all a bit daunting and hadn't really thought about it yet, where I am now there's only two options and both are good, as well as being well known to me as I went to one of them!

Chudleigh or Chudleigh Knighton are lovely, easy commute to Exeter, very “villagey” feel about them, pubs and shops but semi rural, both have lovely primary schools and there’s a secondary school about 15 minutes bus ride away with free school bus