Moving to Devon from Essex - please help my family!!

[PugMumma]

Hi mummies,
I am looking for some advice/knowledge on Exeter and its surrounding areas please? My OH has been offered a job there.
We have very limited knowledge of the area. We have been to Exeter and liked it but it is too much of a town for us to live in.
We have holidayed in Taunton, Durdle Door, Swanage, Dorset, Dawlish etc.
But only short stays and obviously a holiday is different.
We currently live in Leigh on Sea which is about as quiet and un towny (if thats a word ) as South Essex gets. We are 10 mins from the Old Town and fishing seafront. We back on to a big woods. Have an excellent school catchment area and a loving circle of friends. So to leave is very daunting!
However - the cost of living is extremely high here and when looking on rightmove it seems we could have double the house for half the money. We have very little spare money now and haven't had a holiday abroad in 12 years, rarely eat out, have days out etc. This could be a great opportunity for us to enjoy life a little more.
The trouble is that we don't know where to begin looking and are so far away its difficult to have a chance to explore areas.
My OH will only be based in Exeter but will mostly work from home - so as he only needs to commute once a week/fortnight the journey side of it doesn't matter too much. He has an hours commute to his London office now and prefers a longer commute to live more rural.
We have rescue pugs that we enjoy walking off lead through woodland/countryside.
Our daughter is 3 so we need good pre schools and primary schools nearby. We also have a thriving community here with a Natural trust centre who run treasure hunts, camp fires etc. Local churches holding Village Fetes.. We would like that sense of community again.
We much prefer older properties and have never lived in a new build. We would like to find another old town or village to live in. Even if this means shops and restaurants are a drive away!
I have researched and asked around as much as possible and been told to look in Teignmouth and Newton Abbott. Are these nice areas?
At this point any help is greatly appreciated as it feels like we are looking blindly! Thank you.

Hi there i dont know the areas you mention but i live in a beautiful seaside town called sidmouth there are good preschools and toddler groups almost everyday there is lots of lovely woodland walks and parks there is a national trust office in branscombe up the road, Sidmouth is approx 20 min drive from Exeter so not too far - there are smaller villages around sidmouth such as sidbury, sidford, newton poppleford and branscombe which are all equally lovely good luck with your move i hope it goes well x

I was going to recommend Sidmouth!
There are lots of lovely small villages and communities... I live in East Devon, on the Dorset border so places like: Uplyme, Kilmington, Dalwood or Stockland are all lovely (and have outstanding primary schools). Nearer to Exeter there are places like Payhembury or Broadhembury which are also lovely small communities with great schools.
I don't really know places the other side of Exeter but Topsham is meant to be lovely!

I live in East Devon (one of the villages mentioned above), and weirdly, DH's family all live in Leigh-on-Sea! I would also say Sidmouth is worth a look. There's loads going on around here, and if you are used to having the sea on the doorstep then you'll appreciate the beautiful beaches. So many great walks, both along the coast and inland - most people we know in our village have dogs! The National Trust office in Branscombe are really active at the moment with lots of activities for children and families (they're working with the local school and preschool too). There are village fetes, cricket teams, plenty of places to visit with children (e.g. Escot, Bicton, Pecorama, the Donkey Sanctuary). Can you come down for a visit and get a feel for some of the places mentioned? It's a heck of a drive, I know (took DH 8 hours when he took the kids to visit GPs last year), but FlyBe operate a route between London City and Exeter now, which might be worth considering. You can get a return for less than £80, depending on dates/times, and hire a car at the airport. Have fun researching! We love it here and hope your family does too.

Seaton Jurassic opening later this year too (I think I'm more excited about this than the kids!). Charmouth fun for fossil hunting a little further east along the coast. Think we took ours when the youngest was 3, which might have been a bit early as boredom threshold was quite low… But definitely one for when your DD is a bit older! DH gets quite nostalgic for his childhood days in Leigh whenever we walk past the amusement arcade in Lyme Regis, though I prefer the little one in Seaton myself. Have whiled away many a happy hour in there with the kids clutching their pots of 2ps!

Have you considered Exmouth?

Hi there,

If you want to look at places in South Devon try... Dartmouth, Salcombe, Totnes, Ashburton, Shaldon. In my opinion these are all nice places.

We live on the outskirts of Newton Abbot and find it really handy for the other half as it's easy to get to places. You can get onto the A38 a whizz up to Exeter or down to Cornwall.
Newton Abbot itself is a bit tired at the moment but lots of new exciting developments are happening in the future.

Hope that helps a bit :)

We're moving from Sussex to the south hams - villages along the Dart (harbertonford, stoke gabriel, galmpton, ashprington, Broadhempston,)are beautiful with good schools, close to sea and moor and 45min to Exeter (30min train from totnes/newton abbot) Good luck!

I moved to Exeter 2 years ago from Sussex and I absolutely love living in Devon. I can't imagine that you could find a BAD place to live. People are friendly, the countryside is gorgeous and simply EVERWHERE you go is out of this world. I have to live in central Exeter, which I adore, as we are minutes from schools and shops, yet also minutes from the countryside. You can't go wrong. Don't overlook the outskirts of Exeter for your new home. Best of both worlds maybe.

hi we(me, my mum and my 2 daughters aged 10 and 8 are relocating from Kent, i have already got my eldest into Teignmouth Community College, as we had to choose secondary schools by October of last year!, but now we are panicking, as finding hard to find houses to rent in our price range, which is max £800... does anyone know of any private landlords, we have viewed 2 houses in Dawlish and Paignton(didnt realise how far that was from school, but they wasnt right for us, its early starts and long journeys, so if anyone has any advice about renting, would be appreciated! the clock is ticking!We would prefer semi rural any ideas on places? and easy access to Exeter... thankyou x

OP Starcross and Shaldon both have small communities and good schools. Cockwood Primary for Starcross is supposed to be fab.

mumto279 I'd try Teignmouth itself? There's 4 bed house and a few 3 bed apartments in your price-range on Rightmove right now. I'll see if I can find some local landlord contacts for you. x

Hi mumto279,

We also moved down from Kent 4 years ago. Have you managed to find anywhere yet?
There are normally quite a few places that pop up to rent in Teignmouth. Rightmove is your best bet for finding someone I'd say.

@DDZZ

We are planning to move from Croydon to Exeter in August, are there any areas around to avoid? and are there any schools that are particularly good?

We will rent initially, we have two children 2 and 5 so we will need to be near a school and nursery, my hubby will be working there and I am hoping to get on a Masters course at Exeter Uni.

We are travelling down the weekend of the 25th to do a recky!

Fantastic to see so many positive message, thanks PugMamma for starting the thread.