Calling all mumsnetters in Devon...

[hercules1]

We currently live in London with a 2 bed house and cant get up the next step to get a 3 bed house. I also dont fancy much brining up my kids in the area I live in.

I grew up in Devon and went to school at kevics in Totnes but have heard it's gottten pretty bad there now - not sure if that's the case still.

ANyway we are thinking as one of our options of moving to Devon. AS a teacher I would want to work in a special needs school and would want dh to give up his night job and do whatever.

It's beena few years since I lived down there so am wondering what are the nice areas where I could get a good primary and secondary (leaving behind 2 good ones here), buy a 3/4 bed house for between say 210-250 (lesser better so be more affordable) with a large garden.

Also my 11 year old son needs some persuading so what sorts of things can 11 year olds do there??

Going out for the day so if I dont come back much till later that's why.

TiA

Hercules - some more info about Barnstaple and Ilfracombe - as you notice property is still cheap so you could buy a large house for your money.

Even though there is very ;ittle ethnic diversity in the area, I very rarely encountered racism or stupid behaviour. Generally the area is very laid back (too laid back!) so I wouldn't worry too much about fitting in.
Barnstaple and Ilfracombe are about 12 miles apart, with a large village called Braunton in between (very desirable place to live hence higher property prices), and the surfer villages of Croyde, Woolacombe and Saunton are in between,; these are expensive as well. The primaries are very good in Braunton, a mix in Barnstaple and 1 infants school and 1 juniors school in Ilfracombe, both of which are very large. The best primaries are the smaller ones in the villages, such as Woolacombe, Georgeham (near Croyde) and West Down (near Braunton), all of which are very well regarded.

As I said before the secondary schools are large, with very large Geographical cathment areas, 1 in Ilfracombe, 1 in Braunton, 2 in Barnstaple (Park School and Pilton School). I used to work at Ilfracombe College, it had its faults but was a good school, and is improving all the time. the 2 Barnstaple school and the Braunton secondary do have better reputations however.

One thing to note is that public transport in the area is dire, the coastal areas grind to a halt in winter (and are overcrowded in summer!) and there is very little local employment. I really wouldn't recommend commuting to Exeter from N Devon - it is too far and the roads are awful.

Phew, sorry, long post! I hope this helps!

Fennel, I just looked it up, South Hams house price to income ratio is one of the highest outside the South East at 10 x average local wage (and the rest I'd have thought)

From this report I just looked at the house we used to live in in Dartmouth and we could very easily afford it now but only given London salaries. We couldn't when we lived there and dh was on a local salary and I was a sahm.

Just read Lailasmum's post saying Ilfracombe is a bit run down - she's right, it has been for years, but there has been loads of investment recently and the place is really on the up (it would be, now I've left!)

Managed to ask dh re kevic last night...has done lots of work with them and their students. He said it seems like a good school, not rough at all.

Dh comes from the border so more Axminster way. Would agree that Plymouth etc areas more multicultural- sadly racism was still an issue in the par6ts of SOmerset where I lived (preceisley the raeason we moved to do the particular degree we are)

Devon is like anywhere- a wide vairiety of environments. there's something for everyone, and all kinds of poverty and affluence too.

\its true lots of kids move away- especially in the rurala reas. Dvon actually is slightly btter than SOmerset was simply becuase it has a few HE establishments of course.

We've looked at Devon for various reasons, a main one being Exeter Uni for post grad (PGCE's in my subject aren't soe asy to find), we'd probably go Axminster way or Cullompston becuse of people we already know living there.

We are about to move out of Devon to be nearer my family but we live near Okehampton (North Dartmoor) and the countryside is so beautiful. We are 40 min's from Exeter, 20 minutes from Dartmoor and 30 minutes from Bude (beaches). Okehampton is very reasonable as far as house prices go. I don't know mch about schools though as my dc's are still pre-school. The A30 from Okehampton to Exeter is very quick but agree that Exeter traffic is a nightmare. However, the train line between Okehampton and Exeter is re-opening for freight and also talk of future commuter train.

Haven't had a chance to read all this thread but have picked up on the comments about pLymouth. I think its funny because I grew up in Plymouth 1978 - 1996 (left home when I was 18) and thought it was great {grin]! As an adult I can totally see what everyone means about it's 'failings' but I was completely oblivious as a child and teenager and loved the combination of biggish city / countryside / close to sea.

From a teenager's point of view the nightlife in Plymouth was a bonus - not sure my poor worried Mother would have agreed though. How is Union STreet these days?

Union street is pretty dead tbh...lots of bars open late all around the city so if you wnat to stay out late drinking at chatting there is loads of choice other than clubs.

The combination of city/coast/country hits the spot for us too.

yeah I live in Kingsbridge, I went to school there too, it is a great school. Much has been spent on it in the past few yrs.

A lovely new tech building, theatre, all weather pitch. I enjoyed school there, never any fighting, or bulying, far to laid back it is here for people to bother!!

Ah devon!I grew up in and near Crediton, its a stunning part of the world - although my dad is still an estate agent there so I should probably send business his way (its Bradleys estate agents btw..) i think the traffic to Exeter is a bit of a nightmare along the A3072. But then there are villages around Crediton with other routes to Exeter I think. My parents live in a large 4 bed detached and its worth about £250 K in a village near crediton.
My old school was QECC in crediton, probably quite a good school i think. But yeah 0% ethnic mix!! I think plymouth would be better for that - if we moved down to the SW i think we would head there. good point from someone about your kids having to leave Devon though when they are older - very very few of my friends from school are back in the SW, there just weren't the jobs or prospects... (We are in Leicester now so no lack of ethnic mix here! )

Thanks everyone. ALl your posts are really helpful especially that report you linked to www.

We looked at a 2 bed house for 270 today and it was tiny and needed a lot of work. It seems we either push ourselves big time and get a huge mortgage or up sticks, jobs, schools etc and risk it all in a move to Plymouth.

I am still very worried about the kids.

I never went to Union street as I used to go to Torquay to go out but I remember its reputation!

We are planning on a reccie to plymouth next weekend but have to take our dogs with us too.

Hi Hercules, what worries you in particular about moving your children to devon? Is it the general upheaval - leaving school and friends?

Hi. I read your thread from your dilema.

I worry about ds who will be 12 and whether he will be bullied for being mixed race as well as dd although she is only 3 at the moment. Here he has friends of all colours and mixes and has never experienced any racism personally.

I'm pretty okay with me getting a job as I'm a teacher.

Dh would like to change jobs as he works nights and it really does no good for his health and if we moved he could train to be a teacher and do some sahp for a while too which he'd love.

What if we move and it's like somthing you see on neighbours from hell and we have taken the kids away from wonderful schools and their friends here and are stuck!

ok..ds's nursery...plymouth city...yes majority white..but some mixed race, some black african, and one of his friends is non-white but I will admit I am not sure of his exact ethnic origin (suffice to say neither white nor black nor mixed-race nor 'asian')

I see what you are getting at - sorry, I wasn't thinking clearly. I wonder if there is any way you can contact some local parents of mixed race school age children to talk to them direct?

I know mumsnet is an obvious place to look, but if you want to do more research, how about contacting the PTA at some of the Devon secondary schools and ask if they would pass on your email address/ phone number to parents they know who have mixed race children at the school?

That's a good idea. I thought of speaking to the grammar school in Spet and asking about their mix too.

I know 3 couples/families who moved from London South west to Devon/Somerset and all have come back nearer to London - two of them separately. Don't want to be a Jonah but life can be tough down there. A lot of very well qualified people chasing the same jobs - particularly anything artistic. A lot of people don't holiday in the S.W. anymore - they fly straight out to Europe - so problems with young people working - even in the summer months. IMO The housing market is going to burst in London and surrounding counties, with the intro of the 4 bedroom house Enviro - mega expensive pack £thousands -. I m not an estate agent but just wait for all the contradictory posts that follow this one - Estate agents are concerned.

Yes, talking of families moving back again, my MIL says she has seen it happen time and time again - a family or couple move down with high expectations of rural life, expectations aren't met in some way or another, male and/or female partner get bored, have affairs, split up etc and the family move away again.

I was a bit surprised when MIL talked about this, but she and her friends have seen it happen time and time again in Kingsbridge.

It still doesn't put me off living there but gives me pause for thought.

My street is pretty mixed (ethnically). DS3's nursery has some children of mixed race. All quite central- it gets whiter as you move to suburbs. (All the areas I mentioned further below are central - except Plymstock/Plympton).

I had a browse through the property section today- for £200-£250 you would have quite a good choice in Peverell (3 or 4 beds)- some nicely done (stripped floors etc) although gardens tend to be small there.

Tavistock- there's an autism school quite close. I like Tavistock, but it is whiter than Plymouth, quite small towny- everyone knows everyone else, but a good feel to it. Less purposely odd than say Totnes and doesn't get all the home counties crowd (which I think is a South Hams problem).

We moved from London 5 years ago- the biggest thing to get our head around was the drop in salary tbh. At the time we were able to spend less on a hugely better house (we went from small 21/2 bed to large 4 bed for over 50 grand less) but house prices have increased a lot in the last 5 years. Pay is poor compared to the rest of the country- but money doesn't fly out of pockets in quite the way it did in London.

Would you be interested in the grammer school? If not the comprehensive for Peverell isn't that great, although Plymstock and Plympton have good ones, and Stoke (more central and multiracial) has one that I hear quite good things about. Primary schools are good.

Not sure that no-one holidays in the SW anymore- it's always heaving in Devon and Cornwall during the summer! Very noticeable.

I think it will be Peverell where we focus our initial hunt on because of the house prices and being a good area.
Yes, we would be interested in the grammar for sure.
I agree about people holidaying down there too.

I do know what it's like to live in the country as I said earlier I grew up in Devon although i was glad to leave at 18 to go to uni in LOndon and I am sure ds will be the same.

I know pretty much how much I will earn as a teacher but as dh wants to change careers who knows what he would earn as he'd either start again or retrain as a teacher.

If we stay here then we will have to look to spend near to 270-300k to get a decent property.

What I mean is we holiday there and see lots of other tourists there too.

There always used to be a teacher training on the job scheme - worth checking. Have a look at Marjons. (College of St Mark and St John- part of Uni of Plymouth now I think and do teacher training.)

thanks gess.

I know a few mixed race families, for example our neighbours are a mixed African/white British and they've been here happily a couple of decades in this mostly white village. I don't know any with 11 year olds though, only with older and younger children than that.

Some people might not like it and move away again but there seem to be a lot of people who've moved to Devon and stayed. Some of them post on mumsnet, though maybe they're away this week. We're still quite new so still in a bit of a honeymoon phase - we're never leaving

good luck in your searching.

The school ofsteds have the % of ethnic minority pupils at a school, that might be helpful. It gives quite a good idea of the relatively more mixed areas = as the others say, generally the city centres.