thinking of relocating to Devon

[chickadee1]

Hi all,
I'm new to Mumsnet so sorry for any mistakes!
Just wondering if anyone could give me some advice on relocating to Devon? I have always felt an affinity with the area and my husband and I have visited every year for the past 17 years, and have always talked about moving there. As my oldest dd is 12 I feel a bit as if it's now or never in terms of her school.

We have close friends in Dartmoor and my dh went to primary school in South Molton for a few years, and still has family in that area. (Though not necessarily looking specifically around there).

We have 3 children aged 2, 9 and 12 so somewhere with good primary and secondary schools would be key. I love the coastline of North Devon but am wondering if it will be a bit remote for us as we currently live in a city-although would like to be somewhere a bit more rural.

I'm currently researching towns and villages around the Totnes area because although I'm not familiar with that part of Devon, it is between the moor and the coast so we would get the best of both worlds! (That said, house prices seem high so may have to revise that!).

Ideally we would like to have beautiful scenery, a few activities around the kids could do-drama, sports etc, with a nice family feel and a bit of an arty/music scene too- so not too much then!
Any advice gratefully received
p.s would insert a smiley but can't work out how to do it-doh!

love south devon too. We had our summer holiday there. stayed 4 miles from totnes.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/special/education/school_tables/secondary/12/html/878.stm

Devon is heaven. We've loved it since since the moment we arrived 10 years ago.

BUT there are virtually no jobs here (very few above minimum wage)- so you would have to come with your own jobs (freelance maybe?). For the rates of pay, houses are very expensive (more than 10 x average salary for a standard house).

Ooh - I'm wanting to move to Devon too! .

Duchesse - luckily dh and I are both teachers, so national pay scale. Plus houses in Devon, especially North Devon look a fair bit cheaper than where we are now (Oxfordshire). Glad to hear Devon is heaven!

link looks very useful mummaemma, thank you- (nope still can't see how to add one!)

From what I can gather, people that have moved there don't regret it, but I can see your point duchesse, I'm thinking "whereabouts" but maybe i should be more thinking "how" in terms of house prices and work- sigh

My dh is a web developer and has been keeping his eye out though jobs do seem to be few and far between. It's also about six hours drive from where we are currently so quite a long way for an interview! Be good to stack a few up maybe.

Good luck with your move holmessweetholmes, are you definitely doing it? Have you any areas in mind yet?

holmes- please be aware that there is really not a shortage of teachers in Devon- it's one of those places where everyone wants to live and because of the slower pace of life there is less pressure, so fewer people retiring through ill health or leaving to pursue other careers, so teachers tend to stay in post for many many years. It's not impossible to find jobs but much harder than in the SE .

lol just look at smileys list below. to do a smile type left bracket smile right bracket. when you post it it shows as a smiley face.

Really, Duchesse? Ah well - I guess we'll have to be patient then! Devon isn't the only place we're considering, plus we're not really in a hurry to move straight away, so am just keeping an eye out for jobs in nice places.

oh yes, simple! thanks

!