Looking to relocate to Devon

[starship1999]

Hi,

My husband and I are looking to relocate to Devon and would really appreciate any suggestions of areas that would suit our needs...

We currently live in Brighton, I have 3 DDs (17, 14 & 5 months). I want to move to bring my baby up in a 'nicer' area and we've been drawn to Devon.

Good schools will be important and I don't want to be 'in the middle of no-where' - a village/small town would be ideal where a primary school would be within walking distance and a secondary school no more than 30 minutes by public transport.

I work as an accountant and my husband is a site manager - we both currently commute but would like to be within 1 hours travel time of an area which would offer jobs in these sectors.

Also, with Brighton being so extremely busy - I would like to be somewhere which isn't completely jam packed with traffic (I'm guessing this would be the case more in the summer).

Any help would be much appreciated :)

Most of Devon is lovely, but it's a big county, with more road miles than any other in the UK, and a lot are small and slow. The larger towns are mainly in south Devon. The most sophisticated is Exeter, which has the Met Office, a smallish financial services sector, and the most retail. Also some good schools, but I'm not up to date on which are good. Torquay I hardly know, nor Paignton. Plymouth, on the border with Cornwall has a lovely setting but is distinctly patchy with some quite serious deprivation. Exeter is by far the most prosperous and jobs there are significantly better paid than in Plymouth, but the traffic can be slow. Both Plymouth and Torquay have grammar schools for secondary education, and this affects the other schools within those catchments. Colyton in east Devon, near Axminster, is pretty little town with a super-selective grammar that regularly features among the 50 highest performing state schools nationally. There are so many primary schools that it's impossible to keep up.

The South Hams area along the coast is very beautiful and considered desirable, but property prices are high, and the roads are slow, especially in summer. Villages like Newton Ferrers are okay for a slowish commute into Plymouth, but are very expensive, as are smaller towns like Salcombe and Dartmouth, which are noted for sailing and tourism. I am told that Modbury is pleasant, but I've only driven through it. Totnes is thought to be charming and a bit alternative. Topsham on the outskirts of Exeter is upmarket. Exmouth, a bit further out, is on the coast and is up-and-coming; the comprehensive is one of the biggest in the country, with over 2500 students and three campuses. Ivybridge is among the better comprehensives in the county.

More inland, the landscape is dominated by Dartmoor. Tavistock, on the western edge, is a small market town which is my local area, and Ashburton is on the eastern edge, also pretty and accessible because it has two junctions with the A38, the main artery through South Devon. Wherever you go in Devon, you will find that the average age is higher than you might expect; it's been popular with retirees since forever.

Someone else will have to tell you about east and north Devon; my impression is that there are great beaches and Exmoor but that's as far as my recent experience goes.

OP, I hope my ramble was helpful but re-reading I see your DDs are 17 and 14. If your eldest doesn't drive yet, she will want to learn and need her own car, unless you are going to be a taxi-slave. The public transport is poor apart from the school buses!

I grew up in ivybridge so agree with XingMings comments above.

I then went to boarding school in north devon from age 15 and my husband is also from northdevon.
Northdevon is beautiful, beaches are lovely but not much to do in the winter and is jam packed in the summer! only access is the northdevon linkroad which is a nightmare. Good jobs are quite rare and you have to travel to exeter or plymouth for good shopping/concerts etc

Ivybridge is currently a building site, and Tavi looks as if it going the same way, especially on the Callington Road - and the revamp of the road. Was there on Saturday seeing my Mum.

I would live in Tavistock or Whitchurch in a heartbeat; however, if you go over the border into Cornwall and the Tamar Valley, house prices drop; there are many small primaries, and access to the Grammars in Plymouth, and the various secondaries around. The same with Saltash, easy access to Plymouth and the dockyard from there, and you are straight onto the A38 as well.

We are moving back to the Uk from Belgium in 3 weeks (I will be en route with ds and the cats in 3 weeks today), and we are moving back to the Tamar Valley without hesitation.

Kingsbridge is a lovely town with good state primary and secondary schools. Ivybridge has a good state secondary too. Totnes is a really popular town (with house prices to match), I know a few people from Brighton who have moved there as it has an arty, veggie vibe.

Exeter is a lovely small cathedral city (housing in Exeter or surrounding villages if you want to commute). Importantly it has good rail connections which the South hams although stunning lack.

The big stumbling block for most people who move is jobs. My friend ( in Thurlstone) is a tax accountant but has ended up doing school pick up child minding, trying to sell eggs and apples etc from her orchard(everyone has eggs and apples!) her husband has had to live away quite a bit doing contracting or commuting to Plymouth. Not ideal.

The traffic in the height of tourist season can be bad through the centre of town (just like Brighton). Bus services in villages can be poor so you can spend a lot of time in the car ferrying kids to activities when young and all over the place when teens. As to "niceness" just like in Brighton it could depend on your finances. There are also grotty areas, drink/drug issues etc in the countryside.

I've lived in both places and Brighton was actually much better for our family, especially as the eldest headed to teens. We lived in a "nice" part of Brighton in the "Golden triangle" near great primary, secondary and sixth form colleges , parks, loads of activities, countryside on the Downs etc all within walking distance , so avoided much of the traffic and drugs/drink /grime excess of the centre.

I recently moved to north Devon. What do your teenagers think about the idea? It's a tricky time to move I think.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/property/3408659-Relocating-to-Devon

Old thread on topic from a few years ago

Thank you all so much for your comments.

@XingMing it’s great to now have so much information on so many areas.

It’s a shame to hear that public transport isn’t great. I hadn’t really thought about it too much as I just assumed it would be like it is where I live now so that’s definitely something I will need to think about some more.

@scaryteacher I will definitely have a look at Tamar Valley as hadn’t considered that area before.

@SapatSea it’s so interesting to hear your views based on living in Brighton previously. Having read everyone’s comments I’m starting to realise I may be a little naive in my expectations. We currently live in Kemp Town just off the seafront and my DDs attend Dorothy stringer and Varndean college. It’s not the worst area in Brighton by far but I don’t feel very safe at night and also it’s just becoming so unbelievably busy and increasing amounts of burglaries etc. I work in Gatwick and it takes such a long time to get in and out of Brighton itself, fine once on the A23. My husband commutes to London by train so approximately an hour and a half each way and my commute is an hour each way although I’m currently on maternity leave. I guess I just have this vision in my mind that we will find an area in Devon and it be basically a nice village with a school and a sandy beach and a nice community feel. That all the things I dislike about Brighton (the traffic, feeing unsafe/drug users etc) would be non-existent :(

@northdevonnewbie where did you move from? They definitely are not over the moon but I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t feel it to be for the best. It isn’t ideal but the problem is that we are always forever waiting otherwise for one of them to finish school/college/uni etc and the older they get the more I feel the environment in Brighton is not the best place to be for them unfortunately.

Thank you everyone :)

OP I think your view of Brighton might be because you live in Kemptown. I used to live there and then moved out to Fiveways (near those schools). I got so fed up with the noise and drunken people knocking on our door at 3 in the morning in Kemptown. It really changed from a slightly down at heel but neighbourly area to a pitta. The Georgian flat conversions I lived in were all owner occupied when me moved in but over the past 10 + years have all become holiday lets or private lets. Fiveways is so much better for families, we often forget to lock our doors, never had any trouble in 12 years, just the odd noisy teen party when parents are away. Balfour primary is lovely with green fields to play in, nice toddler groups too and near for your older ones school/college, no bus fares. Rents and house /flat prices are often around the same as Kemptown (as there are few student or holiday lets to push up the rental prices). Feels like a different world.

Do you drive? You could move out to the villages in Sussex. Passed through Fittleworth, Storrington, Cootham etc the other day as I'm scouting to move and they were really nice. Fittleworth had a community shop, run with volunteers and a paid manager, a great village school and hall, childrens playground all on a central green. Lots of country walks off the common. Bus links seemed good too. Only 2 miles to Pullborough train station with London rail link.

Is it worth having a look at what jobs are currently out there in places like Exeter, Plymouth and Barnstaple? That will give you an idea of whether finding work is feasible!

I grew up across the border in Cornwall and the public transport really is dire. More than an hours bus journey to college each day. Saying that, if you chose somewhere like Exmouth (near Exeter) or Croyde/Braunton (near Barnstaple) it's not so bad - and beachy! Some bus routes are better than others, especially the ones closer to a big town or city.

I've always been half tempted to move back that way as it is so lovely and peaceful, but the lack of jobs in my particular profession and lack of diversity always makes me change my mind again.

Following on from my earlier ramble, may I say frankly, that if I had not had my own modestly successful freelance options before I moved here that could, by WFH (then in its infancy as it was 1990) be brought here, nothing on earth could get me to move here.

I've been here 30 years, the countryside is lovely and it's nice and cosy. However commercial opportunities and jobs for professionals are thin on the ground, except in public service sector. Public sector jobs with national pay scales are the absolute pinnacle of earnings in Devon and Cornwall. Your GP or headteacher is probably the best-paid person around, because the lifestyle pull is so huge. I never generated a local commission for work; everything came out of London. So I would be very cautious. Life in the southwest looks appealing but unless you can bring a high earning role with you, then you must understand that you will earn half/max two-thirds of what you get in the southeast.

I really don't want to put you off, but if you are thinking seriously about moving here, do so with your eyes open.

I agree about the jobs situation. We moved here pretty blithely from the north west, and now I've started looking properly at the job ads it is really pretty bleak! DH is one of the jobs XingMing mentions, which is how we managed to get here...

With respect, what XingMing says about pay is not true at all, or at least not in Exeter, but it depends what you do. Lawyers, accountants, doctors etc all well paid (albeit not on City scale for lawyers/accountants) and with good quality work/employers.

If you’re seriously considering moving, you need to look at comparable roles for where you are now. I wouldn’t move with your kids the age they are now tbh.

I have just moved to Cornwall and it's the best thing I could possibly have done. The quality of life is fantastic.

If I were you I would set up my own practice specialising in holiday let accounting and self assessment. I have to use an accountant in the Lake District as there is no-one here!

Jobs will never pay what you can get in the SouthEast. You have to be prepared to earn less but be happier. Apparently Exeter has a few professional services firms.

Exeter is a thriving city. DH networks with solicitors and accountants and they are all busy.

We have visited both Devon and Cornwall on holiday so looked at it as an outsider and also whether half heartedly we could live there. We also have friends in Devon who moved from being neighbours

It is beautiful..no doubt about it. However, they would say (and they are very happy there) that depending on your occupation it isn't easy to get well laid jobs. They are high earners but work remotely. Also, in summer it is extremely difficult to move anywhere quickly due to the impact of summer tourism which if course is the staple of the economy

The difference in pay between Exeter and Plymouth, for professional jobs, is about £10k pa according to an article in the Plymouth Herald which IIRC was published last year.

Go outside Plymouth, further into the country side and it falls further. I was a high earner, but NONE of my clients were local. DH has created a micro-business in a very specialist niche, but it has been fairly uphill work for nearly 30 years.

Unless you bring your work with you or create an enterprise here, you are at the mercy of the local economy and you are talking about caring, leisure, tourism, hospitality and retail rates of pay... which is to say, NMW or a very little more.

As Xingming says, most jobs in rural Devon are NMW- not just the ones already mentioned, but also admin/office/reception jobs also tend to be at this level. You can get more for cleaning; £12 per hour. As has been suggested upthread, you really want to be near enough to one of the larger towns to commute if you want higher paid jobs. Having said that it's cheaper to live here as there are more outdoor things to do and fewer shops to be tempted by! I live in East Devon and really like it here, lots to do and very safe but the larger towns eg Exeter, Yeovil, Taunton, Dorchester are an hour away at least taking into account country lanes and traffic. It's a good quality of life though if you are not into money and shopping also a bit of a culture shock to start with.

How do you think it will pan out for your older DCs? Will they find it hard to integrate and will the 17 year old be off to uni elsewhere - or is the plan for them to settle and find employment in Devon after school or college? That might limit their options. There are some lovely places to live in the South Downs which would erase the issues you have with Kemptown, allow you to keep your jobs, not disrupt your teenagers education and social life as well as ensuring more varied employment opportunities for them down the line.