Moving to Devon/Cornwall - please help

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The pandemic has had a very bad impact on our jobs and as a result, DH and I have made the sad decision to sell our house in the south east and start a new life in Devon or Cornwall.

Our maximum budget is £300,000 and for that we’d like an old house with two or three bedrooms, plus outside space for our dog and cat. Good schools are important for our baby son.

We’d be happy to live in a village or town, inland or coastal, but would like somewhere with a good community all year round.

Does anyone have any wisdom they could share on places that are nice to live in that part of the world? I really don’t know where to start!

Ilfracombe is lovely, and you'll get a lot of house for your £300k
I'd go Devon rather than Cornwall just because it's a bit more welcoming to English immigrants!

You say you're moving because Covid has had a bad effect on your jobs. Have you thought about what you'll do about work if you move to Devon or Cornwell? Cornwell has an unemployment problem and I can't imagine Devon is much better unless you're near Exeter.

It's beautiful and I would love to live there, have you thought what you'll do for jobs though?

I was about to say the same about jobs...I moved to Cornwall 6 years ago. I'm highly skilled and experienced but yet my salary is just below £20k because the job market is very limited.

As a Devonian who left Devon to find work I would echo the above comments about unemployment in the Southwest.

That aside, mid Devon is a lovely place to live and a bit cheaper than the coastal, touristy areas. Willand, Cullompton, Silverton (great community), Broadclyst are all good. Devon is the same as anywhere though - get close to the really popular schools and prices go up to almost South East levels. If I could go back I would as all my family are still there.

Jobs aren’t an issue, as we can both work remotely from anywhere. We will still have work; it’s just that the amount of work has literally halved since Covid. So we want to drastically reduce our mortgage to take the pressure off.

Devon and Cornwall are very beautiful, but I’m just a bit nervous about moving to a new area - particularly about making friends!

Devon is having a property boom post lockdown. My parents are putting their house on the market. It's a good time to buy.

Thanks. I’m just so unsure about where to focus our search!

Honiton, close to Exeter, the beach, an AONB, and good transport links including train line to Waterloo.

The problem is the nice bits are expensive due to second homes and holiday lets. Unless you’re happy to live inland, you’ll get more for your money there. I think Devon is much friendlier but love Cornwall although the people can be insular. We know a couple who moved back to Cornwall in late middle age (one of them Cornish) and they’ve not been able to make any friends. Although you’ve got a child - that will help as can meet people through school. I would be tempted for one of you to get a job or volunteer (even if part time) that allows you to meet people in the local area.

One of the villages outside Exeter?
Not far from the coast, not far from Dartmoor, easy access to M5, Jurassic coast starts at Exmouth and east Devon is an area of outstanding natural beauty.

Really does depend on lots of things

• will you need to get out of Devon quickly eg to go to London got work ever? If so then look close to M5/A38 in the south and east as north Devon is a nightmare to travel from.

• is there any hobbies you want to do? Some places are better for surf/water sports, other places are bettter places for hiking

• how much ‘life and culture’ do you need? Really only Exeter and plymouth will have any decent range of museums/theatre/shops/things going on. Everywhere else will be small town with very limited shops etc. Fine if that’s what you want but if you are the sort to want designer shops and fancy restaurants you need to think about where you go.

• broadband. Investigate carefully when you find a house you like. Broadband isn’t always so great out on the sticks. If you are working from home this will be really important!

• jobs. Luckily WFH is more common and accepted but otherwise decent job prospects are not really there.

East Devon is lovely. Close to Exeter, good rail links to London, lots of lovely little village schools and some fabulous scenery.
You get a lot more for you money in north/west Devon but the reason is that despite being beautiful, they are a bit of a slog to get to and not really close to much in terms of city amenities.

We did what this 15 years ago. We moved to North Devon so our comments would be:
Cornwall and the very touristy bits of Devon can be hell in high summer, Easter and holidays. Tourists really can be complete CFs. Equally in off season some places turn out to be completely soulless.
Don't worry about making friends, you'll make plenty through school and hobbies. The South West (and I imagine many less built up arras) has a sense of community you won't find in the South East.
Don't get too hung up on an old place they can cost a fortune to run and maintain.
As always prices reflect desirability.
Jobs, particularly well paid jobs are rare as rocking horse manure.
Look for somewhere with a pub, a church, a primary school and a post office, take one of these away and the community drifts apart. (Even if you don't personally use them all.)
Visit at least a couple of times at different times of the year.
It rains - a lot. I mean it really rains.
It doesn't get as hot during the summer or as cold during the winter.

High Bickington or Atherington, North Devon?

Both medium sized villages with pubs, shops, post offices and primary schools. Far enough away from the coast for sensible house prices, with 10 mins drive of Barnstaple, Exmoor, the North Devon relief road and with a train link at Umberleigh.

Close to Exmoor too.

I have friends in Ashburton. They like it a lot. Good schools and enough going on. I wouldn’t go to a cliquey village or necessarily go for stunning tourist spots. Decent towns with plenty of options for meeting people are best. I’d avoid Cornwall.

Be aware that it rains all the fucking time in Devon. Just a word of caution... (glares at driving rain outside)
Avoid north devon if you ever want to travel... well, anywhere as it’s a pain in the fucking arse and you’ll learn to hate that bastard cross country farce of a link road.
Touristy areas are truly infuriating from April through to September. I’m not saying all tourists are bad by any stretch (Altho some are questionable at best, as with all people), it’s more a case that our infrastructure isn’t designed for shitloads of people and everywhere gets snarled up to hell.
Exeter is generally nicer than Plymouth if you want to be near a city, and has good transport links.
The old houses that are beautiful to look at are almost always damp, cold and cost a fortune to run. No good cutting down on your mortgage if your bills sky rocket.

On the flip side, Devon is the most beautiful place on earth and nowhere is better. Don’t @ me.

Look at budleigh salterton/ottery st Mary, nice villages in a good area with good links to Exeter.
I’m in north devon, very close to Clovelly, and I would never move, but I’m not 100% convinced it would match up to what you want?

As an aside, I totally agree with a pp upthread; decent pub, nice little primary school, church community and you’ve a nice village. I would throw decent village shop into the mix too.

I was going to say the same. My dh grew up in Devon and although he loved it, one reason he moved away was the lack of jobs. Have you thought about going northwards instead?

Have you thought about south east wales? Lots of the same things near by as Devon eg Brecon Beacons = Dartmoor, Forest of Dean/wye valley = Devon country side, beaches are not too far away, but we are very close to Bristol and Cardiff for big city stuff, close enough to pop into for the day/evening.
I grew up in Devon (south but went to boarding school in north and DH is from North devon) and have lived in south east wales for 15 years so have experience of both and especially now the kids are getting to teen years, here has much more for my them than Devon. Concerts etc

I'm relatively familiar with south Devon - Ashburton seems like a nice place and I also like Totnes, but I think both might be out of our budget sadly! I don't know north or east Devon at all.

Cooler summers would suit me down to the ground as I barely survive the heatwaves we get in the south-east!

Wales is beautiful but I don't feel I belong there somehow.

Is Devon less touristy than Cornwall in the summer, or are they both about the same?

I did the same a couple of years ago, Kent to near Barnstaple. Have to agree with previous comments re. Cornwall. North Devon is lovely, we're near High Bickington so have a local shop and pub which I think are quite important, a lot of villages around here don't have either so I'd bear that in mind when looking. We both found jobs in and around Barnstaple. We're about 20 mins from town do not too far for shopping etc.

Echo your concerns about making friends though as I've yet to make any (haven't tried that hard though tbh). Feel free to PM me if you would like more info.

If you're not fussed about being close to a beach look at the M5 corridor from Taunton to Exeter, you'll have Exmoor, Dartmoor the South Coast and the North Coast all within an hour for great day trips. Choose a decent sized village. If north coast look between Barnstaple and Bude e.g. fremington for good value.

I’m in Exeter and love it, I have 2 small kids. There are loads of lovely places around it eg Honiton, Silverton mentioned above, Crediton, Exmouth etc. You are close to the beach, the moors, cornwall, but also accessible to London and Bristol. Feel free to pm me if I can help at all

East Devon and Exeter are so, so busy and crowded all the time. We moved away 12 years ago as it was awful and so many incomers constantly moving there making it ever more so. When I go back to visit family, it's quite depressing. If you want quieter and rural with a great quality of life, try North Devon.