Moving to Devon/Cornwall - please help

[unsure635]

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!

Devon's wider than Cornwall, so it is easier to be inland away from the hoards.

East Devon's lovely. How about this one for starters [[https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-75101893.html ]]

Bradninch, Silverton, Thorverton, Broad Clyst are all lovely communities. Bigger places like Crediton, Exeter are good but busy and hard to get around.

Devon is the best. But my god the traffic in school holiays is crazy!

We will welcome you with open arms.

Beaware of phone signal and broadband. It's pretty bad sometimes.

It doesn't rain that much. It's the first day of rain today for a looooong time.

You will get a beautiful house with that money. Stick to mid Devon and you will live very well.

I live on the Devon/Somerset border, and I'd suggest if you have children, focus on the schools to start with - there are several outstanding schools across Devon, but being in catchment attracts a premium - however, with your budget you would be able to get into the catchment of one of the ones near me (Uffculme) and get a decent 3-bed for that. There are also several good private schools, if that was something you wanted.
As others have suggested the M5 corridor which goes up from Exeter is good for transport links as well as decent rail services from Exeter/Tiverton Parkway to Bristol and London and onwards, plus the North Devon Link which makes getting to North Devon easier - though its obviously very busy in the summer. We're pretty landlocked, but the nearest beaches are less than an hour away - we spent Sunday at Woolacombe beach. There is lots to do locally - and as with anywhere you make friends by getting involved in the community, through your children, the school, local groups or hobbies etc.

Wadebridge was also on our list, just avoid the tourist hot spots. Central and South East Cornwall are also very lovely.

Wadebridge is not that great a place to live. Nowhere near as good as some of the times in Devon! It’s a bit run down but not as bad as Bodmin, Redruth and Camborne and Hayle isn’t great either.

If you are not too choosy about size of property, I do think you should prioritise areas with better schools and enough to do. Certainly £300k does get you something with three beds around Ashburton. Just not a palace.

Give west Cornwall and the tourist honeypot areas a swerve, and stick to the eastern part of the county, OP and west Devon, around the edges of Dartmoor where you are within easy reach of the A30.

I would look at Okehampton, which has the best comprehensive in West Devon, or at Launceston which is currently the best comp in east Cornwall; my primary school knowledge is very out of date. Cornwall generally has good superfast broadband coverage, Devon I believe is less great on that score.

I prefer Launceston to Okehampton, aesthetically. Launceston has excellent independent food shopping and one of the best butchers in the country. The towns are 18 miles apart along the A30, and one has Waitrose, the other has M&S Food. Both towns have minor injury units, but the big hospitals are in Exeter and Plymouth.

House prices are comparable and within your budget but rise rapidly once you start looking at pretty houses in pretty villages. It takes 45 mins to get to Exeter station from Okehampton. The M5 and A303 are nightmares during summer weekends.

You would get a lot in ivybridge for your money.

Friend lives in Honiton and is very pleased. They love going down to Sidmouth / coastal walks in nice weather, but HOniton itself isnt touristy (but good shops and looks nice). Not sure re you prices but not to expensive.

(they moved a few yrs ago from Bath area).

To the beaches, you're closer to the north coast beaches, which from either Launceston or Okehampton, mean Bude and the Hartland peninsula.

Somewhat controversially on MN, I vastly prefer Plymouth to Exeter as most of the housing stock is bigger and nicer and cheaper. Exeter and Plymouth were both heavily bombed. But concede that Plymouth is poor and has some very dodgy areas. Salaries are much better in Exeter, by about £10k pa. Houses cost more too.

Just to add about all of those saying broadband is rubbish. We are right out in the sticks and we have just had a company lay fibre to the premises of all of the local houses around honiton so we will soon have super duper speedy broadband and I can't bloody wait!!

I know North Devon very well. I love to visit, but I couldn't live there. Bideford (where family live) is an attractive little town but rather run down due to the local council's mania for opening massive out-of-town supermarkets. It's also got quite a lot of social problems, which are usually hidden but often very evident at pub chucking out time.

You might also encounter a lot of um... "old fashioned" opinions. I could say similar about Barnstaple. Both towns often feel a long way from anywhere, and it's an hour's drive from the M5. The train to Exeter from Barnstaple is like something out of Thomas The Tank Engine.

Having said that, I really like visiting. A wild coastline, glorious sunsets, wide, wide beaches, Exmoor on your doorstep, some great pubs. Appledore and Instow are two of the loveliest little coastal towns in the UK. I could happily live in either (if they weren't in North Devon).

Is Taunton considered North Devon?

@chipsarnie

I know North Devon very well. I love to visit, but I couldn't live there. Bideford (where family live) is an attractive little town but rather run down due to the local council's mania for opening massive out-of-town supermarkets. It's also got quite a lot of social problems, which are usually hidden but often very evident at pub chucking out time.

You might also encounter a lot of um... "old fashioned" opinions. I could say similar about Barnstaple. Both towns often feel a long way from anywhere, and it's an hour's drive from the M5. The train to Exeter from Barnstaple is like something out of Thomas The Tank Engine.

Having said that, I really like visiting. A wild coastline, glorious sunsets, wide, wide beaches, Exmoor on your doorstep, some great pubs. Appledore and Instow are two of the loveliest little coastal towns in the UK. I could happily live in either (if they weren't in North Devon).

I love the Thomas the tank engine train to Exeter from Barnstaple!, granted I wouldn’t want to do it every day for work, but it’s such a beautiful scenic journey, I find it quite charming.

@CatAndHisKit

Is Taunton considered North Devon?

Taunton is in Somerset

Hartland North Devon 3 pubs in the village, post office, couple of shops and lovely primary school and then there’s Hartland Quay - stunning. It’s between Bude and Bideford and Clovelly is 7 mins away. A nice community feel to the place.