Relocation to Plymouth/Cornwall

[Diamond263]

Hi everyone, new to posting on mumsnet but read lots of useful threads over the years! Wondering if anyone can offer any advice please.
We have been living happily in rural aberdeenshire for the last 8 years but now have a 2 year old and 4 month old. All our family are near Exeter and job market up here less certain than it used to be. We are planning on putting our house up for sale to relocate back to the south west, DHs job likely Plymouth but with WFH these days we can look a little further out of Plymouth for property and closer to family in Exeter. Im a bit heartbroken at leaving Scotland, we love the space and freedom the kids have where we live. Can anyone offer advice about the best areas to look for property near enough to Plymouth please? Anyone there with young kids, how do you find it?
Currently focusing search on South Hams.

Many thanks!!

Does your DH have A definite job down in Plymouth?
South Hams is lovely - but it does cover a large area and very varied living situations (from remote Moor, sea side, town and village). What are you looking for?

Ivybridge perhaps? Lots of young families. Decent schools, Enough facilities ie: shops, medical, sports centre, library. Train station etc. Easy commute to Plymouth and Exeter, beaches and moors.

Ivybridge has loads of building going on. My friends who have a house there will be selling up when they return to UK, as it's overcrowded now.

West Devon is worth a look, Tavistock, Okehampton, and if it's Plymouth you need to be near, then you get more bangs for your buck over the Tamar in Cornwall. Saltash, Tamar Valley etc are all commutable to Plymouth (I did it for years, as did dh), and I can be in Exeter in 45 minutes.

Thank you all, some very helpful comments! Ivybridge does look nice but a bit too busy for us i think. A village would be about the limit in terms of where to look in South Hams, rural is OK too but id like to avoid busier towns. Thats so great to know you could get to Exeter so quickly @thegcatsmother as one priority is to not be driving too far to see family all the time. Whereabouts were you exactly? Ill take a look around Saltash too then, thank you. Okehampton too, I didn't realise that would be within commutable distance
We know Devon very well but east of Dartmoor!
DH has a couple of interviews coming up @onlyfortonight but seems there's quite a lot for him down there

I always thought Yealmpton and the villages around Modbury were nice when I lived down there ... and on the right side of Plymouth for Exeter.

I'm in the Tamar Valley; and we used to commute from here to different bits of Plymouth. Dh was in the RN, so he worked in the dockyard, and I worked in the middle of Plymouth, then on the periphery, depending where I was doing teaching practice.

Modbury in the S Hams is good; friends have had a house there for decades, and he worked in the dockyard as well. There is a new town going up called Sherford,with new homes. The website is Sherford.org, and the houses look OK. My friends who have a house in Ivybridge have adult children who have houses in and around Cornwood, and they seem to like it.

Worth looking at Crapstone, Yelverton and Horrabridge as well perhaps? Grammar schools in Plymouth, DHSB gets good results. People seem to like Bere Alston as well.

Db has a house on the big estate at Saltash, just off the A38 but friends have a lovely Victorian property nearer to the waterfront.

It sounds like it would be worth you living nearer to Exeter if dh can mostly wfh and that's where your family are?

The South Hams are beautiful bit so tricky to get to, any journey is longer due to the lanes and lack of big roads so getting to Plymouth from there would not be easy. I would think of villages along the a30 or A38.

I used to live in a village between Saltash and Callington and commuted to PLYMOUTH regularly.I was lucky as I missed peak tones and never had any problem crossing the bridge. You do have to factor In the crossing charges though which is currently £2, although you can buy a tag as I did which gives a discount..Also had to go to Exeter once a week and generally no problem but if there was a hold up or accident on the A38 there was another Route via A30or over the moors . Good luck. Do let us know how you get on. Living in PLYMOUTH now and like you I am a rural person and looking to nice out within commuter distance

Move not nice - aaagh predictive text

Ooh Helebeth, not that far from me then...I'm the other side of Callington.

Diamond I get to Exeter on the A30, so either pick it up at Launceston, or drive over the moor and luck it up at Sourtonn. Either way, 45 minutes. The A30 is fast, the A38 isn't, and isn't as nice to drive.

Sourton, only 1n!!