Moving from Sussex to Devon

[Suilamhain]

Hi, not sure if this is the best location for this thread let me know if not. Looking at potential job in Devon Newton Abbot area. Currently live in a commuter town in mid Sussex, not very pretty but highly functional, with lovely countryside around it.
I don’t really know much about Devon other than it’s a popular holiday destination. Some lifestyle factors we’re looking for;
• close to coast- sailing, also DH would like to volunteer for RNLI- bonus points if nearby
• good schools preferably within walking distance
• good facilities- shops/restaurants/library
• nice beach would be a massive bonus!
• safe area for a kid to grow up
• ideally train station
• nice community feel welcoming to newcomers as we wouldn’t have any family or friends in the area
• would be looking for a 3/4 bed on approx £500k budget- although could poss stretch to more if interest rates calm down!

Please can anyone let me know if this is possible in this part of Devon or if it’s complete pie in the sky!

I grew up in that area, moved away as a teenager but visit often.
There is a lot of new building going on in the Newton area, particularly between Newton and Torquay, so I don't suppose housing will be a problem.
There are lots of lovely beaches around Torquay, I'd recommend Broadsands which is between Paignton and Brixham - I spent many happy days there as a kid.
Train stations in both Paignton and Newton.
Nb. How about this house - a good friend of mine lives just up the road 😁
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/145279247#/?channel=RES_BUY

You'll probably need to compromise somewhere.

Sidmouth is lovely Georgian coastal town with RNLI, but no station.

Honiton is a great functional market town with station but no beach.

Paignton has many detractors (check out Turd Towns on YT).

Exmouth has a lovely sandy beach and a station (not sure on RNL and schools).

Budleigh Salterton (previous home of Hilary Mantel). Sweet coastal town. 5 miles to Exmouth station (don't know about schools).

Since we have been here we have loved the less manic roads compared with SE. How is HH these days?

Get out the Network Rail Map and a map of RNLI stations and see if that points you to a place of interest.

Stay away from Devon. Leave the homes to the locals. We don't need more northerners here, it's ruining the county

Oi! She's from Sussex. She's a southerner.

I’m not sure Sussex has ever been counted as North by anyone except you. Also the DH is moving for jobs, it’s not like they’re buying a holiday home.

Exmouth is RNLI and sandy. Train station too.
You want somewhere just south of Exeter.

XV sidmouth has it's own lifeboat. It's very good, just not RNLI.

I just moved from Devon to Mid Sussex lol

School-wise, it's worth knowing that Torbay has a grammar school system but the rest of Devon doesn't (though there is Colyton Grammar in East Devon). For an easy commute working in Newton Abbot you probably want to be West of Exeter (i.e. not Sidmouth, Exmouth, Honiton, Budleigh). My husband used to commute from the South-West side of Exeter itself though which was fine. The coastal towns (Torquay, Brixham, Paignton) don't have the best reputation for young people and you may find being a bit in land gets better schools and surrounding environment, unless you send kids to the excellent Torquay grammar schools. That said, I have a lot of fondness for Teignmouth.

SE'ers are hardy commuters! They wouldn't be phased by a 35 minute commute from Honiton! It used to take me that long to do a 6 mile trip to work each day in the SE.

Yes would be happy to do up to 45 minute commute to live somewhere really nice!

Even worse I’m actually Irish 🤣 thanks for answering my question about a welcoming community

I wouldn't live in Sidmouth, Honiton etc if the job is in Newton Abbot. There are lots of nice villages around although Newton Abbot is not particularly lovely itself! You could live somewhere in between Torquay etc and Newton Abbot if you wanted to be nearish the sea.

And OP- my parents live in a village and love it when new people move in! Makes a change from the people who have never left Devon!

The other thing to note is to not be scared when strangers say hello to you. Obviously, only psycho's do it in the SE but elsewhere it's quite normal. Even the school children are largely polite and talkative. A stranger said hello to me, in passing, on my first day in Devon. What a refreshing change.

If you're looking at Newton Abbot job, look around Teignmouth / Shaldon / Dawlish for seaside towns or Totnes / Ashburton / bovey Tracy for inland towns. You could look further south to Dartmouth / kingsbridge / salcombe etc but they are really quite far south (gorgeous though!)

I wouldn't bother looking over to east Devon suggested above when there's so many nice places in south Devon near Newton.