Moving to Devon Advice

[PiscesHoneyBee]

Hi everyone 👋

My fiancé and I have always dreamed of moving to the coast, and after recently selling our house we’ve had a very “why not now?” moment. We’re currently based in the East Midlands. I’m an Assistant Headteacher at a primary school, and my other half is a Class 1 HGV driver.

We’re trying to be sensible and make sure we’ve really done our research, so any advice or experiences would be hugely appreciated.

At the moment, we’re thinking East Devon might be the best fit. Being within commuting distance of Exeter feels reassuring job-wise for both of us, especially as we’re aware that lorry driving roles might be more limited in more rural coastal areas. We absolutely love seaside towns like Budleigh Salterton, Sidmouth, and Beer/Seaton, but we’re also very open to the idea of living slightly inland in one of the villages nearer Exeter and benefiting from easier commuting.

We recently took a trip down in February (2026) to explore some of the villages and, if I’m honest, we came away feeling a bit underwhelmed. We’re not sure whether that was the miserable weather making everything feel a bit grey and run down, or whether we’ve taken for granted how pretty the villages are where we currently live.

I’d love to hear from anyone who lives in (or has lived in) places like Ottery St Mary, Tipton St John, Newton Poppleford, or similar — what are these places actually like day to day? Do they feel friendly and connected, or a bit sleepy and isolated? Would it be best to move to the coastal towns that we know we love at all times of the year?

One of our worries is that if we chose a more coastal town, we might end up feeling cut off, and that commuting (especially in summer) could become a real headache. On the other hand, we don’t currently have children but are hoping to start a family in the next couple of years, and living by the sea feels like it could offer a really lovely upbringing.

So I suppose my big questions are:

• What is East Devon like for young families?
• Is moving 3.5 hours away from all family a mistake at this stage of life, especially with children hopefully on the horizon?
• Are we romanticising coastal life too much?
• Should we be considering an entirely different area altogether?

As you can probably tell, we’re having a bit of a millennial anxiety crisis over this 😅 Any thoughts, lived experiences, or gentle reality checks would be unbelievably appreciated.

Thank you so much if you’ve read this far ❤️

To be honest I would find a job before you start thinking about where to locate to.

Lorry driving seems like it should be an in demand role but teaching jobs are not. There's more people than jobs. DH is a teacher and he secured a role before we moved (also to East Devon). We've been here for 2 years now. The other day he was idly looking at jobs as you do and there isn't a single role in his subject(s) within easy commuting distance.

You also probably don't want to live too close to where you teach and bump into students all the time on your days off. We avoid the town where DH teaches even though it's a really nice place to go. Every time we do we bump into lots of kids that know him. They're nice, but you don't want to be making small talk with teens on your days off.

Yes lovely town - reminds me of Mevagissy in Cornwall. However not a good place to bring up children. As far as I'm aware it's very small, very few amenities & rather out of the way with bad roads.

We moved from the north West to Devon for two years. I would say: dont underestimate how hard it is not having family around you. We've moved back near to our families now as they are getting to an age where they need us and we felt guilty being so far away. I do miss the beaches though. The other downside is that you are miles from everywhere. We were used to being close to lots of places so that was also a shock. I dont think you have anything at all to lose by going for a few years to see if it works for you. Now is the time to do it - before you have kids!

Yes, but the people generally in the south east are not so nice and I found that the people in the south West were lovely. I found the people in Devon to be quite simple and earthy and friendly, as opposed to the materialism of the south east; huge generalisation there, i know, but that's my feeling about the two areas.

Not a good place to bring up children???

we live in close proximity (less than 0.5m) to a swimming pool, costal path, football/rugby pitches and the flipping beach!

I pick my daughter up from school and walk home via the beach to look at the seals and spot the dolphins.

warmer days spent in the sea paddle boarding or swimming. My daughter wants to be a marine biologist and is involved with many local organisations and loving it.

yeah, shit place to bring up kids 🙄

I'm in Mid Devon. Don't move here, It's SO GORGEOUS I want to keep it to myself and my happy little Family 😁Seriously, it's amazing.

My family live there. They looked at the quainter villages and love Beer on the sea in particular but bought in honiton because it has all the services they needed including direct trains to London, easy access to Exeter, secondary school in town and even a small hospital. You get more house for your money too, Devon is expensive. It’s a market town that’s grown with new housing so not quaint but suits them. If you like music there’s a bit of venue which gets some touring musicians especially folk

I was about to mention Honiton, with its train station and 15/20 mins to Sidmouth. Could also look at Sidbury but it's too small for me and many properties are a flood risk.

If anyone really thinks the roads are busy (East Devon) - even in the middle of Summer - then they have probably never lived in the SE.

We rented in Sidmouth for over a year and it was never a hassle driving around or getting to the supermarket. I have no idea where that suggestion came from.

On Uber, I was about to say rubbish until I realised that someone was talking about UberEats (what can I say?). I Uber'd from Exeter to 15 miles away last week. Car turned up in 8 minutes at 18:00, and the driver took only 20 mins (I closed my eyes all the way!!!).

Be very careful with flood risk and don't live too near any cliffs. Load the Area360 add-in for RM so that you can skip potentially problematic properties quickly.

Whether you'll miss your friends and family is entirely personal.

For Ottery, watch The Wickerman, then find a video on YT about Tar Barrels. I especially like it when the children are forced to do it (joking).