Currently live just outside Bournemouth (Ringwood) and want to move probably to either Bristol or Exeter within the next 1-2 years.
Things I don’t like about Bournemouth in no particular order:
1. Expensive property but jobs don’t pay that well.
2. Large and bussy but still has small town vibe, I.e got the bad side of a large town without the good side. Kind of related to number 1. Not what you would call a cosmopolitan town.
3. Dull sourounding countryside. It largley green welly dog walking. A little bit of interesting walking and mtbing on the isle of perbecks but it a very small area and quite time consuming to get to.
4. End of road type of place but without the advantages of being end of the road.
Bristol seems nice, still expensive but more gogin on and better connected to rest of country that Exeter or Bournemouth. Don’t know exeter as well but i really like devon and although exeter is further from wales for big daysout it seems to have more local to it (when i mean loacal i mean an easy 30 40 min journey not 1hour in perfect traffic @ 70 mph) but seems to have enough going on in town too. Stuff very local is more important than really amazing a little journey away. Bristol seems to have stuff closeish but still a bit of a way. Seems like it can be an arse to get around.
I work in programming but Engineering related rather than business applications. Currently doing control systems. Thinking of going contracting though so likely to have to work away anyway. Partner is a teacher, enjoys challenging schools.