If your a mountain biker, then no matter what’s on your doorstep, you’ll want to ride other places, and that makes Bristol better imo..

this is true but considering I only get to go on non local rides a couple of times a year an extra hour or so on the motorway for the odd w.e is not as important.

about 2 miles from exeter centre.

3 miles.

HTH. 😉

Why not split the difference and move to Taunton. 😆

LOL! that’s where The North starts Dibbs!

Why not split the difference and move to Taunton.

Or the cosmopolitan metropolis of Bridgewater 🙂

or the faded victorian glory of WSM…

Bristol
Better nightlife, food, bands, theatre etc, basically all the things i did want.

Exeter
Less of the above but a nicer, smaller, less busy place to live and bring up a child, which i am now doing.

Riding wise, i’d say Exeter wins a) because you have a good mix of riding, either from the door (Haldon/Woodbury), or within an hour (Dartmoor, Exmoor, Q’s) and b) because apart from Ashton Court and the Mendips you’ll have to pay for the bridge to ride in Wales!!

Exactly what burchy said

I agree about Bournemouth it is a horrible place, I live just up the road.

I like Bristol and Cardiff but then I am a roided valley dickhead according to Wrecker 🙄 😆

Exeter was ok but in a choice between the two Bristol would be the one

I think it’s largely covered by posts above apart from molgrip’s fantasy 😆

Anyway, Bristol is a great place to live but, having moved a little distance away largely for schools, it does have some downsides.

Traffic is indeed horrible in many places BUT it’s not like London traffic in that it’s rush hour only and by 6:30 in the evening it’s largely disappeared. Also, depending on where you live/work and actually go, it’s not necessarily an issue. I lived in Totterdown (South Bristol) and rarely had much of an issue with it beyond adding 10 mins to the journey compared to non-rush hour.

Schools are an issue at secondary level (generally don’t seem great unless you go to church (Redcliffe) or have particularly academic kids (BGS))and in some areas at Primary because they’re oversubscribed.

Interesting thread as I’ve just made this choice myself. I ended up choosing Exeter but working from home for a Bristol company. I’m moving down at the end of the year and looking forward to it!

Exeter FTW! Moved down here 4 years ago – enforced move via a work relocation, didn’t want to be here, but utterly love it. I know Bristol well, and a good amount of our friends are there, but wouldn’t want to live there now. Maybe 10 years ago it would have been my preferred choice, but much preferring things being a little quieter and easier to escape. That all said, Exeter does have a reasonable nightlife, restaurant and cafe culture – sure, the bigger bands don’t come here – but Bristol’s less than an hour away on the train!

I’d also argue a little about employment opportunities too – yes, Bristol will have more – there’s just more businesses (and people) but there’s a huge amount of companies moving here with the science park and that kind of thing – and you’re not far from a lot of other places if you don’t mind a bit of a commute.

Here’s my Two pennies worth.
I currently live in Exeter but hanker for the bands, culture and buzz of Bristol. But not enough to uproot and move for.
Lots have mentioned Exeter being a town when in fact it is a City but feels a lot more like a large town. Having said that it is starting to wake up to the fact that it is a city which I’m pleased with as hopefully it will become a bit more sparky.
Dartmoor is totally lush and one of my favourite parts of living in Devon, not only for mountain biking but also for walking and climbing. There are also loads of lush beaches if you can be arsed to look beyond Exmouth and Teignmouth.
As mentioned there’s Woodbury common and Haldon and the latter is probably the best bit of riding locally. Plenty of Off piste tracks. There is also Gawton woods near Tavistock with has a few downhill routes.
Overall Devon and Exeter are pretty lush to live in but slightly sleepy.
p.s. Traffic is a nightmare in Exeter too but cycling around the city is pretty easy as it’s so small.

Lot of good thoughts here thanks, given me some good points to think of. I’ve been spending some time in Bristol visiting partners sister so I think I need to spend some more time in Exeter, but this thread has givin me some good point about both.