We are tentatively planning a move back to the West Country next year to be closer to family and friends. My wife is thinking of a career change and is considering doing a PGCE, possibly in Exeter. I'd be looking for work either in that area or somewhere within a reasonable commute (I work in IT, specialising in asset / work management systems – transport, utilities, telecoms etc). Naturally I'm expecting a pay cut, but it's quality of life that counts.

The area around Exeter itself is not an area we know that well although we know North Devon and West Somerset really well.

What's the area like to live and raise a family? We'd be looking for semi-rural locations with access to countryside but reasonably good transport links and easy trip to the coast.

Would be really interested in the views of those who live/ have lived round that way.

Thanks

J

traffic in the run into the centre can be a nightmare, but park and ride works well.

plus in the summer it is grockel central… my others half parents live near Branscombe – 1/2 way between Sidmouth and Seaton

I would choose to live to the east of Exeter if possible.. perhaps Honiton would be a good bet – bit of a dull place, but has train station and good road access to Exeter plus not to far to go to the sea.

depends how out in the stick you want… Whimple?

I moved to Exeter 5 years ago from the midlands, without knowing anyone in the area, and it’s the best thing I ever did. I’ve found the locals friendly (although most seem to be relocated midlanders…) and the off road riding and mountain biking scene is fantastic. I’ve absolutely no idea about trendy ’nightlife’, but have found plenty of good pubs and the ale is pretty good too.

Having grown up in Birmingham, Exeter is clearly a very small city, but has everything I need in a compact area, is close to the coast and Dartmoor and has excellent motorway and rail links to the rest of the country. I’m currently working in Exeter and living in Newton Abbot which is a 25min drive if you avoid the peak traffic, or a 1hr 20min commute by bike (including a serious climb over Haldon).

Lots of small towns and villages on the A38 corridor to the south west – good links to Exeter and Plymouth, coast and moor. On the other hand if you head out west on the A30 towards Okehampton its starts to get very rural and isolated very quickly. North of the A30 you quickly get into ‘deepest Devon’ – there be dragons etc.

My work takes me out into the sticks in East Devon a lot, and I like the areas around Honiton, Ottery St Mary and Exmouth, but it’s too far from Dartmoor for me and my preference is to stay on the south west side of Exeter.

There’s quite a few forum folk from the Exeter and Newton Abbot areas – all the ones I know seem to like it around here too. I’m sure a few will be along to add their thoughts.

If I was forced to work in Exeter (live in Plymouth), I'd move to Exmouth and Commute lovely little town which boasts one of the highest density of pubs for a town or something along those lines!

With regards to the PGCE training.. good luck getting a teaching job after! Southwest and Teaching jobs don't really go together! You'll have competition from Exeter, Plymouth Uni and Marjon PGCE students…

Still good riding and if your after any roots plymouth side give us a shout!

The rain, it raineth every day…

+1 for everything tim said, and sorry steve, i did Plymouth for 4 years and Exeter wins: end of.

Moved here 3-4 years ago, cracking place to live, exeter is big enough and old enough to have everything you want, a bit of history, yet small enough so you can get out of town quickly and up onto the moors etc. I would look at the east side of exeter… broardclyst, woodbury as all the industrial estates with the type of firms you are looking for are over that way.

nice bunch of people down here too… and lots and lots of riding.

Geez, makes me realise how much I miss the riding in hertfordsire. 😆

I would look west of Exeter on the A30 corridor – fantastic riding on Dartmoor, excellent for getting out to North Cornwall coast and fine for getting to East Devon and into Exeter (20 mins into Exeter by car and 40 onn the bike from Cheriton Bishopish area). Plus there should be a new P&R on the west side of the city at Alphington before too long.

I'm north of the A30 with the dragons.

Thanks all – appreciate the responses.

With regard to the PGCE – hear what you're saying. My wife has a masters degree, doctorate and about 10 years experience in industry – I reckon the problem is she's going to be overqualified for most teaching jobs.

My sister lives there with her boyfriend – they love it.

And for MTBers – near to Dartmoor, Haldon and Exmoor.

+1 Hamish. I have lived on dartmoor fringes and Exeter since childhood bar spells in the south east. I own a student pub near exeter uni now. Anywhere along the A30 or A38 makes access to exeter easy, and becomes very rural very quickly.

1. Great riding to the west of exeter (lustleigh cleave, teign valley, dartmoor plus exmoor & quantocks short drive away). Avoid of east of exeter and east devon ( Exmouth is grim-lots of smack problems and chavs cruising about in saxos) and there is no decent riding in that area either.

2.Exeter itself is as good as it gets down here, and thats pretty good. It has 15000 students from all over the world so is a vibrant fun place with lots of pubs, restaurants, clubs and a really good atmosphere. Anywhere without a uni in the westcountry is basically local chavs pushing prams or a tourist destination full of empty 2nd homes. Avoid plymouth (awful post war architecture, grim weather, crime, largest Naval base in Uk so marines & squaddies EVERYWHERE) and Barnstaple is worth a miss too.

hope that helps!

moved to exeter from Midlands 14 months ago.

BEWARE:

In the south, driving licensces are given out in crackers and as coconut shy prizes at village fetes!

really looking forward to being able to move back up north. (job dependant)

its expensive, people are in thier own little world, and the most they think of you is when you are in thier way.

pretty part of the world, biking is good, beaches are excellent, but the people ruin it for me im afraid.
Exeter, as a city, is like derby. Nothing wrong with it, nothing going for it. utterly Grey.

maybe you get mistaken for one of the hordes of northern monkeys that invade the SW for 2 months of the summer…

I love it here and have stayed here pretty much since I graduated. Just buying a house and I find Exeter is generally big enough to get anything I need or want easily yet small enough that I can get out of it quite quick too.

Nightlife is more of a pub and eating out thing than clubbing I feel although there are some good bars around. House prices have stayed pretty constant though despite the various things apparently happening elsewhere. SW teaching jobs are highly sort after by teachers looking to get the retirement home sorted a few years early and moving in from elsewhere in the country but I managed as a newly qualified teacher.

I do teach but will extend the word of caution that a commute for your wife will most likely involve driving. Until this year I was working in Taunton but the M5 made my drive easy.

Haldon and Woodbury are within riding distance (mostly Woodbury as the hill up to Haldon is more vertical in places but it can be done) and form my riding with an increasing leaning to the unofficial stuff as well as the official stuff around Haldon due to large heavy boingy bicycle.

No decent riding in east devon? ……Woodbury common is great fun and close to exeter.

I've been living just outside Exeter for 20 years. Exeter is aiming to buy a second horse. It's small enough to be copeable with and big enough to be fun. Big employers are the D&C police, Met office and a few big insurance co's.

If you aim for the satellite villages you can luck out like we did – there are many villages within cycling distance of Exeter, that have an actual community and aren't just commuter bedrooms. If you must commute do it on two wheels, as the buses are among the most expensive in the country.

I'd avoid Exmouth and Plymouth unless you enjoy chavved up lukewarm hatches dicing with grandads in micras on the roads… Devon drivers are rubbish if you're used to places where people drive properly, and at this time of year the back lanes are full of bl00dy grockles who don't know how to use singletracklaneswithpassingplaces. grrr.

Thanks again all

thepublican – Anywhere without a uni in the westcountry is basically local chavs pushing prams or a tourist destination full of empty 2nd homes. – Bit of a sweeping generalisation, surely!

Olly – we already have family and friends in the area – my wife grew up in West Somerset – and already spend a lot of time there (we're just not familar with the Exeter area), have to say my experience of the people is exactly the opposite of yours, but then we do currently live in the South East…

We wouldn't neccessarily be looking to live in Exeter itself but one of the outlying villages. Will check out some of the places mentioned on our next visit.

Still at an early planning stage, but certainly some food for thought – cheers all.

but then we do currently live in the South East…

"sharp intake of breath"

Ooook, ill get my coat 😉

What I failed to grasp when I moved to Devon is just how big it is. This is compounded by limited infrastructure which means that it's pretty easy to end up out on a limb. Choose where you want to be very carefully and always have an eye on the future. For instance, basing yourself in the A38 corridor puts you within a 30 min commute of Exeter, Torbay and Plymouth which multiplies your life options massively.

As everyone else has said, the riding is better than you could possibly imagine and you're not far from the Quantocks and Exmoor too if you fancy a change.

Life takes a little getting used to if you're from a city but it's the kind of life that you're suited to or you're not. If you are, then it's a fabulous place to be.

I love dartmoor

We're not city folk. I grew up in North Wales, and the other half is Somerset born and bred. We're a bit out of place in the south east. Put it this way, the lack of big city thrills is not likely to be an issue… the only thing that worries me is finding work.

Work has never been an issue for me. Even during recession there's always something to be found but my vocational sights have never been set particularly high.

Wages are notoriously shite though and the cost of living is high compared to the north but it's just one of the things that you put up with for the privelige of living here.

Lived in and around Exeter for 11 years. It was a lovely place to live as a newly qualified professional – but getting on the housing ladder was costly (compared to earnings), and eventually needing a bigger house for family forced us to move on.

Would echo comments re living outside Exeter – especially if you are of country background. South and east of Exeter is nobby and expensive. A30 / A377 corridors were cheaper, more rural, and less pretentious – Crediton, Yeoford, Cheriton Bishop, North Tawton etc. Easy access to Exeter, as well as to Dartmoor, N Devon coast and A30 to Cornwall