[Closed] tell me about Tiverton in Devon and mountain biking in the area

Tivvie is pretty good for getting up onto exmoor. some great riding up there. BMX track on the edge of town, theres cove quarry just up the road ( although I haven't ridden there in years and don't know if its even still allowed). Various woodlands not too far away. all in all not too bad. Tiverton itself is ok, bit of a medium sized town, not too much to do. I spent a couple of years at college there, got a bit bored of the town itself.

Tiverton itself is rather flat considering it's in Devon, but's not too far from Nature's own trailcentre, the Quantocks! Also East Dartmoor for steep/twiddly, Exmoor for biiiig long hills. If you have a choice of whereabouts in Devon, south, west or east is a bit better for mountain bikes than north. But it's all gert lush 😀

Tivvie is pretty much in the middle of Dartmoor, the Quantocks and Exmoor so the riding options are pretty good.

I grew up in Taunton, moved to Exmouth when I was 18 and now live in Plymouth so can happily vouch for the areas riding.

Devon sucks, better off staying in the peaks.

Devon is excellent for a number of reasons.. I think Toys19 may just be trying to keep the numbers down..

Tivvie is pretty central.. but is the butt of the county's inbred jokes..

There are some truly inspirational locations in Devon with epic riding on the doorstep.. I wouldn't have placed Tiverton very highly if I was listing them..

I spent a year working in Tiverton about 25 years ago (so almost certainly no help) at which time the only things anyone could tell me about the place was that it had the highest rate of incest in the SW and was the most violent place per capita in the SW outside Plymouth.

Neither was evidenced to me, but it's not somewhere I would seek out to live now - although I enjoyed my year there.

As indicated - good access to Exmoor, 40 mins at most from the Qs. Bit more of a trek to Dartmoor but less than an hour. Good access to the M5 and also not too bad for the north Devon coast if you're into surfing.

EDIT - I now live west of Exeter near the A30 - great for Dartmoor and Cornwall and easy access into Exeter.

like the others have said, good access to some nice places but not somewhere i'd want to live. Exeter or Taunton would be a better bet.

oh and if I could live anywhere in devon I'd live in tavistock. Which I do...

I was born in Tiverton (in the hospital that is no longer there....) - I've no idea if that's a 😳 or a :D. TBH, I have no idea about the off-roading, but I always try and take my road bike when I go and see the folks (more Uffculme way) as the road riding in any direction is v good. There used to be a reasonable amount of semi-cheeky stuff around Culmstock and Blackborough/Ashill, but that was many moons ago, but that is quite out of town and needs a bit of linking up.

Lived in nearby Exeter for 11 years - much more going for it. Tiverton always struck me as a scruffy, aggressive town with hostile natives 😉

Wasn't impressed with the mountain biking in that area either way. Too much of the land is owned by country estates, with precious little accesss. Most riding on road. Used to ride at Woodbury Common occasionaly, or drive up onto Dartmoor.

That was more than 10 years ago. Haldon had a few informal routes on it at the time. Not sure what access is like these days.

As Jambo says - west Devon would be much better.

cheers guys, so if you had a choice of where to live in Devon and mountain biking was a high priority and possibly access to Wales where would you live??

somerset.

Wales.

That's what I did. Exeter to Cardiff to Wales. S Wales just beyond comparison with SW England

you can easily ride directly on to good, techy riding on east dartmoor from bovey tracey, which is a small town with reasonable amenities and within easy reach of the a38, but slightly expensive for property. haldon hill, woodbury, exeter 10 mins north up the a38. quantocks about an hour, exmoor 1.5?
bristol city about the same, do your own sums for south wales trail centres. 🙂
plymouth is, err, further south, than, err, anything, except cornwall. yeah. err. probably at least as far from anywhere as tavistock but without the charm, and with added 60s 'planning', the sort of achitecture only architects could call interesting. and fighting.
IMO other towns/villages right on the edge of the moor tend to be a bit in the shadow of it, or have that feel to me, anyway.
tivi is within striking distance of good riding but on the doorstep of none, as far as i know. and the webbed toes come in handy in the rainy season.
exeter is a nice city IMO, which is easy to get around by bike, has riding on the doorstep, stuff going on, and has good access to other places by car or train.
all prejudice very much my own. 😀
HTH.

Tivi has cove woods towards Bampton... there are some sneaky trails in there and plenty of devon sunken lanes to link together a good XC route.. Also combe Sydnum (sp?) Is not to far away for DH fun.

To be Honest. anywhere near mid devon is pretty good. East Dartmoor, Haldon, Woodbury, Exmoor, Tavi woods, Quantocks, Mendips, All less then an hour away.

I worked on a job in the centre of Tiverton last year. The site agent, an Exeter 'buey', described Tiverton as 'Devon's largest open prison'.
Harsh, and with an element of local prejudice I'm sure, but I could see where he was coming from.