Similar to another thread I started a week or so ago, interested in a job in Exeter, I’ve only really passed through it on the way to Cornwall but I like the idea of moving to Devon more than the Basingstoke area, so what’s Exeter like, good, bad, nice areas to live. Again I’d be looking to live about 10 to 15 miles commuting distance away. House prices are keen from looking on websites like rightmove etc but as always it’ll depend on the area. Would like somewhere semi-rural, happy to consider in Exeter if it’s nice. Whats the mtbing like around there too, Dartmoor looks near, I’ve done a little bit of riding on the west side of Dartmoor.

Exeter is a cool city. Mix of history and some decent shops, nice places to eat. Really picturesque villages all around the city, definitely worth you going down for a weekend and driving about to see the local villages.

Good train link back into the London area, plus airport locally, if either matter to you. Probably 1hr to Bristol, so not too far from the M4 link back into Wales.

Riding at Darrmoor and Haldon Forrest, plus loads of other places I suspect.

As a child I spent a lot of time outside a small town half way between Exater and Plymouth. Exeter is the nicer city in my opinion and would happily be based there if I could ever get a job that way.

I am biased but I also find people in Devon very friendly and you can usually get the lovely Cornish ales on tap, which is important to a jumper wearing simple minded bloke like me.

Buying cornish ale in devon?

Have a word with yourself.

op, move to exeter.. dont bother with any town within 15 miles, the towns are generally shitty and the commute will be crap.

Exeter is a great, small, city.

You know about the riding and countryside on your doorstep, obviously, but the city itself is a regional shopping hub (john lewis, apple store, reiss, waitrose, all the big names you want…) and now has excellent restaurants as a result (small gastro pubs, good chains, local ethical cafes, trendy pop-up style burger places etc).

The university, with 15,000+ students really takes Exeter from being a provincial town to being a much more refined cosmopolitan place.

Nightlife is entirely either student or chav locals though with not much in between, mainly because of a lack of young professionals. Depends if that matters to you…

Lived in Exeter for 4 years and would happily do so again. Basically wot gribble* said: Good variety of things to see and do; the uni students keep a bit of life going in the centre; reasonable shops inc some independents still in some areas like St Leonards. I lived in Heavitree in the centre, which may not be for you if you want semi-rural.
The mtb-ing around Woodbury common is great with lovely views in the summer and it drains very well, but shhhh don’t tell anyone 😉

Edit: *and thepublican

Do it!

op, move to exeter.. dont bother with any town within 15 miles, the towns are generally shitty and the commute will be crap.

yes the commute is crap- basically trying to get from anywhere to anywhere else in Exeter for office hours work, (or even as early as school run time) is pretty terrible, but the last two or three miles of your commute will be awful wherever you live be that in or out of town. As an example, recently I drove in from Plymouth (so 45 miles for me) to get in for 09.30 on a thursday, and the last seven miles took exactly as long in minutes as the the first 38. (and that was at OAP/fuel economy speed on the dual carriageway). But if you like little/rural towns then there are plenty of less crap places on/towards dartmoor. I would quite happily live in moretonhampstead, chagford or Bovey for example. And the Boveys (ie Tracey and North Bovey) have some utterly brilliant and challenging xc riding right on the doorstep. Exeter town is not a bad place to ride a bike round (ie to get to work etc) either ime.

Park at Sowton & Digby park and ride and catch the train for the last part.
Free parking so works out at abot £2.50 a day for the choo choo.
Or park and ride your bike for free ?

Similar to the above comments really. Nice small city, good pubs and restaurants. Night life is a bit pants unless you’re a student. Decent local live music scene, and some good acts play at the uni and the art centre.
Don’t dismiss east of Exeter either -towardsxmouth and Honiton. Easy to commute via the A30 or train, snd some excellent riding on woodbury and the surtounding area. We live in Ottery st Mary, lovely town, good local shops, excellent primary and secondary schools…3 bed town cottages with gardens are around 150k to 180k.
What line of work are you in? As decent jobs can be difficult to find, and wages sre quite low compared to the rest of the south of the UK.

It’s a dump. Don’t do it. Been here all my life. Desperate place.

All sounds quite good!

Although, toys19 might be trying to keep people away??

The job is near Pinhoe, it’s actually a higher salary than I’m on at the moment in the Brighton area, there’s just no jobs in this area at the moment so considering moving away from the south east as it seems to be becoming a very busy congested area with high housing costs but low wages. At the moment my commute is 23 miles each way, takes about 40mins but I have had to spend nearly an hour to get 14 miles away in a previous job.

Don’t do it ;P

Me? No. It is a dump honest.. 😀
What’s the job?

Lived in exeter for 4/5 years and then in the teign valley area for another 4/5. Unfortunately move away now, but would happily move back. Ditto what ot hand ers have said – look at areas like st leondards or Heavietree rather than out side, even close by Ide village (expensive) will take 40mins + to get to the town centre in rush hour.

To quote others “do it” I did 14 years ago and have not regretted it.
Pinhoe itself is on the outskirts of Exeter and is a very nice area, if you wanted to live outside of Exeter there is also broadclyst, it’s a small village near Pinhoe that has a good primary school.
The riding around here is amazing; haldon is a 10min drive (for me) for a quick spin, woodbury is 20mins for some natural trails then within an hour you have dartmoor, exmoor, the Quantocks and Bristol. 2 hours and you can reach the south Wales trails.

What’s the job?

Ooooo, can’t tell you that, might get everyone applying for it! 😉 … nothing special, not that well paid but I’m lucky to be debt free so happy to do a job I’m happy doing and have better leisure time and less stress.

All sounds really positive, just need to apply and get and interview and go from there. Like the idea of being able to get to Wales, trail centres and the other riding places mentioned easily.

yes the commute is crap- basically trying to get from anywhere to anywhere else in Exeter for office hours work, (or even as early as school run time) is pretty terrible, but the last two or three miles of your commute will be awful

Tell me about it 👿

I commute in from near Taunton every day, used to be based on the business park at the airport which was easy to get to but some clever person decided to move the engineering dept to Marsh Barton. I get to work everyday now wanting to kill somebody or myself just to end the misery 😆

As soon as I can find another job I’m out of there (there are other reasons besides the awful commute) There is one advantage though, I can chuck the bike in the car and be up Haldon in 10 mins from work.

Commuting around Exeter sucks but having spent ~10 years in London on the tube and buses my ~40 min drive from Chudleigh to near the Uni is fine.

I’d echo what’s been said up there ^. Great place to live (and bring up kids). Not sure I’d have done it in my 20s though but that’s me.

15 mins to the beach, 15 mins to the moor etc etc. I can ride from the house and be up at Haldon with 25 mins (less than 10 mins to get back!).

Really friendly people etc. etc.

Maybe check out Feniton/Whimple which are villages on the Waterloo line and less than 10 mins by train from Pinhoe

mmm hubbox

I grew up south of Exeter. A village between Exmouth and Exeter Lympstone) and it’s a lovely part of the world.

Really just seconding what others have said re. it being a nice small city.

I’d move there tomorrow if I could!

Was a drunken student there in the early nineties. Lived in Whipton and Countess Wear.

Lovely place to live.

Re-visited a couple of years ago and was pleased to see it was even nicer than I remembered and had even scrubbed-up in some places. Would happily re-located there if the need arose.

hubbox

Had to google that … gourmet burgers, dogs and craft beers, sounds like a good enough reason to move right there! 😀

not sure about all these tails of woe regarding the commute. jruk’s is probably the worst example available for too/from, and there are a few options to minimise the pain on that – not least riding your bike!
for pinhoe your options are pretty open. i’d go for a satellite town, if there are no other considerations, but the good ones are pricey. ide, topsham and whimple are nice little communities in their own right, but i’d wear your wellies anywhere along the estuary, or anywhere low-lying. things may change significantly if we get much more weather like we have had over the last few months.
ottery is a good shout, and they have barrel burning….. 😀
south or east side of the city has the best road links, if that’s important. i live in the southern burbs and it’s very easy to get around or in to town by bike.
been here for 8 or 9 years. it’s a good town.
the good bits of dartmoor are within cycling distance, if you’re committed, great riding on haldon ( with a great bunch of volunteers – nudge to any locals who fancy helping out 😀 ), and as mentioned woodbury isn’t too far away if you fancy that.
good luck with the application!

Is getting into Exeter when everyone else is trying to get to work worse than other cities? Not really much different in my experience. If you’re trying to get into Pinhoe then from most directions you shouldn’t have much trouble. I lived on the that side of town until recently and tended to cycle both into town and, more importantly, to the top of Haldon hill which was about 50 mins. So riding-wise it’s a pretty good town too. We’re now in the Teign Valley.

If you’re thinking about living in a town rather than village then I would put Exeter itself on my list. It’s a nice welcoming small city with quick acces to the countryside from some parts and a piece of cake cycle to work in Pinhoe.

So I’d agree with Del. Except about the volunteers. They’ve tipped all the bloody trees over.

been here 14 years now, not leaving anytime soon!

Small city feeling to it and only ever a few mins in any direction to hit countryside, good riding nearby, Haldon, Woodbury, Exmoor, Dartmoor, Quantocks, beaches to the South and North (bit further), Bristol only an hour away, London only 2.5 hrs by train.

commuting by car in and out is awful, so I don’t.
commuting by bike in and around exeter is actually pretty nice, good routes, and much quicker!
commuting by train isn’t too bad either if you’re on the right route