Relocating to Devon...help

[edge097]

Help... I am relocating to devon but really need advice on the areas best suited to family life.. I am 40 and married. with 17yr old boy (into skating, chilling, wants to be a video editor) a 11yrs old girl (finds it quite easy to make friends, but will start to have some independence soon as just stating secondary school) and a 6yr old boy (into most things 6 yr old boys are into). We currently live in Dartford, in kent. But have recently been very dismayed at the lack of manners and culture here ( also the youth crime,Chavs, pikeys... I could go on...) So I am being relocated. I need advice on good primary and secondary schools, what areas to miss (and why) good areas to look for home, which has strong family ties, but is not cut off from the hub. Hope someone can help.Cheers

[bednobs]

waht makes you think devon is any better for youth culture?

[edge097]

Well, nothing really, was just hoping. We are nearer London and Dartford is just sooo full of CHAVS and PIKEYS and its not just youths who seem to let it down, you have to look really hard to find the NORMAL/ADVERAGE likeminded person who is not swearing at their offspring (babys crying and being sworn at by the so called mothers, who themselves need a slap and swearing at) Men (of all ages) swaggering around, trying to appear the hardest...I could goon and on....why is the youth culture bad in Devon too

[spudqueen]

Well a lot depends on what sort of place you want to live in, city, town or village.

I used to live in Ivybridge, which is 10 miles east of Plymouth and has a population of about 20,000 people. It has a selection of good primary schools, and a good (when I lived there 6 years ago), if largish secondary school. There are plenty of facilities in the town, including a swimming pool (which has an open air one for summer use), a library, a railway station and plenty of shops including a somerfield.

We enjoyed living there, but my children were at primary school whilst we lived there so I can't help on what it would be like for a teenager to live there.

If you're looking for a smaller place then you could look at Modbury, about 5 miles from Ivybridge. It is a beautiful town (it is a town though it only has a population of about 2000), a good primary school, good shopping (it is the town which was the first to ban the use of plastic bags), and has a regular bus service to Plymouth.

Totnes is lovely town, and I always enjoyed going for the day, but I wouldn't choose to live there as (according to the local paper) there always seemed to be a bit of crime (nothing major, vandalism and stuff, but more than in other local towns). Totnes is very much an 'alternative' town, plenty of hippys and hippy type establishments, which is great to visit, but I'm not sure I would want to live there.

[funnygirl]

It seems everyone is leaving London!!

We just had a girl, relocated to Cornwall, said she couldn't take any more in London. Her daughter recently got mugged and that was the turning point.

And she loves it down there!!!

[spudqueen]

Have just had a quick google for Ivybridge, and it has a population of 12,000 not 20,000, but as you can see it has a large youth population
http://www.ivybridge.gov.uk/community/

I also didn't mention that it is only a few miles from beaches, is almost on the edge of Dartmoor, and has Longtimber woods, which is great for walks.

I did find Devon quite remote though, it is a long way from anywhere! Liverpool is nearer to London than Plymouth is! When I left our house it took me an hour to drive to the 'Welcome to Somerset' sign, and you aren't really anywhere then! You don't have any large shopping malls, the nearest one is in Bristol which is an hour and a half to two hours drive away. And if you enjoy going to concerts or jetting off to foreign climes three times a year then you will find that you have to travel quite a way out of Devon to do this.

I did enjoy living in Devon, beautiful countryside, gorgeous beaches, lovely market towns to shop in, but there are down sides, the remoteness, the weather (it rains a lot in Devon - that's why it's so green! - and not much snow in winter if you like that). Also it can be an 'insular' place, which can be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on your view point! I knew people there that could count on one hand that number of times that had left Devon and Cornwall!

I think you need to book a few days there, and go round looking at places not as you would as if you were on holiday, but as potential places to live.

Good luck.

[edge097]

Thanks very much for your replies. They've been really informative. Surprised about Totnes, but this is exactly the sort of information we need. We'll definetly visit local towns soon, although we'll wait until after the holiday season to see what they're really like. Thanks again.

[Silvercat]

Funnily enough, I went to Aberystywth the other week after not visiting for some years.
There were definetely more Chavs and Pikeys there than I would have expected to see. I even saw a bunch of teenage girls out on the town with a toddler in tow....!!
Obviously being in the more rural areas does not guard against urban deprivation.

[deravoy1]

Hello there, I would think very carefully about moving to Devon! We moved here to a 'God-forsaken hole' called Holsworthy. You could 'lose the will to live' walking round the town! The shops are dire. Also, I am now told (a bit late) that North Devon people are not that friendly and tend to be a 'closed community' to outsiders. Be very careful. Also, you will miss terribly all the wonderful shops and retail parks of Kent. There is NOTHING here! To get to the nearest Argos (or anything useful) take a good hour. The driving is terrible - the worst in the country. You would not want your kids driving on these roads - believe me! I have worked in many parts of the UK, and I would say one of the best and nicest places to live is Sussex and Kent. The West Country is a 'dead' place - no work - mostly a poor farming area. Your kids would have terrible trouble getting decent work. Also, the worst thing about it is, the people dont seem to want anything better. They are quite happy to 'bury their heads in the dungheap' and are not at all aspirational. Dont make the same terrible mistake I did. Good luck and God bless.

[gillyrob]

edge097 - how did you go on? Have you relocated? My husband and I find ourselves in the exact same situation as you did last year. We live in West Yorkshire, have family in South Devon and have been visiting for over 20 years. We have a five year old daughter, are both in our early forties and have finally decided it's now or never. Am just interested if it's happened for you and if so, has it worked? Thanks.

[sumida-river]

oh there is a good service which provides all this info about any area on http://www.landsearch.net/services.asp. Scroll down to number
NP1 Neighbourhood, Planning & Local Amenity Search
and it includes info about schools, crime, racial statistics, electricity pylons and more. It proved to be very useful when we wanted to relocate and didn't know where! x

[Sharon_1970]

Hi, I moved to beautiful Babbacome from London 4 years ago, and it was seriously the single best thing I have ever done in my life! Things in general are so much better down here in Devon and the quality of life is amazing, this includes the fresh air we breath, the beautiful scenery and coastline, the friendly people and fact we have so much open space and things to do!! Dawlish is lovely, but it is the type of place we go to take the kids for an afternoon, as there is not a huge amount of things to do there. Obviously, it depends on what you want from a town/village, but my preference was to be somewhere with a bit more going on, shops and schools to chose from etc, which is why we chose Babbacome. It’s located nicely outside of the main town of Torquay, with some great amenities, things to do, stunning beaches and views etc etc.
When we were thinking about moving to Devon, the guy who moved us (Andy from South Devon Relocations), had moved to Devon himself a few years before us, and spent ages and ages on the phone telling us all about what his kids get up to down here (fishing, walking, cycling, swimming etc) and what schools his children went to, and which restaurants and places of interest to go to locally, and these are exactly the same reasons as to why we wanted to move to Devon, for a better quality of life, so after speaking to someone so enthusiastically about the local area of Babbacome, we were sold on the idea and have never looked back. My advice is if you are thinking of moving to Devon is to not think about it, DO IT! (and if you are going to move to Devon, you have to speak to Andy at: www.south-devon-relocations.co.uk , they are simply amazing, and we have become very good friends with them too).