Places to live in East Devon, Dorset or Somerset?

[JackRatt]

I grew up in East Devon, so I feel a bit embarrassed asking this question, but...

Now we've got a young family, Mrs JackRatt and I are thinking about moving back to the Westcountry. My parents are near Axminster and we'd want to be within about half an hour of them ideally.

Where would you recommend in that area for a young family? I know broadly what most of the towns are like, but I remember them as a 17 year old trying to sneak into the clubs, not as a 30-something homeowner!

We're looking for somewhere at least semi-rural, but with a bit of life. My wife's a self-employed music teacher, so she needs somewhere with a couple of good schools in the area and preferably a ready supply of yummy mummies looking to book their offspring in for private lessons. A decent local primary school within walking distance would be a massive plus for our son too.

Taunton or one of the surrounding villages struck me as a good option, but I'm not sure we could afford the nice bits. Likewise Crewkerne (I know all about that one - I went to school at Wadham!) There seem to be quite a few houses that tick our various boxes around Axmouth, Colyton and Seaton too.

[JackRatt]

Thanks gents.

Also noticed the area to the north of Honiton - around Smeatharpe, Dunkeswell, Uppottery etc seems to be quite good value.

Take your point on Dorset, although we've seen a couple of places online around Beaminster that looked promising (we're not actively looking to buy just yet, but trying to get an idea of the market).

[JackRatt]

rcc2003 said:

I live in Seaton which overall isn't a bad place but it depends on your expectations.

I actually lived in Seaton briefly as a kid and I used to sail at Axmouth (my dad still does). Have heard there's quite a lot of development going on.

oilydan said:

We moved to a little village about a mile or two out of Tiverton.

Just the right distance, IMHO, for school runs/Shopping but far enough out to be rural.

I think Tiverton might be a little bit too far west. We want to be close enough to my parents (near Axminster) to call upon them for babysitting. The villages around Chard and Ilminster seem like a good option, though. When I was at school Chard itself had a reputation for being a bit chavvy, but I gather it's quite posh now?

[JackRatt]

egor110 said:

o/p - which bits of Taunton have you looked at?

What's your budget and what sort of house are you looking at 3/4/5 bed , semi or detached?

Good question. I know some bits of Taunton are nicer than others (there used to be a really good mountain bike shop - that and Dellers were the only places in Taunton I've really visited!) so very much open to suggestion.

Our budget is likely to be circa £300k depending on what we can get for our current place. For that we need at least one detached wall, due to my wife's students honking and squeaking at all hours (so could be anything from end terrace upwards), three bedrooms, a garage and a decent garden. I say that... technically, we only actually need two good size bedrooms plus some office space. Downstairs 'reception rooms' would work just as well. An older house with a bit of character would be a bonus.

Dixy said:

Where are you going to be working.

From home. All I need is a half decent broadband connection and I'm good. My wife will probably want to drive out to schools and individual students.

The TVR will probably realistically have to go anyway.

ETA Are there any places to avoid due to flooding? I guess it's only really the Levels...

Edited by JackRatt on Friday 25th March 10:29

[JackRatt]

egor110 said:

JackRatt said:

egor110 said:

o/p - which bits of Taunton have you looked at?

What's your budget and what sort of house are you looking at 3/4/5 bed , semi or detached?

Good question. I know some bits of Taunton are nicer than others (there used to be a really good mountain bike shop - that and Dellers were the only places in Taunton I've really visited!) so very much open to suggestion.

Our budget is likely to be circa £300k depending on what we can get for our current place. For that we need at least one detached wall, due to my wife's students honking and squeaking at all hours (so could be anything from end terrace upwards), three bedrooms, a garage and a decent garden. I say that... technically, we only actually need two good size bedrooms plus some office space. Downstairs 'reception rooms' would work just as well. An older house with a bit of character would be a bonus.

Dixy said:

Where are you going to be working.

From home. All I need is a half decent broadband connection and I'm good. My wife will probably want to drive out to schools and individual students.

The TVR will probably realistically have to go anyway.

ETA Are there any places to avoid due to flooding? I guess it's only really the Levels...

Edited by JackRatt on Friday 25th March 10:29

If mountain biking is important then look around bishops lydeard/ west bagaborough/ crowcombe. Your at the base of the quantocks and 10 mins from Taunton.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/prope...

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/prope...

or try looking around nether stowey , it's pretty much the opposite side of the quantock hills.

The areas in Taunton you want to be looking at are parkfield or killams although this place in staplegrove looks fine and it near to Taunton school http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/prope...

Those houses in the Quantocks are lovely - exactly the sort of thing we'd be looking for. But they're going to be an hour's drive away from my parents, which negates one of the benefits of moving back to the area. I think we'd have to be south of the M5 really.

Taunton struck me as somewhere that might have a nice balance of amenities, potential students for Mrs JackRatt and access to the countryside, but it is getting towards the edge of our 'babysitting radius'.

[JackRatt]

vsonix said:

'with a bit of life' ... that's always gonna be tricky in the Elephant's Graveyard that is East Devon. God's Waiting Room etc etc. I'd be more inclined to look at the South Devon area i.e. the other side of Haldon Hill. Plenty of Urban amenities in Newton Abbot or Plymouth, plenty of artycrafty places round Totnes & Dartington, towns like Falmouth have been reinvigorated by the fact that Exeter University moved all its arty courses like Music and so forth out there (to Exeter's loss, I might add) so there's a surprising amount of culture.
Otherwise I think that SW Dorset is probably a bit (not much though) more happening than East Devon.

True, but we're not after high society, just a few other youngish people and the odd pub or restaurant.

We stuck near a major town on our last move and found we just don't have the time for big nights out now we've got a toddler in tow. The only time we manage to escape is when we can drop him off with his grandparents ... which is why proximity to Axminster (Dalwood, technically) would be helpful.

[JackRatt]

fivepointnine said:

I live in the Street/Glastonbury area, while nice, the summertime traffic on the A39 kills it. If I were to move anywhere the only place I would look is Sherborne. Easily the nicest village that I have ever been to in the Somerset/Dorset area (we stayed there in a cottage while looking for our home). Wells is also nice, and is pretty close to Bristol.

Yeah, traffic is a concern.

That said the alternatives are staying near London where it's busy all the time or moving up towards my wife's parents in North Yorkshire where you'd have a similar issue in the summer.

Quite tempted by Seaton/Colyton area. I know Seaton is not as picturesque or as Bohemian as somewhere like Lyme, but it's supposed to be on the up currently, plus it's big enough and affordable enough to have other young families not just wealthy retirees. Heading down for a look next week with a large list of areas to investigate.

Edited by JackRatt on Saturday 26th March 13:02

[JackRatt]

egor110 said:

JackRatt said:

fivepointnine said:

I live in the Street/Glastonbury area, while nice, the summertime traffic on the A39 kills it. If I were to move anywhere the only place I would look is Sherborne. Easily the nicest village that I have ever been to in the Somerset/Dorset area (we stayed there in a cottage while looking for our home). Wells is also nice, and is pretty close to Bristol.

Yeah, traffic is a concern.

That said the alternatives are staying near London where it's busy all the time or moving up towards my wife's parents in North Yorkshire where you'd have a similar issue in the summer.

Quite tempted by Seaton/Colyton area. I know Seaton is not as picturesque or as Bohemian as somewhere like Lyme, but it's supposed to be on the up currently, plus it's big enough and affordable enough to have other young families not just wealthy retirees. Heading down for a look next week with a large list of areas to investigate.

Edited by JackRatt on Saturday 26th March 13:02

Lyme's bohemian?

I thought that was where all the arty Islington types headed when they went on Escape To The Country?

My grandmother used to live in Lyme - she wasn't remotely Bohemian admittedly - and I had a couple of friends who lived there as a kid, so I know it quite well. I'd be open to persuasion, but as far as I can see it's way out of our price range for the sort of house we want. Very touristy too. I think both points would apply to Beer or Branscombe as well.

Seaton just sprang to mind as I've heard there's quite a lot of investment in the town currently, plus it has quite a lot of new(ish) affordable(ish) housing, which might mean more younger people. Wouldn't be my first choice if I was looking at it in a less pragmatic light, admittedly.

[JackRatt]

oilydan said:

Taunton is further from Axminsterthan Tivvy, maybe not practical due to no decent road heading to the South East from Tiverton to Axminster/Honiton direction.

Exeter is closer to Axminster than Taunton and is a whole load nicer than Taunton IMHO.

Nope, both further away than Taunton according to Google - by about 15 miles in the case of Tiverton. That's from my parents' postcode, admittedly, which is not in Axminster itself.

I only suggested Taunton as it struck me as somewhere large enough and affluent enough to provide a steady stream of private students for my wife. No specific reason to make a beeline for it.

[JackRatt]

oilydan said:

Maybe Honiton or Illminster would be a good bet?

Ilminster is pretty high on the list.

Don't really know what Honiton like now. Didn't think it was the most salubrious neighbourhood, but as with Chard I'm the best part of 20 years out of date. Might be lovely now.

[JackRatt]

rcc2003 said:

You also have lots of small villages dotted about which are lovely but they are just that, a village which means a 6 mile round trip for a pint of milk and the school run twice a day. I have lived here on and off for 20 years and still being near a big city. One thing for sure is that you need a car around here!!!

I remember it well. I grew up in a village between Axminster and Honiton and went to school 20 miles away in Crewkerne. I got to know the track listing of my mum's Best of The Beach Boys cassette very, very well indeed.

Heading down for the weekend, so I guess we'll see what we can find. The hitlist is something like:

Crewkerne, Axminster, Ilminster, Taunton, Beaminster, Tatworth, South Petherton, Bridport, Seaton and Colyton. Had Thorncombe and Hawkchurch down too, but I think they might be a bit *too* quiet. Anywhere with a shop, a pub and preferably a primary school is possibility.

[JackRatt]

Had a bit of a look round at the weekend.

We were a bit pushed for time, so never actually stopped and had a walk around anywhere, but Ilminster looked like a good balance of character, bustle and amenities. I liked Beaminster and Broadwindsor too, but a friend who lives nearby informs me they're both packed with OAPs!

The residential bits of Seaton also felt a bit like God's waiting room. Or Skegness (which is worse). Quite liked Axmouth - it's tiny, but you have the amenities of Seaton almost within walking distance. Not sure about being on the main road to the seaside, though.

Taunton was as expected - fairly uninspiring large town but with lots of very posh schools for Mrs JackRatt to ply her trade. Had a look at Bishop's Lydeard but wasn't bowled over; Corfe nice, but possibly too small.

South Petherton seemed to be a very sleepy old village surrounded by miles of fairly soulless modern development. It was a bit of a ghost town when we drove through on Friday afternoon.

For reasons that aren't entirely clear Mrs JackRatt didn't really take to Bridport. To be honest, a nice place there is probably beyond our budget anyway. She wasn't especially keen on Crewkerne either, but did like Misterton.

Closer to home (literally) I like Axminster, but finding somewhere that's not crammed in with a hundred other bijou modern developments could be tricky. Conversely, there turned out to be more to Kilmington than I remembered. Still pretty tiny, but we can practically see my parents' house from there and it's only a five minute drive to Axminster.

Colyton was good too - the houses seem to be quite densely packed, but it feels like it's got a proper village centre and there's not too much modern development. Made a note to check out Colyford next time we're down as well.

Thorncombe was lovely, but I think too small and too remote. Hawkchurch just big enough and just close enough to civilisation to be a possibility. Pub looked nice too.

On the whole, it seems we want a large village or a small town. Somewhere on the outskirts of, say, Beaminster with fields nearby and a decent sized garden would be perfect.

Edited by JackRatt on Friday 8th April 16:07

[JackRatt]

egor110 said:

Worth bearing in mind a lot of these villages/towns have lots of building coming up in the future .

The local councils have to put up x amount of houses and all the local councils are able to do is put forward preferred areas of development, they can't block it.

I could take you to places in Taunton/ Bishops Lydeard which are houses backing onto fields at present but that's going to change.

Very true. It would be a shame to pay a premium for somewhere with 'far reaching rural views' only to have a load of new homes plonked there in two years' time. We would have had exactly that with one of the houses on our shortlist the last time we moved.

For the smaller places that might not be such a bad thing, though. Kilmington looks like it's gaining a small number of reasonably sympathetically designed new houses - maybe enough to attract a few more people of our age to the village rather than retirees or second home owners.

[JackRatt]

There is a very small possibility this may have taken a more urgent turn. Mrs JackRatt has spotted her "dream job" at a school in Taunton.

Perusing nearby areas this morning. What's Wellington like?

[JackRatt]

egor110 said:

JackRatt said:

There is a very small possibility this may have taken a more urgent turn. Mrs JackRatt has spotted her "dream job" at a school in Taunton.

Perusing nearby areas this morning. What's Wellington like?

If it's Taunton school i'd look at somewhere around kingston st mary or around the quantocks like west bagborough, crowcombe.

Slightly cheaper have a look at cotford saint luke , it's a new estate build on a old asylum but it is surrounded by fields, at any point in the village walk 10 minutes and your in fields, the kids there still build dens in the woods and it seems to be a good trade off of close to taunton yet in the country.

An old asylum? Isn't that one up from an ancient Indian burial ground in terms of spookiness?

It is indeed Taunton School. Quite an imposing place.

To be honest, the traffic is the biggest thing that puts me off Taunton. Admittedly, they'd closed some of the roads for a half marathon when we were there the other weekend, but it was like central London traffic makign our way out towards the Quantocks.

It's a very remote possibility at present - it turns there's no way we'd be able to get a mortgage for another year anyway, so we'd have to rent or something - but it gives us something to ponder.

Edited by JackRatt on Friday 15th April 09:46

[JackRatt]

egor110 said:

Re the asylum you buy a old place in the country and you've got no idea how many people have died in that house.

Don't worry, purely a tongue in cheek comment about the horror movie cliche, not the place itself.

So, perhaps to turn this around the other way: Where should I definitely avoid in or around Taunton?

It's a very slender possibility, but if Mrs JackRatt was offered this job (and did take it) we'd be probably be looking to rent initially. That means we'd settle for somewhere smaller (and generally be a lot less picky) to keep costs down until we were ready to buy.

[Chris71]

Welcome. Hope you find somewhere you like.

Woodroffe in Lyme Regis used to be good and is (well, certainly was) a non-selective state school. Colyton Grammar is excellent, but very hard to get in.

That area to the north of Honiton is great value. There's a train station near there (Feniton or is that further west?) and access to the M5 so you're not stranded. It does tend to be very quiet, though - lots of little villages as opposed to the larger villages/towns to the south and east.