Pistolpete2

Didn't want to outline my principal priorities but I'm glad that I'm not the only one to have that one.

Ref the house prices, I can only guess that in light of the supposed huge price increases attained for detached property in Exeter in 2012, some thought that it was a never-ending story and got greedy and then had to adjust downwards when prices met serious resistance and presumably banks and lenders were also cutting valuations from initial asking prices. So the decreases were from high levels to start with.

Pistolpete2

These exhibits which come out of the 2011 Uk National Census, speak to the issue of overcrowding:

http://data.london.gov.uk/datastoref...st-results.pdf

"The largest local authority percentage increase between 2001 and 2011 was in London. Tower Hamlets grew by nearly 30 per cent. Other London local authorities that had high growth include Newham (26 per cent), Hackney and Westminster (both at 21 per cent)."

http://www.eastlondonlines.co.uk/201...h-east-london/

"England and Wales saw a combined population increase of 7.1 per cent, the largest ten-year increase since 1801 when the first census took place. Most areas saw growth over the past 10 years, with the ONS reporting only 17 of 348 areas not seeing any growth."

"Interestingly, despite the strong overall population growth reported by the ONS in the 2011 Census release, the ONS said that the 7.5 per cent growth rate in the number of households was second lowest between censuses in the last 100 years. Typical growth is between 8 and 17 per cent and only the period between 1991 and 2001 showed lower growth."

3,776,000 Folks arrived in England & Wales between 2001 and March 2011
1,240,000 1991 and 2000
653,000 1981 and 1990
629,000 1971 and 1980

http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/mro/ne...astnr0712.html

"The largest growth was in Milton Keynes (17 per cent) and the smallest growth was 3 per cent in Adur (West Sussex) which also had the smallest population (61,200)."

"Portsmouth was the most densely populated local authority area in the region (and the most densely populated in England and Wales outside London) with 5,082 people per square kilometre which equates to about 51 people on a rugby pitch. Chichester was the least densely populated with 145 people per square kilometre."

http://www.ocsi.co.uk/news/2012/07/1...n-local-areas/

"By contrast, 15 Local Authorities experienced a fall in population between 2001 and 2011. Barrow-in-Furness experienced the largest population decline, with the population contracting by 4%. 11 of the 15 Local Authorities experiencing a decline in population were located in the North West or North East region, including three Local Authorities in Greater Merseyside (Sefton, St Helens and Knowsley)."

"Christchurch has the highest proportion of people aged 65+, with 29% of the population aged 65 and over. Each of the 14 Local Authorities with the highest proportion of people aged 65 and over are on the coast."

"Eden (in the Lake District) has the lowest population density of any Local Authority with 0.24 persons per hectare."

Other lowest are:

Powys, Ryedale, Richmondshire, Ceredigion, West Devon, Craven, West Somerset, Gwynedd, Northumberland, Torridge, South Lakeland, Hambleton, Cotswold, Pembrokeshire, East Lindsey, West Lindsey, Allerdale, Carmarthenshire, County of Herefordshire, Mid Devon, North Devon in that order.

Almo

I have very fond memories of the Topsham 10. We always started at the Lighter.

I don't really know enough about the market in Exeter to make any educated contribution, we briefly looked at moving back there but decided against it. All I know is what my parents tell me and if I tell you that they've been house hunting since 2008 you'll have some idea of how fussy they are and how they might not be the most reliable of sources .

Exeter is a really lovely city. I have been comparing it to Chester a bit recent, they're similar sized, but Chester feels a lot quieter in the evenings, for some reason.

Pistolpete2

Seems that Exeter University is thriving these days and that might contribute to the activity.

EC Council are trying to beef up the local economy by developing industrial parks aligning themselves in particular with aerospace and spending the money they received (60 million quid) on disposal of the airport to RCA on infrastructure that puts Exeter on the map - for example sports facilities for all and Exeter City College in particular and that happens to be where our interest lies in Exeter and in Topsham due to sailing.

Perth

If Exeter gets out of our price range before we get there, I will be miffed! Have already been through this with Canterbury

Pistolpete2

Hence........"if I tell you I'll have to kill you".

Hi perth, just in there pottering around the area as you sent this. It really is hard to find anything that meets our requirements but you could look up towards the northwest a bit and still have the same rail access for hubby to do his Uni things. Somewhere like Crediton which is only eleven minutes from Exeter St Davids. Also Whimple, sixteen minutes to the northeast. Also Starcross to the southwest on the Dawlish/Plymouth line seventeen minutes. All have late..ish departures ex Exeter.

Just a Starcross example, not saying anything more:

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-...-25062339.html

Anyway, thank you! It has caused me to look at more options for myself too, though not in the same time-frame.

Perth

Oh my gosh Pete, this would do nicely, thank you I do worry how not having a car restricts us in terms of location. Even though there may be good transport today, that could all change tomorrow - just like pubs with Irish music sessions closing

Pistolpete2

Have taken a look at this railway station usage exhibit from last year and all three stations I listed have reasonable usage, Honiton (which I did not list, which is a bit further up than Whimple) and Starcross are quite heavy, and these are both on the mainline so closure is quite unlikely but never say never.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datab...sted-rail#data

Exeter to Barnstaple line (for Crediton) seems to do pretty good business.

dunroving

I think you might be finding yourself a new career - you need to hire yourself out to returning BE-ers!

Pistolpete2

Why thank you for the thought but I think that I prefer amateur status.

vikingsail

Nice example please find me something like it close to Bristol

Pistolpete2

Not sure where, roughly, you are trying to get to in the Bristol area at the work end of things.

Thought of stepping in to help the other day but didn't know the answer to the above and could only come up with Colerne because I had already researched it and had a feel for it.

I have some local knowledge around Exeter which makes it easier but others have chipped in ref the area around Bath because Bath itself seems rather expensive so we've looked at Bradford-on-Avon but that's really it, except Westbury-on-Trym on the other side of Bristol which looks pricey.

However, I would say that Exeter, though large, is much smaller than Bristol, so it is much easier to find significant contrast in terms of scenery and atmosphere within a short rail travel time-frame of Exeter.

While the fifteen odd minutes out of the City of Exeter gets you into real country you could still be stuck in suburbia in Bristol unless you are on the fast train to Bath.

It looks as though the First Great Western line out of Bristol Temple Meads towards Bath offers all the best possibilities:

Keynsham 6 minutes
Bath - as low as 11 minutes
Freshford - as low as 25 minutes
Bradford-on-Avon 35 minutes

Can't really vouch for the area around Chipping Sodbury which is accessed from Yate Station about 20 minutes out from BTM.

Yatton, which is no relation of Yate, is on the West side in Somerset 20 minutes out just seven miles from Bristol Airport and aircraft noise can be an issue but looks quite promising, if pricey, but has possibilities:

Just looking! http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-...-26124159.html

This is ok for price:

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-...-40803278.html

To rent:

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-...-26130783.html

This for sale in Congresbury which is just 1.5 miles from Yatton:

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-...-40097327.html

Pistolpete2

Ironically, in a recent (2010) cloned* towns survey, Exeter came top of the list as THE most cloned town (city) in the country. Whitstable was the least cloned and Crediton did well as well. Hence my interest in Topsham which to me looked far less cloned than its urban neighbour.

*Cloned meaning all the shops are part of national chains rather than independent.

robin1234

I saw this report and no doubt it is true as far as it goes, but there are still plenty of independent shops in Exeter. For instance, there is a really good music shop, can't think what it is called, but you can buy any instrument you might want and sheet music galore. Also, a couple of good outdoor clothing and equipment shops (Moorland Rambler, maybe?) I'd say that Exeter is deficient in book shops though.

I'm off to England for a month in mid April, and one place I'm spending a few days in will be Norwich. Obviously, a much bigger city than Exeter, and, I suspect, more diverse in terms of shopping, book shops etc. mind you I plan to spend most of my time visiting the churches, Cathedral and museums, so apart from food, won't be shopping!

Here's one place I plan on visiting; checks all the boxes, tea-room, medieval church, book shop!

http://www.forgetmenotcafe.co.uk/

Pistolpete2

I think that Cambridge was also right up there with Exeter in terms of criticism leveled at it ref cloning.

It seems that Exeter, Norwich and Cambridge are all "roughly" the same size, though Norwich is indeed the largest.

Norwich too got caught in the cross-hairs in an earlier clone town report and as can be seen from the editorial in this Norwich Heart (Heritage Economic & Regeneration Trust) News, they have decided to do something about it.

http://www.heritagecity.org/user_fil...r-11-email.pdf