Moving to Devon!
spk2mlaw
Posts: 1
its time to retire! I’m just turned 63 so Lea and I have decide to do it. We have watched escape to the country till we can recite the dialogue.
We we need to be able to return to Kent on a regular basis for the first year or two. So we have been looking at the area around Honiton/Blackdown Hills. (3.5 hour drive back to watch over businesses and see friends) We go down to Devon to investigate when we can. This year has been anything but easy, but along with everyone else we have made the best of it. But what we would like to know is a little about the climate and what grows well. Areas of difficulty. Soil issues. We will find out soon enough but it’s exciting to hear what all of you down there already know.
We we need to be able to return to Kent on a regular basis for the first year or two. So we have been looking at the area around Honiton/Blackdown Hills. (3.5 hour drive back to watch over businesses and see friends) We go down to Devon to investigate when we can. This year has been anything but easy, but along with everyone else we have made the best of it. But what we would like to know is a little about the climate and what grows well. Areas of difficulty. Soil issues. We will find out soon enough but it’s exciting to hear what all of you down there already know.
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Posts
We live in West Devon so I don’t really know what the soil’s like up in Honiton, if it’s like Exeter is dark red and very do-able.
I think there are a couple of people on here from that area.
We are in the northeast corner of Devon, (north and west of the Blackdowns and Honiton) on a complicated bit of geology between the Culm Measures (poor soil), a very hard type of sandstone (Exmoor stone) and some better loamy soils. There's no limestone here so our soil is acidic. A few miles away its that rich red sandstone soil.
Devon is a big county - it varies a lot.
You can find maps of soil type with a bit of Googling but yes best advice is to take a look at surrounding gardens. Could also be worth a visit to good local garden centres too.
Here in South Devon, plants such as agapanthus grow voraciously - always makes me chuckle how some gardening sites recommend cosseting agapanthus like a pampered pet... One guy down the road from where I live has a bank covered in them (evergreen variety), and every autumn he strims the lot right down, and they just grow straight back as vigorously as ever!
A great opportunity for you to experiment! Enjoy...
I would suggest you find the house and area that you like and work with the garden that you get.
Good luck with the search!
As others have said, it tends to be mild and damp here. We have acidic soil, so since we moved here, I’ve been able to indulge my love of camellias, rhododendrons and azaleas. If I’m planning new plants, I tend to walk round the neighbourhood and see what seems to be thriving in the local gardens.
Worth checking what the underlying geography is like. We live over prehistoric pebblebeds, remnants of when this area was an ancient seabed. Dig down a few feet in the garden, and we hit ‘pobbles’, big round sandstone pebbles, some as big as your head. Can be restrictive if you were planning major landscaping!
Wonderful area though, very pleased we moved here 16 years ago, and would be reluctant to leave.
I’ve been here 35 years OH born a few miles from here.
It will depend on what area you move to regarding soil and weather conditions, I can leave Dahlias in the soil over winter where I couldn’t back up country and sometimes even geraniums will survive.
The Devonian people are pretty special as well so welcoming.