What’s going for it? Traffic jams. That’s all I remember of childhood trips to Okehampton. The A30. Bumper to bumper. Hot Chocolate on the radio. Volvo hanging together by a thread. The promise of the summer holiday to come slowly dissolving amid exhaust fumes. I barely clocked the town around us as we inched through, its whitewashed terraces and glinting granite passing by in a ghostly smudge. Now – luxury! – the A30 whips by on a bypass (though the traffic jams, at summer’s height, are still chronic), meaning you have to actually go to Okehampton to go to it. And so I did. Equipped with a pasty from Endacott’s, step outside the car and the whitewashed smudge transforms into rather a jolly place. Why, it has the last working water-powered forge in England! See what I missed! Okehampton’s centuries as an isolated garrison town defending Dartmoor’s edge give it a “restaurant at the end of the universe” feel. It knows how to have a good time. Friday night is a sight to behold, especially in Ten Tors season, when local hostelries are awash with brawny beefcakes supping soda water (before) or sinking 10 pints (after).
The case against There’s not much to the town, and not much around, so don’t come expecting the Left Bank.
Well connected? Trains: there are mutterings of an alternative to the Dawlish line coming through Okehampton, but don’t hold your breath. Until then, it’s the A30: half an hour to Exeter, slightly longer for the M5, 45 mins to the coast at Bude, 35 mins to the heart of Dartmoor. Hourly buses to Exeter (50 mins), Bude (one hour).
Schools Primaries: there’s one, Okehampton, but thankfully Ofsted’s rated it “good”. Secondaries: ditto, Okehampton College is “outstanding”.
Hang out at… I’d head down the A386 to the Dartmoor Inn at Lydford.
Where to buy You’ll find pleasant period suburbans west, between Exeter and Crediton Roads, with fine stone Victorian and Edwardian semis and terraces. In the centre are lovely hugger-mugger terraces; start on and around North Street. Large detacheds and town houses, £280,000-£400,000. Detacheds, £200,000-£280,000. Semis, £160,000-£280,000. Terraces and cottages, £120,000-£250,000. Rentals: a one-bedroom flat, £425-£525pcm; a three-bedroom house, £650-£850pcm.
Bargain of the week “Quirky” four-bedroom Victorian terrace, £145,000, with gssproperty.com.
From the streets
Nick Godfrey “It’s a friendly, non-touristy market town, accessible to everywhere: right on Dartmoor.”
Deborah Squire “Wetherspoons have opened a fantastic new pub/hotel, the old White Hart. But we’re surrounded by quaint villages with lovely pubs. Pet hate: traffic at school pick-up time.”
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