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jackc
Have been thinking about how to respond to this, but struggling a little! I first moved to Devon when I was a kid, and then moved away at Uni and stayed in London and surrounding areas for 10 years or so, and then have moved back to Devon in the last few years.
I think the first thing to say is that it is hard to treat Devon as one place, there are lots of smaller areas, I would broadly split them into:
East Devon and Exeter: This is where I live (and lots of others on the forum too!), and I may be biased but I think that it has a good balance, coastal areas are easy to get to both seaside towns (Sidmouth, Exmouth, or crossing the border into Lyme Regis) and smaller places (Branscombe, Beer). I personally wouldn't recommend living in a coastal areas, they tend to be quite expensive property wise, very busy in the summer (guess you are used to this!) and pretty bleak in the winter, I personally love visiting the coast in the winter with the dogs, but wouldn't want to be there everyday. East Devon has easy access to the M5, which ends in Exeter, so as soon as you go west of there things get a little slower getting back out. Exeter itself is a pretty good city, plenty of regeneration in recent years, and being a uni town, has pretty good nightlife etc. if that is your thing. You also have access to Dartmoor for walking, riding.
South Devon: Bit further down, bit harder to get out! There are some lovely areas down here, and also some really touristy areas (Torquay, paignton for example). Nearest city would then be Plymouth, which is fine, but is a little rougher (only in my view, i'm sure there are good bits!), My wife is also a teacher and did her training placements in Plymouth, and much prefers teaching in East Devon...
North Devon: In my view has the best beaches, and the ability to surf , but is weaker in terms of jobs and cities, with Barnstable being the biggest place, some really good riding around Exmoor and the Quantocks.
No idea if that has been helpful! But if you have any specific questions please shout! My wife is a secondary teacher down here, so can answers questions on that, but guess it is similar to most places in that respect, some good kids, some bad, chronic underfunding...