Totnes

Independent shops still outnumber chains along the high street here, the kind of place where you'll spot a graphic tee next to a tweed jacket without either looking out of place. Totnes has long attracted a mix of older incomers and a younger, alternative crowd, and the median age of just under 50 tells you this is not a place dominated by first-time buyers or students — it's settled, and it knows what it is.

The practicalities are workable rather than effortless. Totnes Rail Station puts you on the branch line without needing a car for the daily grind, though with a single station serving the town, your commute options narrow if you're not heading in that one direction. Schools follow a similar pattern of quiet adequacy: The Grove School and Totnes St John's Church of England Primary both carry Good ratings, and King Edward VI Community College takes pupils through secondary, though its progress-8 score sits right on the national average rather than above it — solid, not exceptional. On the housing side, terraced houses dominate what's sold here, nearly all of it freehold, which is the classic signature of an old market town that grew organically rather than being built out by developers in one go. A median house price a little above the national figure, but only just over the South Hams average, tells you Totnes isn't the expensive outlier in its own district — if anything it's fairly priced for the area it sits in.

Green space is genuinely well provided for relative to population — more hectares per head than the regional norm — and with a network of 26 green spaces to choose from, the weekend shape here leans outdoors, whether that's a walk along the Dart or time in one of the smaller pocket parks dotted through town. Healthcare access reads well too, matching the strong general pattern across the town's services. The one place this comfortable picture wrinkles is safety: crime is trending in the wrong direction, and violence and sexual offences alone account for well over a third of all recorded incidents — a heavier share than you'd expect given how easy everything else feels. It's not a town that reads as dangerous day-to-day, but the trend line is worth sitting with rather than waving away.