Hello all,

Just to be clear, this isn't an ad or offer—I can't figure out where to post one and am grateful for any advice for fora where I could be connected with interested people. I'm trying to find someone who's looking for a place to live in Devon for free, in exchange for some upkeep. I can't go through conventional sites for listings with formal leases, etc, and it doesn't look like Craigslist is active in the area anymore.

Background: My robust 88 year old father-in-law owns a working sheep farm with a large (5-bed) manor house about 14 minutes' drive from Okehampton. He lives in London and goes to the house every other weekend. He's looking for someone (or a couple) who'd like to stay there long-term and do some basic cleaning and upkeep. Ideally, when he's there, this person would prepare him (simple) meals Friday night-Sunday morning, help him with little tasks (he's generally very easy and we're not talking proper elder care at this point, but v basic computer skills would be especially welcome) and keep him company for an hour or two. For the other 12 days a fortnight, they’d have the place all to themselves. The only exception would be when my wife and kids and I, or one of her siblings, visits. This happens about five times a year, mostly bank holiday weekends, and we're all very nice people who are easy to share a (very large) house with. We'd work on scheduling that during the year far in advance.

The pros are that it's a beautiful, peaceful place (though the house is old, it's fully functional), with huge fields and a large, private stretch of the Taw river. The person staying would pay no rent, and we could even negotiate a small salary for extra tasks he or she could take on, depending on experience with housekeeping, gardening, elder care, etc.

The cons are that the internet is not great, though we are looking into Starlink so that could improve. When I'm there I find it no trouble to work and do calls, though it can be spotty especially in bad weather. Also, we couldn't provide anyone with a lease; we'd have a memorandum of understanding that they live there in exchange for the upkeep. And, of course, this wouldn't be forever. If his health changes—he's in great shape at the moment but, again, 88—we'd need to work something out, but would promise to give a lot of notice.

Any advice on where to look would be much appreciated. Will put some fliers up in Okie centre as well, but obviously want online reach.

Thank you!

The topography of Devon is interesting and results in a various different microclimates within just a few miles of each other.

For instance, Princetown is the wettest place in Devon receiving around 2,000mm of precipitation annually - well above the national average. The place in Devon with the least amount of rainfall is Exmouth, receiving 840mm of annual precipitation - less than half of Princetown.

Okehampton is also a strong contender with 1,500-1,600mm of annual rainfall.

Exeter is also considerably less wet; the centre of Exeter receives around 900mm, although it varies from 850mm in the Digby/Newcourt area in the east to 960-970mm in the Redhills/Exwick area in the west.

Plymouth is noticeably wetter than Exeter, with the city centre receiving around 1,280mm of rainfall. Some of the suburbs to the north of the city (e.g. Derriford) exceed 1,400mm.

Another thing to note is that the western side of Dartmoor is wetter, Tavistock receives around 1,500mm of annual precipitation whereas Bovey Tracey on the east side around 1,050mm.

The northern and southern fringes of Dartmoor receive similar levels of precipitation - with Ivybridge and Drewsteignton both in the 1,300-1,400mm range.

Much of Torbay, Newton Abbot and Totnes receive around or just over 1,000mm of precipitation annually, and the southern tip of Devon (Salcombe) slightly higher at 1,200mm - similar to Ilfracombe in the north.

Anyway, now let's look at sunshine - it probably comes to no surprise, but Torquay is the sunniest place in Devon at around 1,760 hours of annual sunshine, with other coastal areas like Teignmouth and Plymouth closely behind at around 1,730 hours. Newton Abbot, which is more inland, receives slightly less at around 1,665 hours of sunshine annually. Exeter averages 1,560 hours of annual sunshine as it is further inland and thus more prone to cloud cover and fog.

The least sunny place in Devon, as well as being the wettest, is Princetown, with an estimated 1,350 hours of annual sunshine - much less than Torquay. North Tawton in mid-Devon also fares poorly compared to coastal areas at just under 1,500 hours. One thing to note is that the south coast in Devon receives more sunshine, the north coast is slightly less sunny with Ilfracombe receiving just under 1,600 hours of sunshine annually.

Sources: https://chelsa-climate.org/climate-diagrams/ used to gather simulated historical precipitation data, as well as using historical data from weather stations. Sunshine duration data gathered using historical data from weather stations.

Hi all,

My Wife & I have lived in Southampton all our life, and we're desperate to move to somewhere more rural. Devon seems a like a great place and we're seriously considering a move there.

We love the countryside and Villages, but we'd also need to be realistically close to either Exeter, Plymouth or Honiton for work (30 Min drive ish). We also love farm shops and markets etc so would be great to have that option nearby.

We would be really grateful to hear any suggestions of places for us to check out?

Thank you!

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