What it's like to live in Honiton

East Devon is strongly owner-occupied. Across the council area, 72.2% of homes are owned outright or with a mortgage, 16% are privately rented and only 10.3% are social rented, well below the England figure of 17.1%. Of that social housing, 6% is council owned and 4.3% belongs to housing associations.

The main social landlords in the district are East Devon District Council with around 4,155 homes, LiveWest Homes with 1,998, Sovereign Network Group with 743, The Guinness Partnership with 215 and Abri Group with 175. Average weekly social rents for 2024/25 in the area are about £89 for a one bed, £103 for two beds and £113 for three.

The population skews older than England as a whole: 27.1% are aged 45 to 64 and 30% are 65 or over, with 19.6% aged 25 to 44. Social housing is in demand, with 4,909 households on the council's register at March 2025 and 425 homes let in 2024-25, so an exchange is a route worth taking seriously.

Families are well served for a town this size. Honiton Primary School is about 0.2 miles from the centre and Littletown Primary Academy is around 0.6 miles. Further out, within three miles, there are smaller church primaries at Awliscombe, Offwell and Farway, which appeal to people who want a village school.

For older children, Honiton Community College is the secondary school, roughly 0.2 miles from the centre. Having a secondary in the town matters: it usually means shorter journeys and local friendship groups that carry on after school.

For days out and weekends, Mountbatten Park is the closest green space, with Combe Park and Deer Park Country House a couple of miles away. Honiton Library is central and handy for younger children. Village halls at Combe Raleigh, Awliscombe, Offwell, Gittisham and Cotleigh host community activities. Across the East Devon council area, under-16s make up 15.5% of residents, a little below the England figure of 18.6%, so this is not an overwhelmingly young area.

Honiton has its own railway station, around a fifth of a mile from the town centre, which puts trains within walking distance for most people living centrally. That is a real advantage in this part of Devon, where many similar-sized towns have no station at all.

The town itself is easy on foot. Shops, the library, pharmacies, the hospital, the primary school and the community college all sit within roughly half a mile of the centre, so plenty of everyday trips need no vehicle. Pavements and a compact layout help, though the land around the town is hilly.

A car makes the surrounding villages and the wider district far easier to reach, and many households here run one. If you do not drive, plan around the station and local bus services before you commit, and check journey times to wherever you need to be regularly. Services in rural East Devon can be thinner in the evenings and at weekends than in a city.

Honiton's social life runs through its pubs and its high street. The Three Tuns, The Star Inn, The Volunteer, The Holt and Club 102 are all within a couple of hundred metres of the centre, which makes a night out a short walk rather than a taxi ride.

For exercise, there are small independent options rather than big chains: Bliss Yoga Studio and Nordic Power in the centre, and Oliver Joseph Fitness under a mile out. Honiton Library is central if you prefer quieter pastimes or need somewhere warm with internet access.

Green space is close. Mountbatten Park is the everyday option at around 0.6 miles, with Deer Park Country House about two miles away and Combe Park a little further. Beyond that, the countryside around the town is the main attraction, and the nearby village halls at Awliscombe, Offwell, Gittisham, Cotleigh and Combe Raleigh are where a lot of clubs, groups and local events happen.

Across the East Devon council area, 52.4% of adults are in work, below the England figure of 57.4%. That partly reflects the age profile: 30% of residents in the district are 65 or over, so a smaller share of the population is of working age in the first place.

Unemployment is low. Just 1.9% of adults were recorded as unemployed at the 2021 Census, against 3.5% for England, and in September 2026 only 2.1% of 16 to 64 year olds were claiming unemployment-related benefits, compared with 4% nationally. Work is generally there for people who want it.

The practical point for anyone moving is choice rather than scarcity. A small town offers a limited range of local roles, so many people in East Devon commute. Honiton's railway station and road links make that realistic, but it is worth working out your likely travel costs and times before you exchange, especially for shift work.