SOUND OUT PLYMOUTH
This once gritty city is undergoing a major makeover — and there are bargains to be had
tHE signs as you enter Plymouth already call it ‘Britain’s Ocean City’, but now this famous port is home to Britain’s first- ever national Marine Park, too.
A £11.6 million national Lottery Heritage Fund grant has launched a five-year project at Plymouth Sound, known as the starting point for epic sailing voyages by Sir Francis Drake, the Pilgrim Fathers and Sir Francis Chichester. The new national Marine Park — the maritime equivalent of a national Park like nearby Dartmoor — is set to regenerate the city, giving its housing market a shot in the arm.
A new public coastline will be created from former military areas of the city, as well as an art deco lido as part of a nature area. Property website Zoopla says a typical home in Plymouth costs £238,950 — that’s less than two thirds of the all-England average of £364,100 and around £100,000 less than in Devon’s other city, Exeter. Desirable areas include wealthy Mannamead, with Victorian villas fetching between £750,000 and £1 million, and around the Hoe, where two-bedroom apartments, some with views of Plymouth Sound, cost from £400,000 to £800,000. Also popular are several former military bases. These include the 16-acre Royal William Yard, a
stretch of waterfront lined by 19thcentury warehouses that used to be the Royal navy’s food storage facility, but is now a trendy shopping and residential quarter.
not far away is a mix of period and new-build homes in Mount Wise Village; these are clustered around 18th- century Admiralty House, a former naval intelligence building with miles of tunnels which served as wartime bunkers. Apartments and houses here
typically cost £250,000 to £500,000. ‘There are also new developments springing up in spaces made redundant from no-longer-needed commercial purposes,’ says Tony Carlton, of local estate agency Mansbridge Balment.
‘The city’s evolving as spaces are recycled to house the growing student population or those employed in other jobs.’
Those new developments include exclusive homes at Fort Bovisand, built in the mid- 1800s, with battlements overlooking Plymouth Sound. Here, the former BBC director-general greg Dyke is funding the transformation of the main building into more than 80 ultra-modern homes in what is tipped to become the city’s most prestigious address. Some are already on sale at £1.1 million.
The city is also close to other property hotspots. ‘The South Hams is on the doorstep with beautiful nearby villages such as Brixton, Holbeton or Wembury all within a 20-minute drive,’ says Ed Jephson, of Stacks Property Search. ‘The harbour villages of noss Mayo and newton Ferrers are only six miles from the city boundary but a world away in terms of the lifestyle they offer.’
These villages are small, with average prices of around £520,000.
Those preferring an inland home should look to Dartmoor, with the most popular location being Tavistock, according to Jephson.
it’s a Unesco heritage site thanks to its past as a tin-mining centre, and has a growing reputation for local food and drink. ‘it’s a wonderful, attractive spot and yet it’s only 30 minutes from Plymouth city centre,’ he adds.
now local councils are considering an hourly rail service between Tavistock and the city, linking one of Britain’s oldest national Parks with its first maritime equivalent.