Welcome to the Ten-Percent information page for Plymouth. If you would like to contact us for further information about posts, please either view our vacancy database, or email us at cv@tenpercent.co.uk.

Plymouth Living – there’s plenty to do!

If you are an outdoors type there are lots of water based activities that you can get involved in here, such as sailing, fishing, wind-surfing, scuba diving and water skiing. Plymouth isn’t just history; it’s got shops too. What they say about the uniformity of the British high street does apply here too, with the prerequisite New Look, Debenhams, River Island etc. There are also some interesting small shops with alternative clothes and unusual art; much more fun for browsing.

Now, we all know that when you live in a place, you are less likely to have visited the local sights than if you visit somewhere as a tourist.

On the tourism side (useful when you’ve got visitors for the weekend) there’s the National Marine Aquarium, Plymouth Dome and Smeatons Tower and the usual city museum and art gallery. A bit further afield are Saltram House and Mount Edgecombe House and Country Park.

There’s lots going on here too, not of all of it linked with the naval tradition. There’s the Formula One Powerboat Grand Prix, or the British Fireworks Championships, to mention but a few special events that take place here.

So that you can reassure friends and family about coming to visit, here are some of the sample journey times to Plymouth:

London – by train 3.5 hours, 240 miles by car (about 5.25 hours)
Birmingham – by train 3.45 hours, 202 miles by car (about 4.5 hours)
Manchester – by train 5.5 hours, 283 miles by car (about 6 hours)
Cardiff – by train 3.5 hours, 157 miles (about 3.5 hours)

*When it’s good it’s good and when it’s bad it’s horrid!
** Just watch for those motorway tailbacks, especially at weekends in school hols.

But what about the dreaded house prices?

Are you young (ish), single, wanting to experience the nightlife in your time off? (yes, we know your time is limited, but you’ve got to let your hair down occasionally) You may well prefer to live in Plymouth itself, as house prices will be lower than in picturesque Dartmoor and the seaside towns of Devon and Cornwall.

You can pick up a flat for under £120k or rental for a one or two bedroomed flat is around the £600 mark. Compare that to London prices! There are also some very stylish loft conversion apartments, but we’ll leave those to the senior partners. You would be doing far too many hours on the out of hours scheme to put a down payment on one of those.

Getting into your 30s and want to slow down a bit? By now we are fully justified in buying a bit further out in the suburbs. There is plenty of choice of 3 bedroom detached properties which are still under £300k. Get the mix right and you’ll easily be able to pop into the city to get a meal at a fusion restaurant, but with only a slightly heavy head from the wine, you’re close enough to go out on your mountain bike the next morning in the beautiful English countryside.

For those who want to go the full hog, with proper country pubs, green wellies (patterned are so last year darling) and walks with the dog, why not commute from Dartmoor or some of the pretty towns around Plymouth? Prices reflect demand around here, so expect to pay around £300k plus for a property.

If you have other responsibilities in your life and don’t just have your next meal out to consider, then these are the top performing schools in the area (based on A level results).

Devonport High School for Boys (SEL)
Devonport High School for Girls (SEL)
Plymouth High School for Girls (SEL)
Hele’s School
Plymouth College (IND, SEL)
St Dunstan’s Abbey School (IND, SEL)
Notre Dame RC School
Plymstock School
Eggbuckland Community College
Estover Community College
Ridgeway School
St Boniface’s RC College
Plymouth College of Further Education
Tamarside Community College
Stoke Damerel Community College
John Kitto Community College, The
Coombe Dean School
Lipson Community College

Primary Schools – top selection
Elburton Primary School
Boringdon Primary School
Chaddlewood Junior School
St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School
Oreston Community Primary School
Woodford Junior School
Holy Cross Catholic Primary School
Widey Court Primary School
Morice Town Primary School
Keyham Barton Catholic Primary School
Lipson Vale Primary School
Salisbury Road Junior School
Montpelier Junior School
Compton CofE Primary School
Leigham Primary School
If your little darlings have yet to leave the bosom of the family and go off to primary school, these are the best ones in the area. Again, the bbc website gives more information, should you need it.

The content of the careers centre is intended as guidance only. It has been written by Joanne Hirst on behalf of Ten-Percent Legal Recruitment (www.ten-percent.co.uk). If you have any questions that we have not covered above, please contact us by emailing us at cv@tenpercent.co.uk