Sazzer

Hi,

I'm going back to the UK to attend a wedding but also to have a look at several location in the UK to see if I can move back their. My husband after ten years in Canada still doesn't feel like Canada is home but myself and the kids are pretty settled (after many years of not wanting to be here!). My husband as said if I decided that I'm not happy to move back then he's will stand by my decision as it was he idea to move here in the first place. Oh the joys of immigration!

Anyway, I said I would be prepared to consider a trial period for one or two years and then decide. If the majority is for Canada then we move back.

So I have narrowed my search down to Wiltshire - why? House prices are reasonable, lovely countryside which is what my husband really misses and I need to be able to drive to Swindon as my son still wants to play ice hockey and they have a Ice Hockey team. Links to the SouthWest are good, one set of parents live in Cornwall and another in Shropshire. Need to able to get to a large city occasionally Bath, Swindon, Oxfordshire etc.

I need access to good schools, good sport facilities (kids are sport mad!).
Favourite on my list is Pewsley - train station and it seems to have a nice community (well looks like it from the village website).

I would love to know about any small towns, villages around Swindon or the Marlborough area.
If you know of another area which might also be suitable for us I have an open mind.
We would rent for the first year.
We have our own business so we don't need to worry about getting jobs.

cluedweasel

I hardly ever come to this part of the site, but I'm glad I did. I lived in Honey Street, Wiltshire for a good few years before moving to the US. Before that I was in Marlborough. The villages around both Marlborough and Pewsey are very nice. I would stay away from those on the Marlborough / Swindon road though. That road gets very busy.
Pewsey is pleasant enough, if you stay away from the council estate and sheltered housing. The latter has some drug problems a while back. Marlborough is probably the best town in the area but a decent house there can be pricey. Value for money wise, Devizes is worth a look. My personal favourite area was the villages of West Overton and Lockeridge, just off the A4 west of Marlborough. To be honest, you can't really go wrong with any of the villages around there.
If you have any questions, please feel free to PM me. Good luck.

Sazzer

Thanks, so glad you did pop in. I shall check out the other villages you suggested.

Pollyana

Have a look further to the west of Marlborough too - some lovely villages along the Swindon-Devizes road, such as Broad Hinton or Winterbourne Basset. Steer clear of Avebury though, very touristy and nothing is private there for that reason. Clyffe Pypard is another nice quiet village too.
Wroughton, just on the edge of Swindon, isn't bad if you want somewhere a bit bigger - dead easy to access the M4, and to get into Swindon, and has good schools (OK I'm biased having spent my schooldays there, but Ridgeway in Wroughton is, and always was, very highly thought of in the area)

I had friends in Overton and Lockeridge years ago as well, lovely little villages and I'm sure they still are, but I would echo the advice to be wary of some between Swindon & Marlbrough - Chiseldon, and to a lesser extent Wanborough, come to mind.

geeandtee

I live in Aldbourne, which is about 7 miles from Swindon and 6 miles from Marlborough. The Secondary School in Marlborough, St. John's is brilliant. My son has settled in well there and it's a brand new campus and has all mod cons. Plus, if you live in the catchment area, there's school buses.
I don't know what property prices are like here, I know that the rent hurts (700/month for 2-bed semi)

Marlborough has a Waitrose and a Tesco has recently opened there. It's a smaller one but it's a damn sight cheaper than Waitrose. There's also a small market on Wednesdays and Saturdays and you can get some good bargains from the fruit and veg stall. Mainly, however, Marlborough is all boutiques posh shops catering to the Green Welly brigade. Swindon has all the big supermarkets, including a massive Asda. Swindon also has a shiny new hospital (Great Western).

All in all, we're really happy we ended up here. It's taken a while for me to find a job but, if all goes to plan, I start my new job on Monday, which should help us keep the wolves from the door.

Aldbourne is a nice little village with an active WI, a couple of decent pubs, a couple of shops (including a Co-op) and an interesting history (the 101st Airborne were based here before D-Day). Ramsbury is probably worth checking out. It's bigger than Aldbourne but still in the St. John's catchment area. There's a doctor's surgery there, some shops and a couple of pubs. I think there's also a brewery.

The countryside around here is gorgeous, especially on a warm, sunny day like today. I just fall in love with England all over again on days like this, in a place like this.

/ramble.

micged

Have you thought about Salisbury and the villages around there? There are excellent Grammar schools there and it has a really nice small town feel.

Sazzer

Thanks Pollyana and GeeandTee for your replies. I shall go via RightMove to check out all these places.

As my husband is an ex-gamekeeper he really wants to be in the countryside and I'm an ex-city girl so we have to find a compromise. So a smallish town like Marlborough might be good. Although I must have a good sport centre for the boys to go to as they have been spoilt here in Canada for great sport facilities. Oldest son who was born in England doesn't like it, he thinks everything is too old, were as my Canadian boy child loves it! Go figure.

MicGed: For some reason I've also thought of Salisbury being open countryside and flat-ish and not a great town. Nevertheless I will certainly check it out.

GeeandTee good luck with the new job!

Moliknickers

Hi there we are living in Auckland but have moved from a great village called Minety in Wiltshire.Inbetween Swindon and Malmesbury. Still own our house there it is rented out.Fantastic community great pub good schools couldn't reccomend it more. We are in NZ for family and job reasons we didn't leave to escape the place!! We wanted an adventure too. Rentals are expensivein that area and few and far between, look on internet, as is a sought after area. North Wiltshire is lovely, you can't go wrong with any of the villages around that area.Swindon is not so attractive....
Good luck.

Sazzer

Thanks Gail, there seems so many nice villages with goods schools in the part of Wiltshire. I'm flying out this Sunday and will be looking around for a couple of days so I shall put Minety on the list.
I cannot get over the high rental costs of the UK but Wiltshire seems cheaper then a lot of other place in the South.

Posidrive

We moved back about a year and a half ago and and now live in Wroughton. Absolutely love it. Slightly bigger that a true village, but has all the basic ammenities, including good pubs, in walking range.

Ridegway school has a good academic record, but since the rally nasty incident a few years ago it now ressembles a prison camp and we found the staff rather uninspiring when we investigated it. Instead we send our son to Wooton Basset school where at last we have found a school where he has started to thrive. The school is relatively new and the staff young, but the environment is excellent.

Pollyana

Wootton Bassett school was a good one back in my day as well, always had a good reputation Nice little town too, though its grown a lot since then.
Sally Pussey's Inn was a fave WB eating place, and I've been back there a few times. Many years since I had a good session in Wroughton, but I bet the pubs haven't changed much - the Swan was one of my favourites, killer of a hill though! Also the Black Horse, down the the motorway. The "Tin Donkey" was a lunchtime favourite - they had a rule though, they wouldn't serve you till you took your school tie off