Bath & Bristol area
 

Just got back from a lovely 2 weeks back in the UK and my desire to go back is stronger than ever. Have some time to plan as I am half way through my MBA so it makes sense to finish that in the next 18 months before I head back. So I expect to be posting more often as we move through this process.

So one of the first things we have to decide is where we want to live and during our trip back we had a nice time in Bath so have talked about that area.

It's close enough to London to visit our friends regularly. Not too big of a town and prices of home seem reasonable.

Anyone from around that area have any advice on the surrounding area? I'll need somewhere with some kind of manufacturing (Bristol?) to find employment and wife needs to find a vet practice that only treats small animals so can't be too rural.

Re: Bath & Bristol area
 

Just north of Bristol might be a good place to start looking. BAE Systems have several locations there and there's easy access to the M4 for travelling further afield (Cardiff, Swindon, etc..) if required. There's a large number of residential estates around that area so I should imagine plenty of pets to keep your wife busy.

Re: Bath & Bristol area
 

Bath can be quite expensive and is not that easy for a commute to North Bristol, traffic can be a nightmare. Would recommend Winterbourne, Frampton Cotterell areas as a good alternative to Bradley Stoke which is more modern and built up. Have a look at Rightmove.co.uk to get a feel for property and prices.
Lived in the area all my life til now so if you need more specific advice about the area please pm me.

Re: Bath & Bristol area
 

I was a bit surprised at the OP's comments ref housing costs in Bath too. There are areas to the south-west of the City that are more reasonable but supposedly more depressed with it. We were researching recently for potential college and liked Colerne and Bradford-on-Avon, if it had to be the Bath area and accessible to Bath by public transport, if that's your fancy.

Re: Bath & Bristol area
 

The OP refers to friends in London. If that's because he was previously living in London, that may be his reference point and Bath may seem a bargain. :rofl:

Re: Bath & Bristol area
 

Though I've not lived in London I was comparing the prices to the London prices we'd looked at earlier in the holiday.

Thanks for the suggestions we'll look into those too. Right now it's a tossup between the North Wales (NW England) where I grew up and Southwest where I think it looks nice. My head tells me to stick to where I know as opposed to somewhere new but I have plenty of time to decide.

Richard

Re: Bath & Bristol area
 

We are returning to the UK later this year. We are retired.

Our location in the short-run is governed by the need for access to a college well-rated in our desired course material, countered to a degree by typical weather conditions, social needs for us all as a family incl sports clubs/ markets/country walks/culture/pubs, cost of living in general, access for transport (road, rail, bus, airports, ferries) and the supply of rental property and to a lesser extent reasonable prices for property assuming we are tempted to ultimately buy, plus the potential for us letting out the place as a holiday home when not in it.

We don't fancy living in an area of serious economic etc deprivation because of all that entails, in spite of it being cheaper.

A couple of years back we had ideas regarding college and considered Cirencester, so we went there as a quasi-recce trip, checking out the area, what it has, and prices of property and desirable areas. We noted that access to Bristol was there for some who commuted by car daily.

I think it is worthwhile plumping for an area with say Bristol as the lead if you think/know that that is where you are truly going to find THE JOB, but then be open-minded over where your residence is and do recce trips checking out what works and what doesn't in terms of time and wear & tear on you, for both of you.

Others have posted that commuting to Bristol from Bath by road can be a pain but much depends upon where in Bristol you are headed as the rail links to Bristol Temple Meads from Bath are a matter of minutes and lines also feed in from the north-east and north. You could of course also do some sort of park&ride.

There is of course also Cheltenham and Swindon to consider in terms of employment opportunities in the area.

I would think that the VET thing for small animals would work well in the entire region.