sjz

Hi all,

I’m from New Zealand and my wife is English, we’re living in Australia at the moment, have an 18mth old son. Done the London thing – 6 years for me, 10 years for the wife, not sure we could do it again, especially with a young boy in tow. Thinking of somewhere smaller, say Oxford or surrounds which is half-way between London and the in-laws. Or maybe Bath? Surrey would also be good, if commutable to London, but not sure we could afford it. Or even Kent? - closer to Europe and further away from the in-laws

Does anyone who has recently lived or is living in those areas now have any advice or opinions they’d like to impart to a prospective inhabitant? Anyone run screaming away or screaming back? Reading the forum, schooling seems to be one of the major considerations when returning to the UK...

Not planning on making any snap decisions - coming back for hols over Christmas so will have a look around these areas when we’re back.

Thanks.

JustBecause

All those places are lovely. I have lived in Oxford; Guildford, Surrey & Canterbury, Kent & really like the Bath/Bristol area. You mention about Kent being closer to Europe but unless you think you will be hopping across the channel as frequently as once a month then I wouldn't put that into the equation as it's only an extra hour or two in the car from the other areas you mentioned.

As with anywhere it depends on the exact place you end up in & is hard to tell properly until you are actually living there day-in, day-out. One area can be lovely then 5 miles across the way it's completely different. The Bath area would be great with a youngster as you would closest to Devon/Cornwall - great for trips & holidays & if lucky you might get the best of the weather down that way. Also close to Wales - lots more fab places to explore.

In Bath or Oxford you would either want to be in/very close to the centre or properly outside as they are very difficult to get into for shopping, socialising etc You wouldn't be able to easily pop in to the centres so would have to make sure there were other nearby places that were more accessible for general shopping & amenities.

As you probably know all the areas you have mentioned are expensive! They are all closer than a day's air travel to the in-laws so I wouldn't be too concerned about the distances in the UK! Good luck with your choice - it's a nice decision to have to make, in a way!

Posidrive

I work in Abingdon, just outside of Oxford. Beautiful area to live but house prices are ridiculous. Ended up drawing a 30 mile circle around Abingdon which would give a reasonable commute which led to us buying a house in Wroughton a village just outside of Swindon in Witshire. Nicest place I have ever lived.

sjz

Hi JustBecause, thanks for your response, that’s useful info.

Agree about those areas being expensive relative to other areas but after considering our options for our next move on the property ladder here in Melbourne, all of England looks ‘reasonable’ by comparison. And it cost me $325 for just over half a trolley of (pretty basic) groceries here last night. Sigh…

Thanks for the tip about Bath and Oxford traffic, I have read other posts that suggest Bath’s traffic is getting very bad now and its making it quite difficult for the locals. I used to think traffic was bad in Fulham when Chelsea were playing, that is until I tried driving down Punt Road in Melbourne at peak time or on the weekend when there’s an AFL match on at the MCG. Terrible…

That’s a good point about access to Devon, Cornwall and Wales for holidays. Hampshire also came up on my wife’s list but we’ve not given it any serious consideration yet. The reason I mention Kent, was that the next stage of our journey once settled back in the UK would be to get a small place in the country in France - holiday home for us/holiday let for others type of thing. In which case we'd be going over quite a lot. Plus we have some good friends in east-sussex. I guess it’s a bit premature though as if we ended up eventually getting something towards the south of France then being closer to an airport (Gatwick?) might be a better bet. Interesting you mention Canterbury, I've never been there, will try and visit it on our hols in December.

sjz

Thanks Posidrive, funnily enough, Abingdon was one of the places I was looking at on rightmove.co.uk last week. I set a 20 mile radius around Oxford. I’ve just done a route planner from Wraugton to Abingdon and it tells me its 50mins and 41.57 miles (via M4/A34). I’ve never put much faith in their driving time estimates though. Is 50 mins representative of the time it takes you at the commuter-time of the day? Barring accidents, works, snow etc of course…

On the subject of commuting, does anyone have any comments on the state of the rail network there now as compared with what it was like 7 years ago when we left? Has it generally improved or generally got worse over time?

brits1

Hi...hope you have a lovely time in the Holidays....have you thought of Norfolk...a lovely county...nice towns etc....good schools...we did a lot of "homework" on the area but in the end we decided on North Derbyshire as it is still nearish to both sets of families.....good luck and as you say "no snap decisions"......all the best

J.J

Norfolk is becoming quite popular, many commute from Kings Lynn, Downham Market, through to Cambridge and London (less than 2 hrs, Lynn to Kings Cross). Plus there are cross country connections from Ely on a Birmingham to Stansted line. DH uses the train from Lynn to Stansted for his business travel to Germany. Norfolk rural villages are charming, but on the other hand a car is necessary, many have become 2nd home destinations (without the complications of being in France).
We moved back to Lynn because it was one less worry by moving to a place we know, but if this wasn't on our list I would have strongly considered Norwich, thriving city center, historic castle and cathredral, football club, access to countryside, steam railways, coast, with fast train service and road access to Cambridge, London. We take trips to Norwich for days / weekends. www.visitnorwich.co.uk/ Depends what you feel is essential to your life.

Posidrive

The M4/A34 route is the quickest, normally takes be between 40 and 45 minutes which is the shortest commute that I have had for about 15 years. They have just finished the road works on the M4

On the days when I think about how much the fuel is costing me I take the A420 which is only 30 miles door to door. Takes about 5-10 minutes longer because you often get stuck behind lorries and there are not many safe overtaking points

sjz

Brits1 and JJ, thanks, Norfolk didn’t make the initial shortlist as we wanted to be within reasonable striking distance from london or the M4 corridor. Had a look at the website, boy those pics on winter Christmas made me feel like I'm missing out on something – can I be homesick for the UK if I wasn’t born there? Not sure.... Won’t show the wife that’s for sure, she’ll be on the next plane.

Posidrive, thanks, yes the price of petrol is an issue to be considered as well – it’s cheaper here in Aussie but that’s probably one of the only things…

MagsB

I lived in Canterbury for 6 years and it is a wonderful place to live, you can surely do much worse. We're currently thinking of relocating to the UK again and we are considering Ashford. Much cheaper to live in than in Canterbury (20 minutes drive away), with the option of the new fast rail link to London, just to widen our job options somewhat. The Internation station is there for travel with the Eurostar and it's very near to Dover should you wish to hop on the ferry for a day trip to France. And as a bonus the surrounding countryside is truly beautiful. Aso, it is one of the fastest growing area in the UK, so I think buying a property in Ashford might be a good investment.

JustBecause

I grew up in Canterbury with both sets of grandparents in Ashford so know those areas very well! Actually, come to think of it, Canterbury is getting a bit like Bath & Oxford in respect of getting into the centre. They have park & ride schemes. Lots of lovely villagey places around both Canterbury & Ashford, & glorious countryside. If OP gets to Canterbury on forthcoming holiday the Cathedral should be a must-see - very christmassy at this time of year.

Ashford used to have a not-so-good reputation: it was just not a pleasant town in terms of layout, range of shops, a bit of a depressed feel about it & not a desirable place to live, but I think it has undergone a fair bit of redevelopment with the rail station & new retail outlets. I don't think it has much in the way of cultural amenities (eg arts centre, theatre, restaurants, galleries) but there is avery healthy cultural scene in Canterbury & many of the Kent coastal towns these days which is close by if you are into that.

EnglishRose15

Hi, I am originally from Faringdon a town between Oxford and Swindon, I lived in Swindon before coming to live in Aus 15 years ago, and I really miss it. Swindon is often the butt of jokes, but from the time I moved there in 1982 to when I left in '95 I was it's biggest fan and TBH I wish i'd never left. My parents live in a village about 35 minutes away towwards Oxford and it is a gorgeous part of the country, but as you say house prices are steep. I am longing to come home to that part of the country.
Good luck with the move and I hope to be back there myself next year.

Beedubya

This time last year I was living in Somerset, not too far from Bath which is a really beautiful place, the whole surrounding countryside is like a picture postcard and oh the little villages...... , even getting the train was an adventure

Beedubya

Swindon.....mmmmm......when I moved to Somerset last year I am sure we went through there in my brothers van with the dodgy Sat Nav....isn't that where that SCARY roundabout is??? 5 roundabouts in one or something? I was sweating and I wasn't even driving!!

Mind as you we traversed across half of the southern counties of England it could have been anywhere LOL!!

EnglishRose15

Haha, You're exactly right Bee, it's called the Magic Roundabout!, when it was installed it was called 'County Islands' as it's near the local football stadium which is call the County Ground, but the public just called it the Magic Roundabout and eventually it's name got changed - how about that for people power. For those of you who have never experienced it, it can be pretty scary, but it is actually a great design and keeps the traffic flowing really well. The secret is, show no fear, look to your right and keep going!
Here is a link which will explain it all to the uninitiated

http://www.swindonweb.com/index.asp?m=8&s=115&ss=289