sally808

Hi, I have been reading and watching this forum with interest and have finally taken the plunge to post a thread myself. Is there anyone reading this message that lives/visited Ashburton or Methven that could describe the area? many thanks

Tom1983

If you like golf, I thoroughly recommend Methven - purely because of the outstanding golf course there . Easily one of the best courses in Canterbury New Zealand

Sorry, will go on about the places

Ashburton is ok I suppose. It's a decent sized town which has good connections to Christchurch (only an hour away by car). The town itself is basically on two roads that are both between highway 1. After that, its all houses.

Methven is similar to Ashburton I suppose but more inland rather than close to the coast. As said, you're only around an hour to an hour and a half from Christchurch and there also is decent links to the outstanding Lake Tekapo or Omaru/Timaru which are nice places to visit. Both similar to Ashburton mind with the state highway 1 driving through the central business district of the town.

I recently went to Geraldine which I'd recommend you consider (if you're considering Methven and Ashburton). That is a lovely place and is one of those that could be in the 'I could base myself here' place.

sally808

Many thanks for your advice. Ive been checking out Geraldine online and that may also be a contender, looks really nice and good schools also. Its a hard choice

snowbunni

Ashburton is bigger than Methven or Geraldine, so has more housing options and shops etc. It's where we live and we really like it. Methven is much smaller, more rural, but a really nice town, gets a lot of snow in winter, so a good house is important. Geraldine is nice too, bigger than Methven, smaller than Ashburton, a bit further away from Christchurch, nearer Timaru, nice place, but probably an older population in general.

All of these towns have good schools.

Tourvel

We are due to hit Ashburton in a few days - my OH was born and raised there (I was born and raised in England) and it has a small town vibe which is comforting and as snowbunni says the schools are good. Ashburton or Ashvegas as it's called by the local wags has a good selection of shops and links to CHch are easy. To be honest, for us it was Ashburton or nothing because my OH's family is based both there and in Chch and for us the move is more about getting closer to our family on that side of the world. My son will be attending the same schools his father attended.