RoB1833

A couple of restaurants, the Arsenal Mall - which is really bad.....

Route 20 will drive you insane, it's lights all the way once you get to Waltham. If you can afford it I'd definitely stick with Natick. Should be okay to rent there if there are just the two of you. The wife has relatives living in Natick and it seems like a really nice place as long as you stay away from the Framingham border.

Loads more to do there than Watertown.

Bob

Cheers...does sound like Natick, as it's only a 5 min drive to work from there and from what we saw, which was just the central area I guess, it was nice, no idea if it spreads out much, but same with Sudbury that we rather liked to...so many places...google is feeling the burn *lol*

looselips

Hey Bob,

Watertown is small but very close to Newton which is larger with more going on ( I recommend the chicken wings at Buffs pub!) so near enough to stuff. Everyone I know (mainly American) that live in that area love it and I almost succumbed to it myself earlier in the year until I persuaded 'im indoors to stay downtown Boston for just 2 more years! It is considered a good area. You will be about a $30 cab ride from Boston and about $20 from Cambridge for a night out. You would get a nice apt/house with parking and garden etc.

Of the other areas you mentioned : Brighton & Allston are considered college areas so very young but very busy and so close to the city on the T but tough parking for your commute. Arlington is nice (but small), leafy and family oriented. Somerville (I corrected some of your spellings - figured I would do it before a masshole does it for ya ;_) ) is very close to the city with much more going on that say Watertown or Natick, with mixture of all ages and easy access to Boston. Natick and that area are probably the hardest to reach on public transport so the other poster was right in that you will need 2 cars, but If you are used to the quiet in Maine I think Natick will suit. If I had the choice of everywhere you have mentioned I would say Newton/Watertown (Newton side) or Somerville since they have a good mix of decent sized apts/houses with yards and yet close to stuff going on, but if you want something a little bigger you will get more in Natick.

That's my 5 pence worth

Patrick Hasler

I went along rt 20 from Sudbury to I-95 yesterday leaving Sudbury at 8.00am. The traffic was so f**kin slow and the assholes who just think they have the right to just ignore stop signs and pull out infront of you drive me mad 'Go ahead and do it mate' I think to my self 'When a 40 ton truck hits a 1 ton car I know who gets the rough end of it'

There was a radio ad on Magic 106.7 for some condos by the riverside in Boston. 'Regatta riverside condos are really affordable for the everday person, one bedroom starter homes for ONLY $350,000 "So are you taking a second job to but it" say's the guy in the ad,
"No they are easily affordable" say's the woman.'

Bob

Aye, that's what I've been reading, shame, sounds like a lovely place, even looked lovely, and not far, but that road, really is a car park during the morning and evening along the M25 lines, I could do without that *lol*

But have more places to check out, so it's all good

nun

If you live in East Watertown you are five mins from the MA Turnpike, 5 mins by bus or 20 mins walk to Harvard Square and from there its easy into downtown Boston on the T. You can have a house with a garden and still go out anywhere in Boston on public transportation.

Bob

Aye, I was looking at that, seems pretty good, bit of a trek to Wayland though...well potentially, could avoid route 20 for the pike, further drive though...but no idea what the pike is like in the morning, but as it is against the grain of traffic, I'm guessing that it really shouldn't be a car park like experience...

sfoley

Arlington is my vote - its a short ride against the traffic up route 3 (so no need to go near 128). and has some very nice schools. Also, its inside 128, so near life and stuff like public transport (bus to harvard every 10 mins or so down mass ave). Problem with Burlington itself is transit to Boston sucks.
Lots of restaurants, dead trendy, plenty of rentals at prices lower than neighboring Cambridge and Slumerville. And not blowing my own trumpet, but I also live here and love it!

feel free to email me if u want more info

nun

Arlington is a nice community with a good range of housing, however, its a dry town ie you carn't buy alcohol there. If you can afford it Lexington is just up the road and is a very pleasant place to live. On Patriot's Day you can watch the re-enactment of the Red Coats killing a couple of Minutemen on the green.

Bob

oh bugger, yeah, I forgot parts of mass are dry towns...you wouldn't know what the score is for natick and newton by any chance?

sfoley

Arlington is now LESS dry than Lexington. Arlington allows alcohol in restaurants, and just passed a measure that allows beer/wine stores. Next year we WILL have bars on the ballot, and it will likely pass. Lexington on the other hand doesn't have bars. If you live in E Arlington, its not that far to walk to bars and liquor stores in Cambridge/Somerville. Lexington is also a lot more expensive, and has a really poor bus service into the city (e.g. you can't take the T home p1ss5d ). It is a nice town - but the OP is from London, not some distant burb.
Flora in E Arlington has a nice bar where they will serve you if you munch on the snacks on the bar

I guess it really depends on what the poster is looking for. Even though I have family, I like to be able to go out at night, and there are many reasons other than simply drinking that I like to leave the car at home. This is why the inner burbs (Watertown, Cambridge, Medford, Malden, Somerville, Arlington, Newton) are preferable to the outer ones. Natick has "lots to do" if you are a big fan of American strip malls and shopping. Otherwise, fuggeddaboudit, as they like to say here.

Bob

I'm looking into moving to Natick, or Newton, rather village like suburbs apparently, but natick would be nice as it's a five min drive to wayland for me

sfoley

Apart from the relative distance to wayland (its not that close unless work is on the southern side of wayland, and you live the northern side of natick) - i don't recall anything "happening" in natick - in fact i believe it may well be dry. Waltham is a much better bet if you need to be that close to wayland. Moody st has several restaurants and bars (including 5 indians).
Newton has some stuff too - either in Newton Highlands or the centre (where there is also the green line), but its silly rent. Depends what you are looking for - a quiet family friendly place with no bars and reasonable schools for the kids (natick), a posh place with awesome schools but major leage rent (newton), or are you still young free and single?

Bob

Waltham also happens to be a shit heap, along with marlborough and framingham....and we're not looking for school area, just an apartment, preference to being on the commute/train line, and not having to use route 20....young, but not single, no kids

sfoley

I guess I''m really intruiged how theres more in natick that watertown? Natick has more shops, but sod all else. Watertown has bars (quite a few), restaurants, a 15 minute xpress bus to boston, and a trolley to cambridge. Natick has erm - natick mall, a number of big box places, and a few crap chain restaurants, and its a 2-50 toll each way, 40 minute ride to Boston to boot. Watertown does have a fair number of big box places too (home depot, target, best buy, old navy) and its only a quick ride on the pike against the traffic to all that chuff in natick too. And best of all - you can get transit back to watertown right till the T stops (used to be till 3am till that romney twat stuck his oar in), and its not so far from Boston that a cab ride home is out of the question.
I think the problem is these are places you've visited. I've lived round here 13 years now!