Any advice about where to move to/avoid in the SW ?

Angela_D_3

Budget wise I want to rent for at least 6 months to get a feel for the place so £1500 tops for a 4 bed house, when we buy around £400k but I am fussy and a good negotiator so I'll probably never find a thing [grin]

treetrunks

I live on the edge of Cheltenham, we have some nice areas, some not so nice. Are you looking for a town or village?

andy208833

poppysarah wrote: »

What's Glastonbury like?

Too far from the M5! A39 is not a good road to get to the M5 either.

For £400k you should get a very large detached place in and around bridgwater, check out rightmove and use TA5 or TA6 as a start postcode.

Neil_in_Bristol

What kind of place are you looking for? Somewhere quiet, or somewhere lively?

Bristol has a great city centre, plenty of shops, bars and restaurants and a wonderful historic harbourside, but there aren't many 'nice' suburbs, and that's reflected in the price of houses.

Bath is quite close to the M5, and is an absolutely stunning city, but even more expensive than Bristol. I'd love to live there if I could afford it.

There are plenty of towns and villages in North Somerset, which are close to the M5 and Bristol, but a little more affordable. The seaside town of Clevedon and the village of Wrington are two that spring to mind.

I'm afraid I'm not too familiar with places further south.

Angela_D_3

Not a village, a town at the absolute smallest, Ideally I don't want to be driving everywhere, so far Dorset seems to be ticking all my boxes for location and schools and is miles from the M5 lol
Not sure how practical an option that is though.

Neil which are the nicer parts of Bristol, I visited friends as a student there and it seemed quite an interesting city.

ka7e

Taunton is ideal - midway between Exeter and Bristol. It's the County town, so lots of shops, easy access to Mway and countryside, some good schools etc. Some of the villages within 5 miles of the centre can be very picturesque and have great little primary schools and community spirit.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/Taunton.html?maxPrice=400000&minBedrooms=4&radius=5.0&index=10

Angela_D_3

Fantastic find Ka7e, thank you, I feel like i'm looking for a neddle in a haystack, but excellent schools and nice houses too, I shall look into those and hope we can get places thank you !

martindow

PasturesNew wrote: »

Avoid Tiverton, it's known as Divvy Tivvy and I think has officially got the most inbred people in the country.

I agree that Tivvy is a bit rough but the villages and small towns around are very good and with the N Devon link road very convenient for the M5.

PasturesNew

Angela_D wrote: »

so far Dorset seems to be ticking all my boxes for location and schools and is miles from the M5 lol

Dorset's also a pig to get to/from during any holiday seasons. It's mostly single track roads, no chance to overtake, so your driving speeds are reduced.

If I were looking at working between Exeter and Bristol, I'd look at living at one of them and not in the middle. This would mean half the time having virtually no commute, rather than having to face a commute every day in one direction or another. Especially as the M5 is so often at a standstill in peak holiday times/Friday evenings, or due to accidents. I had a friend who did some work in Swindon and sometimes it would take her 6 hours to get back to Cornwall on a Friday, in the end she gave up trying and would stay another night in B&B and get an early start on the Saturday (6am) to make the journey without holdups. The actual drive was just 3 hours, but the M5 was always choked.

Neil_in_Bristol

Angela_D wrote: »

Neil which are the nicer parts of Bristol, I visited friends as a student there and it seemed quite an interesting city.

Nicest parts, in my opinion, are:
Clifton: Posh Georgian suburb near the city centre. Mainly very large terraced houses. Probably wouldn't get much for £400,000 though.
Redland: Similar to, but slightly less posh than Clifton.
Stoke Bishop / Sneyd Park: Very large 1930s detached houses. Very expensive, too.
Westbury-on-Trym / Henleaze: More 1930s detached houses, but more affordable than Stoke Bishop. This would probably be my choice.

The rest of the city is very mixed. Southville is an up-and-coming area, but horribly overpriced. Parts of Fishponds aren't bad.

I love Bristol, and lived there for 15 years, but it seriously suffers from a lack of (affordable) pleasant suburbs. When I got too old to live in a city centre flat, I ended up moving to South Wales and commuting.

Good luck!