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Moving to Wellington, Somerset

9 replies

Wheresthewine36 · 23/05/2016 12:09

I'm a mum of 5, currently in the process of a Council House mutual exchange from Burnham, Bucks to Wellington, Somerset. My eldest is 18 and off to University in September so will only be home odd weekends and holidays. My other children are 3 girls aged 8,7 and 5 and 1 boy aged 3 (almost 4).
I ideally wanted a rural, village location but as I don't drive, and have always lived in a town, that seemed a little impractical. So, I've settled on Wellington as a compromise - to my way of thinking, it's a smaller town than I'm used to, still has schools/shops etc in walking distance but is also close to the rural life I crave. I'm lucky in that I work from home so don't have to worry about employment for now.
My friends are aghast at the idea of my moving my family which is making me wobble a little, to be honest. Their reasoning runs to the "but you won't KNOW anyone!" and "everything will be new!". Erm, yes...that's kind of the point. I feel like now is the time for my family but I suppose I would just like some reassurance that Wellington is a nice place to live. My children are all excited at the prospect of a move so I don't think I'm being totally selfish - one of my main reasons for wanting to move is that the primary schools in my area are ridiculously over-crowded - 720 children in the school my children currently go to, on the same site as it was when the roll was 280!

Gawd, what a ramble! Sorry about that but this is the only place I can show uncertainty...if my friends smell it, they'll be on me like a pack of wolves Grin

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elliejjtiny · 23/05/2016 20:36

Hi I have 5 boys and I've lived in Wellington for nearly 12 years. I love my boys school. 200ish children from reception to year 6 and it's very friendly. I like that the town is small enough to be rural but big enough to have things like GPs, shops, schools etc. Taunton is easy to get to on the bus as well

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Wheresthewine36 · 24/05/2016 13:58

Hi elliejjtiny,
Thanks for replying :-) Where did you move to Wellington from? I'm hoping to enrol mine at Wellesley Park Primary, I visited a couple of weeks ago and I was really impressed, the children were confident and they seemed to genuinely love their school. I've gotten over yesterday's wobble (mostly!) and am back to feeling excited about the move.
Any tips and advice on the area (places to go/avoid) are greatly appreciated :-)

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milvertonmummy · 02/06/2016 19:37

Hi There,

I am a Mum of 5, I have 2 girls (8 and 15mths) and 3 boys (5, 3, 6weeks). I've lived in Somerset since 2007 and moved from Oxfordshire/Buckinghamshire. My parents moved here in 2005 and Dad was born in High Wycombe, Bucks, so that's my part of the country.

In November we moved to Milverton which is 4 miles from Wellington so we are quite new too and as I was self employed for 12 years before having the children, I don't know anyone here really (except our lovely neighbours who have been helping us with our brood). Being self employed, I didn't get many opportunities to form friendships and I am a bit of a social recluse. It would be nice to meet other families in this area though and get a bit of a social life.

It is really good in this area, very pretty. The swimming pool in Wellington isn't great for non-swimmers as it is quite deep. We've been once and won't go back until the children are swimming. DD1 goes with school though and seems ok with it. My neighbours have told me to try Tiverton as that is a wading pool. We lived in Bridgwater before so we liked using the pool at Weston but it's a bit far to go now. ASDA in Wellington is not so good for a big shop. My average spend in there is £30/40 so I go to Taunton for my big shop. There are lots of things happening at the children's centres and my neighbours go to Bingo once a week (although I haven't got round to finding out about that or if I want to join in).

That's all I know at the moment.

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4Laurie · 23/08/2016 01:57

Hi there, I am currently in NZ trying to envisage where to live in UK, so I am wondering how you are finding Milverton and do you know about secondary schools there? Is it a friendly area? Houses seem to be reasonably priced around there. Any thoughts welcome! Thanks...

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mateysmum · 23/08/2016 15:59

hi Laurie,
What sort of place are you looking to live in the UK? Milverton is nice, but it is just a large village with no secondary school. not sure where the catchment is but you would have to go to Wellington or more likely Taunton for more facilities or Wiveliscombe which is a smaller town not far away.

Somerset is a lovely place to live if you like fairly rural living with lots of pretty villages, access to countryside and coast, with Bristol and Exeter in easy reach. Property prices vary quite a bit. Some areas are popular with Londoners as second homes, other areas are a bit deprived/rural and are cheaper. I live near Taunton and there is a good range of property hearabouts with good rail service and access to the M5. If you go much further west then travel times to the rest of the UK get longer and less accessible. HTH

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4Laurie · 05/04/2017 06:52

Hi Mateysmum, sorry I never replied to this, I didn't see it, v new to mumsnet and not sure how it works. We went to wellington and visited the private school, I have a feeling my ds is now so behind, he might need private to catch up..having missed first almost two years of secondary school, it seemed pretty upbeat, do you know anything about it? there is v little on mumsnet about anyone with any experience of it, or Sidcot school...thanks if you get this!

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Wildernesstips · 18/07/2017 05:20

Wellington is a lovely town with a great mix of independent shops with a few of the big high street shops too, like Boots & Waitrose. It has a great little library and is a friendly place - I have lived here about 20 years.

I think it is fab for families, but now I have older teenagers they are finding it a bit too "small town" for them but can easily get the bus to Taunton.

4Laurie I don't know if this is still the case but Wellington School used to be seen as not so academically pushy as the other private schools in the area.

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Sunnyshores · 10/08/2017 16:24

4Laurie Sidcot is fantastic - but wont suit every child. The prospectus and Open Days give an accurate impression (unlike other schools we've visitied)

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Hobojobo2017 · 23/04/2020 20:52

Hi. I’m literally planning to do the same thing and cake across your post at the top of google! May I ask, did you move to Wellington? How did it turn out?
Many thanks.
Jo

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