Possible to live in Poole work in Bristol?

[hummingb1rd]

Hello! Seeking some advice please...

DH has just been offered a brilliant job in Poole - I'm in Bristol. We know nothing about Poole and now trying to decide if we can make this work. Anyone else trying to do anything as crazy as this? How are you making it work? Any advice for newbies potentially moving to Poole? Thanks!

[CMOTDibbler]

Theres no way you could do that on a daily basis - its at least a 2 hour drive each way, and I'd suggest 3 hours on a regular basis if driving at peak times.

You could do weekly commuting with one of you renting a room and the other living in your joint home

[IslaMann]

It's a rubbish drive from Bristol to Poole, 3 hours or so. No motorway, and driving thru Bath as well which can be a nightmare. Personally I wouldn't consider it. Sorry.

[DustyOwl]

Horrible drive and no direct train, it
Would be hard to go between the two daily.

However I really love both places. Poole is a great place to live if you like the outdoors; think beach trips after school in the summer, winter beach walks and the Jurassic coast on your doorstep. Although it doesn't have the same shopping/music/arts as Bristol.

[hummingb1rd]

Thanks for your quick responses I might be able to work from home 2-3 days a week which might make it more bearable. Quite fancy a change to living near the coast but don't want to set myself up for a hellish working week!

[FishWithABicycle]

Yikes. No.

But could you live somewhere like Warminster or Salisbury where the commute up to Bristol or down to Poole would be doable? It would have to be a drive to Poole as train lines are all via Southampton but you could get a train in to Bristol. One of you commuting the whole distance would be a nightmare but both commuting some of it would be a lot less painful.

[SugarPlumTree]

As a Bristolian living down by South Coast I'd urge you to think about this carefully, I think it would be a pain potentially. Maybe 3 days working from home then one night up in Bristol would be OK.

Do you have schools to consider in the future ? Poole isn't good for school. One of the Schools there was one of the worst in the country for results and described as dysfunctional and unsafe (though think it is turning round) plus Poole Grammar has just had another Ofsted released this week and gone from outstanding to requires improvement after 18 months (inspection triggerered by poor results).

[Watto1]

Good Lord no! That's a horrible commute. A lot of it is single carriageway and you'll get stuck behind caravans galore in the summer. However, there is a little short cut via a toll bridge at Bathampton (50p I think!)which avoids Bath city centre.

[crappyday]

As someone who frequently has to drive that route NO NO NO,!!
It's horrible. Slow. Slow.

And trains are not good- DH used to go from Dorset coast to Bristol, and always drive to Warminster to get the train from there. Took him ages.