Move to Christchurch, New Milton, Shaftesbury, Sherborne OR Trowbridge

[Nuttymama83]

Hi,

I hope Mumsnet's fountain of knowledge can help us!! We are looking to move to a new area with good secondary schools, nice countryside and good amenities to raise our children. After a lot of researching and visiting places, we finally found a place that felt right and seemed to tick a lot of our boxes, which was the Christchurch/Mudeford/Highcliffe area. We absolutely love the area and it seems to have good schools, countryside and lots of activities, plus being near the beach. However, I'm not sure we could afford the house we need around there. Our budget is absolute max £450k and need 4 beds or 3 bed/office and a quiet garden is very important to us. So, considering this we have also looked at Sherborne and Shaftesbury, which both seem lovely towns but I'm not sure if they have as much going on (i.e. would the kids get bored) and are further away from the coast, but I think the houses are better value for money. And lastly, we are considering Trowbridge for what you can get for your money, so also wondering if anybody has any insight into what it's like living there, such as if it's safe, good secondary school, things to do, countryside and a nice place to bring up kids? We are quite flexible where we move to and not tied to job locations; we love the countryside but don't want to be too remote so the kids have good transport links to get around.

Ideally, we really liked how close Christchurch was near to nice beaches, so we are open to suggestions for other similar towns near nice beaches that might be more affordable? E.g. what is New Milton like and is it more affordable?

Apologies, I've realised I've written an essay, but, we would really appreciate any advice as we are visiting again in a couple of days for a week and need to make a decision then - eek.

Many many thanks in advance xx

@Acceptables wow thank you so much! That is so so helpful, and thank you for the extra suggestions of other places to look at. We'll be sure to check them out next week – they're on my list. I suppose every area has its good and bad bits, but it's making me sweat a bit about choosing the right street! So I am very grateful for the specific places to avoid! I think our biggest hurdle is our budget, but hopefully we can find something where we're not living on top of each other! I might have to check back when we're at the point of putting offers in for houses to check specific area if that's OK :)

You're welcome. PM me and I can give more details.

I’ve recently relocated to New Milton, and it ticks lots of boxes for us:
Good transport links, including a railway station on the Waterloo line.
Coast and New Forest on the doorstep
Easy access to the motorway network (about 20 minutes or so)
Quieter and less urban than the BCP Council area, which seems to have aspirations to become a city by the sea - no thanks!
Good value compared to villages and towns nearby eg Lymington, Highcliffe. It’s not cheap though.
Useful high street with banks, optician, pharmacies and a small department store
Good farm shops for local produce
Swimming pool
Very active community - lots going on

Don’t know about schools, I’m afraid.

@Acceptables Thank you so much, I will :)

I agree with @NewForestAndBeaches , some excellent points made

@NewForestAndBeaches thanks so much for this! New Milton sounds like it definitely has has everything we'd need. And sounds like you're happy with your move? We only skimmed past it last time on the outskirts so haven't seen the high street yet, but it's great to hear about the local amenities and good transport links :). Sounds like it could definitely be a potential for our budget – hopefully :)!

Only move to Christchurch or New Milton if you really love sitting in traffic

Christcurch can get busy with traffic sometimes but New Milton really isn’t that bad. Drove through the centre from the forest side to Milford on sea yesterday at 5pm and apart from a minute waiting for the lights in the middle there wasn’t much traffic at all.

Christchurch if you can possibly afford it

We've not experienced the busy summer season yet, but have been learning the back road routes in anticipation! Lyndhurst is a particular bottleneck.

Thankfully I don't usually have to commute etc so hopefully can avoid the worst of the traffic. And the upside is that we can get out and enjoy the area on weekdays and less busy times.

And yes, we are very pleased with our move. We had a large search area (Weymouth to Lymington) and didn't know NM, and were pleasantly surprised.

What age are your kids? If they are primary school then get them into a feeder school for Twynham / Highcliffe if you can, this includes places such as Hordle (just outside New Milton). New Milton will get you into Arnewood or Priestlands (good school) and also is over the border in Hampshire rather than Dorset.

Aww thank you everyone! Looks like Christchurch is the favourite!

@NewForestAndBeaches Really happy to hear you like it :)!

@thesnailandthewhale yeah our kids are primary but looking at the secondary catchment as that is one of the main reasons we are looking to move. Will look at the feeder schools and had not considered Priestlands so thank you so much :)! I'm not sure of the school system down there, but would house address trump feeder school? e.g. if lived in New Milton, but attended a feeder school for Twynham – would the school take into account the feeder school or address more? I know might not get into feeder school from New Milton, but just to get an idea of how the admission criteria works :)

NOT Trowbridge! There’s a reason why it’s cheaper.

For awareness, the Local Education Authority for Christchurch comes under BCP Council; for New Milton it is Hampshire County Council.
I suspect you will need to study the admissions criteria and past admissions data to understand how it all works. Don't rely on anecdotes.

Also, worth looking ahead to 6th form to understand what is on offer.

@Nuttymama83 If you live in New Milton you definitely wouldn't get into Twynham or Highcliffe - they are already oversubscribed and New Milton is across the border in another county.

Twynham is part of a trust and has some primary schools within it - you would need to be in one of those if you want Twynham I believe. It would be worth investigating how they divvy up who gets Twynham and who gets the Grange ... they are very, very different schools ;)

Thank you @thesnailandthewhale and @NewForestAndBeaches I will make sure to research the schools well regarding admissions :). Good tip for looking into 6th form too – I hadn't thought of that! thank you :)

@Shrimpseyelashes Haha thank you! We will scrub that one from our list :)

I'm in Highcliffe and we love it. Prices have gone a bit crazy, but have a look at the Hoburne Estate - catchment for St Marks primary (which is brilliant) and Highcliffe Secondary school.

Yes, traffic is awful at times, but it's worth it for the quality of life - beach and forest on your doorstep. New Milton also a great shout, and have a look at Bransgore, lovely village and the primary school is great there too and it's a feeder school for Highcliffe secondary (there is a school bus to take Highcliffe School kids from Bransgore)

@Archip17 Ah that's amazing – great advice! Thank you. Will definitely check out those areas you mentioned :). It's great to hear that you love it! I think you're right, the quality of life sounds like it will be so much better, so happy to put up with some traffic. The traffic isn't great here to be honest as it's just so populated. But hopefully will see the traffic situation for ourselves this weekend for the Jubilee :) xx

Look at Southbourne too, it's nice there as well.

Oh and have a look at Walkford too - it's between Highcliffe and New Milton

How about something like this in Poole

My choices on south coast in your budget would be Dorchester, Weymouth, Christchurch, Chichester and Poole. Chichester is nice, has good shopping etc

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/122092562#/?channel=RES_BUY

@CrotchetyQuaver @Archip17 Thanks both – will add them to my list 🙂

@Crikeyalmighty Thanks so much for your suggestions. Dorchester does seem to tick a lot of our boxes, I thought it was nice but didn't get a feeling and no idea why? Have not visited Weymouth or Poole so they are on our list to visit next week :) – but I think I had read mixed things about those places, although I know it is subjective so they could still be potentials, especially if more affordable. We did go to Chichester last time and really liked it. I don't know as much about it though and wasn't sure if the beaches were as nice that way? Do you have any nuggets of info. re. Chichester?

Ah that house is lovely, but ideally a flatter garden for the kids :). A garden is high on our priority list, but I think I read that may not be possible in Southbourne but I might be wrong xx