Moving to Malmesbury or Cirencester?

[Muddymiddle]

Our family (inc 2 primary age kids) are looking to relocate from busy mid Sussex to rural Wiltshire/Gloucestershire.

We’d love to be outskirts of a pretty village or small town, but I need London for work twice a month so Kemble looked ideal to be near-ish, for trains.

We visited Malmesbury yesterday, it was so charming, we loved the oldy-woldy architecture.

Haven’t visited Cirencester yet, but on the map it looks well located.

I’ve loved Cheltenham to visit in the past, but it’s less rural than I’d ideally like, But it would be nice to be within driving distance?

Would folks recommend Malmesbury/Cirencester for a young, outdoorsy, sporty family? (But with a mum that likes books and art?!)

House budget is around £700k, we’d love an old house with a good sized garden.

any advice welcomed, thank you! We have so much to figure out :)

Bump?

Both places are lovely, I have family in both. I’d choose a village outside Cirencester rather than Cirencester itself … I think possibly school options are better in Cirencester

Malmesbury and the surrounding villages are lovely. The Secondary school is Ofsted Outstanding and has a very good reputation. Cirencester is nice too and the surrounding villages are very pretty. No idea about the schools though. I'd visit both places and see which vibe suits you best.

Thank you,

i think my only slight worry is that we’ll be isolated from theatre/arts type stuff in Malmesbury, so if we go nearer Cirencester then we’re nearer to Cheltenham. But from what you’re saying it sounds like Cirencester itself isn’t great

That’s amazing about Malmesbury school, wry encouraging :)

Cirencester is full of history and picturesque. It also benefits from having some big employers so the centre is bustling with cafes etc. Not sure where you get ‘not great’ from!

But yes, definitely visit as Ciren, Malmesbury and Cheltenham are all lovely but have a different vibe as pp said.

Trains through Kemble are only every hour and to Cheltenham have a silly loop around Gloucester which makes them take an age for the final bit of the journey.

I’d also suggest visiting Tetbury too. Stroud has a station too and closer to Cheltenham- it’s a different vibe again but also has pretty surrounding villages.

Ciren is gorgeous. Great shopping, great food, waterpark nearby, outdoor pool. So so pretty. But not that edgy or arty, quite hunty and conservative (the vibe, that might not be fact).
Stroud is edgy, arty, more down to earth, and has some stunning scenery in nearby villages. It is very quiet at night, but is well connected.

I only know the towns as a visitor but I would take M over C any day.

Lovely area. Just to say watch out for the proposed Lime Down solar farm around the villages near Malmesbury. There’s a big fight going on at the moment about it, but lots of the pretty villages eg Sherston might be surrounded by huge solar farm and the lorries to build it in a few years. I was looking around that area and this put me off a bit - there are big stop lime down posters around the area.

The trains are much faster from Swindon so why not consider Cricklade, Fairford or Lechlade?

This is a really good point, but i think the corresponding house prices go up because of it?
Luckily as I only commute twice a month it's not a huge priority, so a 1 hr 10 min journey (from Kemble) looks ok.. Useful to know swindon isn't too far if we need it though, thank you

Gosh this is so interesting, I have just googled it, such an appalling idea!
Surely there are better locations than hundreds of acres of prime rolling green agricultural land. Thank you for letting me know!

Ok that's super helpful, I think we'd be more at home in Stroud from your description, but it's lovely that cirencester is nice too

Property prices seem strong near both places, even coming from mid sussex (where prices are bananas!)

I would pick Cirencester over Stroud every time, personally.

Thanks for the tip on the extra loop the train does to kemble, that's helpful to know

Stroud is sounding very appealing, I like the idea of being nearer cheltenham (but still rural)

We're planning a few days in the area to drive all around these places, it's such a huge task moving all of us to a new area. These tips are golden though :)

Ok that's interesting, can you elaborate a bit? (We're aiming to be near a town, but ideally rural or village outskirts, with a decent garden)

It sounds like surrounding Stroud would suit you. The town centre itself is not that inspiring, though it has all amenities, a nice Saturday market and outdoor pool. When you visit, look at Minchinhampton, Amberley, Avening, Chalford, Nailsworth, Horsley type areas. All within about 15 mins of Stroud, but feel more rural and very pretty.

The Stop Lime Down Solar campaign is well-funded and vocal. Campaigns always are when rich people don’t want their views spoiled.

I’m in favour of it!

Oh that's super interesting, yes I'm sure there are plenty of wealthy nimbys in the area. The campaign website made it sound like the solar panels would be ruinous (as tall as double decker busses, and moving constantly, it says) do you think it actually won't be so bad?

Or is it more that it's worth ruining the views, to get clean energy?

Love the sound of the outdoor pool!

Ok we are going to try to stay in stroud on our next visit :)

We drove through nailsworth on our last visit, the shops looked so cute and a very eclectic mix

Stroud has a Grammar School system If you didn't realise. Ciren has very good comps, better than the Stroud ones (because of the 2 Grammars).

Ah ok - I had thought that the grammars were across the whole of Gloucestershire, not only just in certain areas.

This would certainly make a big difference to our decisions, as I don't generally like the grammar system and our august born child might struggle

Cirencester also has an outdoor pool 😉

wahoo! I'm spoiled for choice 😅

Stroud and Cirencester have very different feels. Stroud is far more left wing and hippy vibe, whilst Cirencester always seems more conservative heartland. I live near both and bloody love both of them differently - would move to either in an instant. But its about the feel of the places.

I know my husband wouldn't live in Stroud he finds the left wing, hippies and "sign my petition against vaccines/5G/government spies" crowds annoying (personally I like the chilled atmosphere). He'd be happier in Cirencester.