To ask how much your household take-home pay is if you live in Bristol?

[expants]

Just that really - we're thinking of a move back to the UK from Spain - I'm British, DH is Spanish. I've lived in Spain all my adult life so have absolutely no clue of how much things cost, what's considered a decent wage, etc. I'm self-employed with my own internet business and take home about GBP2.5K a month after tax, DH would be unemployed until he found something there, so I'm trying to work out if my wage is sufficient to live in a decent area, 3 bed house, pay nursery fees and live... So, if you live in Bristol in a nice part of town, what's your take-home pay?

Totterdown is lovely. I looked there years ago when buying. Very hilly though!

Yes expants you will fit in perfectly there.
Yes it's reasonably safe. Fine to walk there alone. Can be a nightmare parking. There's an annual "front room" art show where lots of people open up their houses to become art galleries for the weekend and there's a really nice community vibe. Lots of stuff for 2-year-olds in the area too.

BUT nb check the distance of the house you choose to the nearest schools exactly. There is huge pressure for primary spaces in the area (because it's a great place for young families). Check against the distances given in this table - if you are more than 400metres from Hillcrest school and more than 600 metres from St Mary Redcliffe (both of which are great schools) you could end up with your little one being sent to somewhere grim. You can check the official distance which the council will use when allocating places at the council's "my neighbourhood" website

Hillcrest were found by ofsTed to be requiring improvement.

Issue with secondary schools in the area as well unless you are church goer

heels was it? golly can't things change quickly! places there were like gold dust a few years ago!

When people say it takes them 15 min from outskirts to city centre they mean by car? I used to live in Bristol and remember the traffic and public transport to be awful, so maybe times changed? (Hopeful)

Yes but it was 2013 and may be better now, but secondary the key issue for totterdown

I mean in the car yes. Maybe not rush hour though!

Anywhere in Bristol that takes 15mins by car without traffic can take an hour in rushhour - you're not going to find anywhere that's not true of - but from Totterdown you can walk into town in that sort of time and time.

Although heels you are right that the only decent state secondary close by to Totterdown is SMR which you need to be a churchgoer to get in to, the other advantage is that because it is right near to Temple Meads there are a huge number of schools with a simple commute which any 11-18 year old (without special needs) can do alone easy-peasy. My friend whose 11yo has just started year7 who lives in Totterdown had a "shortlist" of 16 schools which had practical and manageable commuting options, several of which either didn't use distance in their criteria or had a big enough catchment area to encompass Totterdown.

Agree that Totterdown is a good area to live with children. Yes it's a safe area to live.
Lots to do for 2 year olds: parks such as Perretts Park and Victoria Park, Windmill Hill City farm and lots of other toddler type groups.
The area is developing a cafe culture with many family friendly cafes.
There is some state nursery provision which takes children from 3 years old.
This includes Children's centre at the city farm, Redcliffe Early years centre and also St Mary Redcliffe primary school has a nursery class. There is also a new private nursery Mama Bears in Totterdown based in a converted pub and pre-school (and toddlers) at Sydenham Road under 5s.
St Mary Redcliffe primary school isn't a faith school and has improved significantly over the years. Hillcrest has slipped back, although it is still popular, mostly because it has had several changes of Head in recent years.