To move to Bath?

[AppletonP]

We've rather fallen in love with Bath but we haven't spent massive amounts of time there. Anyone care to share the downsides of Bath? The private schools don't seem to feature in the league tables. Is that because the state schools are very good?

Yes ☺️ I’m very near there. And I work in Chippenham.

Thank you @Sidge! Is there reasonable parking at the station? Mine are prep age so I'm not sure the train would work but I think they have a minibus.

Downsides of Bath: tourists. Seriously, they take over.

This! As someone who lived in Bath for nearly 7 years, this is sadly true.

There are a lot of homeless but there is a huge sense of community, and there are lots of supportive organisations in place - probably more than some of the surrounding counties.

Tourists are a nightmare and the Christmas Market is just Hell on Earth.

It's a beautiful city, amazing places to eat and shop and walk and re pollution, they've just bought in a pollution tax for vehicles coming into the city centre.

Yes the traffic can be bad, but nowhere near as bad as other city centres.

Twerton is up and coming but a lot of HMO's causing parking issues, but a lot of new shops popping up to cater for all of the students.

If you don't want Bath, Frome or Corsham would be my next choices.

Re dogwalking (from Widcombe or Bathwick) since they are closest to KES. If you google Bath Skyline Walk you will get an idea about how much land is walkable, yet a few minutes from the city centre:

The canal runs through Bath just down the hill from KES and the towpath has recently been resurfaced so most of it isn't muddy. It is very popular for dogwalking/running. Yes, lots of dogs do like to jump in! Lazy souls head to Sydney Gardens and use one of those tennis ball lobbers to give their dogs some exercise.

After school drop off/before pick up a lot of people take their dogs to Bathwick Hill (a big National Trust field that is usually free of cows). It is very cliquey in a nice way. The Widcombe Hill bit of the Skyline is popular too.

Further along is Smallcombe Woods and Rainbow Woods. The fields behind the school, leading up to Sham Castle are a bit too hilly for most people. There is a lot of lambing happening at the farm on Claverton Down so it is best not to walk there in the Spring.

I got quite excited about Chippenham but I think that's off the list as there's no minibus. It would mean walking to the station then 10 minutes on the train then waiting 25 minutes for the minibus to pick up from the station. Then I need to get back home. My guess is that driving from Chippenham into KES would be mlre than 30 minutes.

Downsides of Bath proper, Traffic, tourists, prices, pollution.

What about this area? The house isn't great but I think we could walk to the Lansdown minibus from there.

Whitewells Road, Bath
www.rightmove.co.uk/property/104370635

[quote AppletonP]What about this area? The house isn't great but I think we could walk to the Lansdown minibus from there.

Whitewells Road, Bath
www.rightmove.co.uk/property/104370635[/quote]
Its nice round there, not far from Larkhall amenities. Close enough to Bath, with good access to a46 to motorway. Some nice views and walking too. A lot of people tend to cut through Larkhall area to get to other side of Bath and avoid traffic etc, but that looks on the outskirt so should be fine.

[quote Ellpellwood]@Whammyyammy That man's from Yeovil! He was arrested at an address in Trowbridge. Big deal.[/quote]
It happened there, armed police on the streets may seem no big deal to residents of Trowbridge, but it would be for me.

I'm just outside Bath and would recommend looking at the villages if you want space and have a dog. There are quite a few right on the outskirts. They're mainly residential - a few have pubs but almost no shops and very little public transport - but you can be in Bath very quickly by car, or by taxi if you want to go out for a drink in the evening. You get more for your money and it doesn't feel as though you're right beside a city.

Newton St Loe has been mentioned, but unless things have changed recently, almost all the houses are Duchy owned, and rented out. I think there's only one privately owned.

Saltford has also been mentioned and is lovely, with a few shops, some nice pubs, a coffee shop and quite a villagey feel. The school is very good, but oversubscribed - you'd need to be in Saltford itself to be absolutely sure of getting a place. They have had a lot of trouble in lockdown with vast crowds flocking to the river to swim and drink. It's something that's always happened, but with much smaller numbers. It now seems to have been discovered by more people and the police have been involved several times. Huge amounts of litter, parking issues and antisocial behaviour - including a couple filmed having sex in broad daylight on the grass right by the river carpark, with people walking past with their kids and their dogs!

Are you set on KES? If you want to be in Bath itself - or right on the edge - this area would be handy for Kingswood, and there are great walks round there.

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/88630312#/

@Spanglebangle

As with all places it depends where you look. Places like Twerton and Oldfield Park can be dodgy. But there are many lovely areas.

My nephew went to the Paragon and Prior Park and was very happy at both.

Laughing my tits off at you thinking Oldfield Park is 'dodgy'.

Oldfield Park is full of families and students. I lived there for several years and it's a really nice neighbourhood.

Seriously. Did you people grow up in palaces?

Is private school essential? The senior schools in Chippenham have excellent results and are highly regarded.

Laughing my tits off at you thinking Oldfield Park is 'dodgy'.

Yes, I wondered about that as well! I forgot to mention it in my last post. It's a really nice area - community feel, local shops, the old workshops still dotted about, good school, allotments, access to the greenway.

Not RFT so apologies if this has been mentioned....Bath is very hilly, like steep hills that can be a nightmare in the winter as not all are gritted. The City Council have introduced a Clean Air Zone around the city centre so a lot of the vans, taxi's and other vehicles affected (although private cars are exempt), are now going through the back streets and it is a nightmare in some places as the roads are very narrow and avoid anywhere near London Road like the plague as that is the main A36 -M4 route and gets very clogged up.

@whammyyammy There was an armed arrest at the very nice Cross Keys pub in Avoncliffe just outside Bath last week. Perhaps we should pop Avoncliffe on the "rough" list?

@kungfupannda

Laughing my tits off at you thinking Oldfield Park is 'dodgy'.

Yes, I wondered about that as well! I forgot to mention it in my last post. It's a really nice area - community feel, local shops, the old workshops still dotted about, good school, allotments, access to the greenway.

Honestly. I'm originally from Bradford (not on Avon). I meet people down here who have absolutely no idea what dodgy is. My dad used to work on Holme Wood - you park up, your tyres are gone.

[quote Ellpellwood]@whammyyammy There was an armed arrest at the very nice Cross Keys pub in Avoncliffe just outside Bath last week. Perhaps we should pop Avoncliffe on the "rough" list?[/quote]
As Avoncliff and the Cross guns do not see repetitive crime, I would say no. As Trowbridge has a history of drug crime, anti social behaviour, violent crime etc i advised the OP to view FB or even the police crime rates.
I stand by that, I certainly wouldn't want to live in Trowbridge nor advise anyone else to consider it.

[quote Ellpellwood]@whammyyammy There was an armed arrest at the very nice Cross Keys pub in Avoncliffe just outside Bath last week. Perhaps we should pop Avoncliffe on the "rough" list?[/quote]
Police crime rate figure for avoncliff and trowbridge for feb 21, so to include the incident you mention.

I personally wouldn’t live in Chippenham if you could afford to live in Bath. That would be a strange choice.

Your kids as teens may not be thrilled with village life - I have two young teens and they love living in Bath there is lots for them to do city stuff and country walks all under their own steam they can be independent. I was bored stiff myself as a teen in a Somerset village. Maybe fine if they super outdoorsy types though - which mine are not!

When we were house hunting in 2008 dh who did not know the area at all would keep finding these amazing houses in our price range - with local knowledge I could discount them as there were always good location related reasons for the affordability!

@MsTSwift We would like to stay under 1m but can go up to £1.5 if we can't find anything we really love. A big garden is the biggest must plus accessibility to KES for school run.

You would be crazy to live in Chippenham or Trowbridge with that budget!

@MsTSwift So where shall I look? There just isn't much out there with a decent garden.