Abingdon prep, villages around Abingdon

[munchy99]

We will be relocating back to the UK soon and am finding it a minefield trying to find a good area to live in. We would like our two DDS to go to Abingdon prep, they are aged 5 and 9. Hubby has to commute to Reading. Any tips on decent villages that have easy access to main trainline into Reading station?
Thank you!

sorry, do you have DD, or DS??

Didcot station serves Reading.

I would go for Long Whittenham, Steventon, North and South Moreton, loads really. Ab prep has an extensive mini bus service which serves most of the surrounding area.

It is a very over subscribed school though, and is academically selective. Are your boys registered?

hth.

Oops DS's (x2)!

Thank you for your advice on areas. The boys are not registered yet, I have just emailed the school and it seems they are flexible on admission at the moment. its very difficult when you live overseas as its not easy to just pop back and look around the school, which is why forums like this are invaluable.

DS - phew!

It is an academic school, which feeds mainly into Abingdon Senior, but boys do go elsewhere too, with support from the prep school.
It is quite sporty - rugby, football and cricket.
Also strong (I think) in music and drama.
Boys are allowed to be boys, and my ds often comes home with evidence of playing football on a muddy field!!!
The only unusual things is that the all forenames are used by everybody. So the boys call all their teachers by their christian names. Even the HM is addressed by his christian name! Takes a bit of getting used to, but it's not a problem.

When are you relocating? If you will be using the buses, then check if there are spaces on them!

My son got a place when we were thinking of moving. Lovely school. We were looking at Longworth village. Really nice location and a lovely pub that has won awards....

The Oxford to Reading line goes through that area - there are quite a number of villages on the route including Appleford and Cholsey that would be fine for getting into Reading from and not too far from Abingdon - if you want to put them on the school bus, check the journey time for anywhere further out than Appleford as it used to take me an hour to go from just the other side of Didcot into Abingdon on the school bus and that was rather a long time ago.

If I had boys at Abingdon prep and needed to get to Didcot each day I would look at property in East and West Hanney and East Hendred. E Hendred is a really lovely village with lots going on. I don't know about the prep school buses but the senior school buses certainly go through Haney and Hendred.

But you don't need to get to Didcot - some of the villages that are actually on the train line (so you could walk or cycle to the train rather than having to drive the car and park in Didcot) would also give good access to Reading - OK its not as quick as Didcot but it only takes about 20 mins from Cholsey so that's not exactly a hardship.

Munchy, the question is, do you want to live on the train line, which really means living east of Didcot, or will your husband be happy with a short drive to the station?
Will your sons need to get the bus to school or will you be driving? You need to avoid the centre of Abingdon as the traffic is awful in the mornings.
If you can tell us what kind of property/village/budget you are thinking of we may be able to help further.

Antaresisastar... all your questions are very valid! We have not lived in England for 12 years, so at the moment we are a bit like rabbits in headlights at the thought of coming home. My boys are still young, so I would quite like to drive them to school in the beginning. Husband would be happy with a short-ish drive to a station. Property.. large family home with large garden. Village, no idea where is a nice village to live. Somewhere not too rural, with access to some shops and not too far from civilisation. I have been looking around Goring and Wallingford, but its a drive to school, hence my question for a home nearer the school. Our home town is in the Midlands, so I don't know the area at all. We lived in Reading for a couple of years. Budget, rather not say exactly, but would say the upper end of the scale.. To 1805, not sure exactly when relocating, could be this year, could be next. I am on a fact finding mission at the moment. Appreciate all your help.

Goring and Streatley are lovely villages - big enough to have a community and plenty to do (two children's playgrounds, thriving football clubs for the little ones) but still villagy and rural. There are shops in the centre, although Tesco Express have proposals that might send them all out of business. Wallingford is a nice small town - Waitrose in the centre, Morrisons being built on the outskirts - there's going to be significant housing development there over the next 10 years. Didcot town centre is a lot better than it used to be (that's not saying that much!) - not sure what the parking at the station is like or what it would cost all day, but the train services from there are excellent. Appleford - much of the village is on the main road, its quite small, but it is close to Abingdon. Sutton Courtney is much bigger than Appleford, with some facilities - good access to Abingdon from there.

When I was going to Abingdon on the school bus, children aged 3 were catching it. I don't know what the situation is like for the boys school though - you might want to find that out.

(Why not consider renting somewhere for, say, 6 months and travel extensively etc - I'm sure you could find something in Didcot)

Don't forget that Abingdon prep is not actually in Abingdon but at Frilford which is a few miles west. East and West Hanney are worth a look at, they are nice villages, not much in the way of facilities but you would be 10 mins from the prep school and about 20 mins from Didcot. East Hendred would mean a longer drive to school but slightly shorter to Didcot. Streatley and Goring are lovely but I wouldn't want to do that school run every day. There are some v nice villages around Wantage (which has a Waitrose and Sainsburys and is fine for everyday shopping), have a look at the Letcombes.
Hope this is useful!

Wantage not so good for the train though...

Thank you both so much, you have been really helpful. We have considered renting for 6 months, its probably our best option but after 12 yrs on the road, we are wanting our own home! Thanks again :)