Moving to the New Forest - need advice please!

[Fmestre1988]

Hello!

So we have found are soon to be moving to the New Forest, we have found a house in Sway. We love it there and was so excited about moving. however, I have just seen a report on crime rates in the local area and they see, quite high in terms of burglary and car thefts. Does anyone live here? Is it a safe area, is there a close community feel?
We are moving from South East London where it is quite built up, but has a real sense of community so I am hoping we have this here in the New Forest.
Any general thoughts about living here with kiddies would be greatly appreciated
Francesca x

Do you have a link to that report?
I'd be utterly gobsmacked if Sway had crime rates anywhere near those of any city.

Yup, tourists cars get broken into in the summer
caravans get broken into
but as a householder, your biggest risk is baby donkeys running down your car battery by setting off the motion alarm for fun

Sway is lovely, quiet but lovely.

I live in Lymington and have lots of friends in Sway. I have never heard of any crimes in the village at all from them - it's a very quiet, lovely place. BiL and SiL lived there with their young son for a couple of years and they never mentioned anything about any crime!

Hello! Thank you for replying!
Here is the link www.police.uk/hampshire/1NE03/performance/compare-your-area/
My concerns are also about when my children become teenagers and they have also little to do?
We love it there so much just panicking a bit now we are so close to moving!

That link is for the whole of New Forest District - a massive area that includes the Waterside
and their "similar" districts are bilge

Go further down that page and see what the crime rate in the New Forest is compared with that den on iniquity that is Southampton ......

It is the same crime rate as Winchester which is a lovely safe town. Honestly, don't worry about crime.

When older, the teens can catch a train to Bournemouth.

Brockenhurst 6tth form college has a good range of academic and less academic offerings too.

I might have the wrong place but I think I drove through Sway in the winter once and there was a lot of flooding. Actually having Googled I am fairly sure it was Sway. No idea if it is typical, I'm sure others will know if it was a one off but it was bad and causing trouble with trains I think.

Also don't think you need to worry too much about crime in the scheme of things. I have a teen who hates where we live and finds Bournemouth much too small but she travels a lot and would have fared better being brought up in a city, my other one will be fine with it, just depends on their personalities.

Sway does get flooding under the railway bridge
and if the water table rises a lot then it can get messy
but that is what Land Rovers are for

A teenager writing "bum" on a bus shelter in Sway would probably make front page news in the Lymington Times. Of course a few teenagers do stupid things, but even here on the Waterside it seems to be a tiny minority of kids with too much cash and parents who think their little darling can do no wrong who get into trouble. You will be a world away from London.

Also, so little to do? This week I will be providing a taxi service for DD for tennis, more tennis, velodrome cycling, further maths and rugby. She's in year 11. I wish she did less, especially as I work full time.

Ah that's good to know 🙂 Thanks for your reply.

Ah I lived near Sway many years ago. The most criminal thing to happen was drunk teenagers (who had all been served in the local at 16...) riding their bikes home without lights.

Oh and the only time I saw blue lights was when grockles swerved off the road into the scrub trying not to hit the ponies.

Ok it was a long time ago I lived there, and I left to go to uni in south west London. The two areas are not remotely comparable!

🙂 x

Hi @Fmestre1988 - we are thinking of moving to the new forest near to Sway and wondered how your move went in the end?
We are from London but have lived overseas for 10 years and are relocating back to the UK with our kids age 5 and 7. All advice welcome. Thanks