Relocating to Oxford - School in Abingdon - London Commute - where to live?

[ExpatsDKUSA]

My family is relocating to Oxford from San Francisco this summer. My husband is Danish, I'm American. We've lived in the UK before, but not with kids - this time bringing our (soon to be) 4 and 2yo boys.

We started with the school search first and landed on a friendly school in North Abingdon that can take both boys and has a friendly, progressive vibe and strong community feel.

I spent this weekend flying around in a rental car trying to get a sense of neighborhoods and surrounding areas. I really enjoy North Oxford, but can't tell if it's absolute insanity to go from Summertown/Wolvercote areas to North Abingdon every day. Our nightmare would be a 40 minute commute each way, twice a day.

Is this commute just awful? How often is the A34 just completely locked up? Google Maps says it's anywhere from 18-40 minutes commute...20-30 mins feels doable, but 40? No.

If it is awful, where else would you suggest a mostly city-loving younger couple to look? We'll be working from home for the foreseeable future, but will be heading into London 1-2 days a week each at some point, so we need to be in touch of the rail.

We'll have to concede on a number of items I'm sure, but some other preferences include a little space (garden), a house vs. flat, some walkable amenities closeby (e.g., corner shop, park/playground, cafe, etc.) and the ability to take the boys out for an after dinner walk/bike ride.

All guidance/tips appreciated!

Abingdon is pretty international (not as much as oxford granted) and very well connected to oxford - it's easier to get into town from Abingdon than it is from many parts of the city proper. I do appreciate about the rentals market. There are new builds going up north of Abingdon. You would probably have to buy rather than rent but there may be deals to be had

Please for the love of god don't add an another unnecessary car commute to this region. The traffic is hell because everyone tries to be in it, whether that's a work commute or a ridiculous school run. It is total insanity to plan to put the oxford ring road between your house and your children's school. You wouldn't be the only one at the Manor though.

The Manor also has mini busses. Maybe check the route and see if any of them would work. I think their nursery takes from 2?

1. Do not attempt to commute from North Oxford to Abingdon.

2. Your kids are young: rent somewhere in north Oxford (Walton Manor-ish area) in St Philip & St James primary (aka Phil and Jim’s) catchment, and send them there - you can either walk or bike, and get the train easily to London from Oxford station if you need to. Lots more rental options in Oxford itself than in Abingdon. Use some of the money you save on private school to get a nicer rental place….

3. if international students and good music/sport are really really important to you, then probably you need to go private. Oxfordshire is not the most diverse county in the world and if you want diversity you are more likely to find it in the local prep schools than the state schools.

@ExpatsDKUSA Does it have to be Oxford, or is that about being in a beautiful historic city with good education on offer and an easy commute to London? If it doesn’t have to be Oxford would you consider Winchester? It’s still on the expensive side but not as much so as Oxford, is an hour from London, has great schools and cultural life- and crucially doesn’t have the awful traffic that makes Oxford so hard to navigate. It features regularly on the ‘Best places to live’ lists.

You may struggle to find a rental of the standard you are looking for, because people tend to rent due to not being able to buy, for financial reasons usually hence rentals mostly being small. There's higher end corporate owned properties in London aimed at overseas workers etc but not in smaller towns. It's worth joining a local Facebook group to where you want to live and asking if anyone knows a rental with the number of bedrooms you require (don't give the price you are willing to pay) in case someone is relocating abroad and needs to rent their property or has a house they rent eg here my neighbours rent another house out because they both had houses when they met - they often go by word of mouth here, similar to Abingdon in affluence etc.

I would rent in Cumnor Hill (Oxford) and go to Chandlings if that is your thing. You are onthe right side of Oxford for the train station there. Or as people say rent in North Oxford and go to the local state schools (all nice for a community vibe)

The Europa School in Culham you might like, each kid is assigned either French /German or Spanish and it's fully immersive in that language for 1 week, then in English for 1 week, then back to the other language. They all seem to get fluent by about age 10. Lots of slightly left leaning families go there, lots of doctors and scientist families.

Totally agree do NOT live in North Oxford and put your kids in school in Abingdon. You will not last longer than a term doing that before you give up! The Oxford traffic is awful and Abingdon too. I used to live in Oxford and work in Abingdon and it was actually the same time to cycle the 10 miles to work as to drive (and I don't cycle fast).

One reason you prob didn't see any rentals was looking so far in advance. Rentals tend to be much more short term for start dates within a month on average.

Just realised this is an old thread! Where did you decide to live in the end?

This is a letter from a particularly badly affected area of oxford about the real difficulties this plan will give the local residents. www.oxfordwaterside.co.uk/bus-gates-and-ltns