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Winchester schools - state & private, help relocation with little notice

79 replies

cranbury · 13/01/2010 17:30

DH has a new position within his company so we need to move from a London suburb to the area around winchester. We don't need to commute by train, would prefer to live in the country but worried about schools - meant to be good but we havent got a clue. Got the good schools guide - so read about Pilgrims, Twyford and St Swithuns but understand the state schools are good too. We have a boy and a girl. Any advice would be good on primary but also secondary schools that are good to go onto.

OP posts:
Annner · 08/02/2010 19:38

Echo Lucysmum (again!) on Hursley, Twyford and Itchen Abbas. Owslebury is also nice, 'tho further away. Hursley is dominated by IBM and the village is rather bisected by the main road. Twyford has the big prep school as well as its own excellent primary school and lively toddler groups and preschool. Oh, and a post office. Colden Common, South Wonston etc are rather more souless, I feel: lots of new developments and not a colossal amount of village feel about it. Sparsholt is also a proper village with primary school and active church, post office, etc, and excellent pub in the Plough.

There is apparently a shortage of family houses on the market at the moment. Some friends of ours rented for over a year before the right house in the right area came along. Fulflood and Hyde seem to be the holy grail for London emigres, with prices to match. Depends what you are looking for and what your budget is. You will always get more house for your money in the villages, with Hyde, Fulflood, St Cross and Oram's Arbor fetching the premium prices. Alresford is a lovely small town/ large village: bigger than a village, but a self contained town with lots of independent shops, a small library, its own secondary school, etc. It's close enough to Winch for its residents to use it regularly, but with a clear identity of its own.

In reality the city is small enough for villagers to dip in and out of city life as much as they do village life. As an example, NCT organises on a Winchester basis, as do other joining organisations. Do try and get hold of the Hampshire Chronicle (out on Thursdays) which has a beautifully Ambridge-esque round up of what is happening in the villages each week from their own correspondents.

gramercy · 09/02/2010 09:40

If I were to move I'd live in Cheriton. I don't know anything about it really, but it looks nice!

Property is very scarce at the moment. I know several people who are renting, cash in hand, just waiting to pounce on a house. Consequently prices are extortionate for what you are getting. In fact in Fulflood/Hyde the nice Victorian houses are the same price as in south London. And agree that there are very few actual family houses, of the traditional type, close to Winchester. There are always a few £1.5m + houses knocking about, but if you're after a four-bed, nice garden type of affair you have to join the stampede of moving-out-of-Londoners as well as the locals. And, I also read, that Winchester is increasingly popular for retirees. They used to move to the sea, but now they all fancy convenient city living so they're snapping up all the smaller houses.

cranbury · 09/02/2010 14:46

Thanks for all your further advice. I've heard about lots of cash buyers renting in the area. A good friend moved to a another rural area where Londoners are retreating to, she is still renting 2 years on as can't find anything which is proving to be very disruptive to the whole family. Neither me nor DH want to rent first.

Cheriton and Alresford did look nice.

Hampshire Chronicle online is fascinating...

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CountessDracula · 15/03/2013 10:14

I grew up in Cheriton and Alresford and they are lovely places to live (if a bit dull for older children - I did spend most of my time in Winchester once I was a teenager and would have killed to live there!)

I have lived in London for 27 years and NFW would I go back. I go to visit my parents and feel instantly claustrophobic if I go into Winchester.

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