Abbey Wood

[MummaSquared]

Hi,

I'm new to this forum, so apologies for my first post being a question!

My husband is currently deployed for four months and, on his return, he is posted to Abbey Wood.

Is anyone currently there/been there? If so, do you have any pointers? Where, for example, should we put down for on our housing application?

Also, we have a 3 year old and a 18 month old so I would be interested to know about nurseries/preschools etc if anyone has any experience?

Many thanks.

Hello-my DH is at Abbeywood at the moment but he's weekend commuting.
In the week, he lives in Stoke Park and the other patch is at Emmerson's green, where there's a school, preschool/nursery/community centre/med centre etc. Our friends lived at 1 Church Farm Emmerson's Green, right off the mini roundabout near Sainsbury's so really great for doing your shop. Not sure what services (preschools) etc that Stoke Park has to offer but I know that Emmerson's Green is very close to Ikea and the Next/Mammas & Papas Retail park (and a huge Tesco).
Not sure about primary schools though as our friends little boy went to a school about 1.5 miles away as they didn't get the app in soon enough as the closer schools filled up quickly.
I wonder if I know you in real life?!
Abbeywood is huge though so maybe not.
Stoke park looks out over a big wooded park area but to get anywhere is a bit of a nightmare in the traffic but Emmerson's is closer to the outskirts (ringroad) but has a cycle path all the way into AW for your DH.
Did you know you can view the quarters online for both patches as they're not owned by DE?

Thanks for your reply luciemule.

I don't think we know each other in real life, we're currently at Brize? DH starts at AW in July.

I have googled a couple of times to find information on quarters, but it never seems to return anything much. Do you have a link at all?

Do you know if being close to the retail park causes any problems, for example with parking/noise etc?

Sorry for so many questions!

Thanks for your help.

The roundabout for the retail park comes straight off the M32 if I remember correctly so as long as you get in the right lane it's okay to get across, although it is busy at rush hour.
Asked DH tonight and he said most of the people he knows choose to live in Emmerson's Green. Will go and have a look to see if I've got the link still for the houses tour.

here

this is just an overview of the area.

That's brilliant. Thanks for all your help. Will now nag DH to get the housing form in!

Ring the HIVE, the one at Bristol is very good - my friend works there Also bear in mind that quarters in Bristol are in very short supply - you may well get offered somewhere like Colerne

Hi

I live in Stoke Gifford, walking distance to Abbey Wood, approx 15 mins. There is a very good nursery on the way called St Michaels Pre School Nursery. It is close to Abbey wood train station. It has a local Tescos, chemist, post office and Sainsburys is on the opposite side of the round about to Abbey wood. Abbey Wood is situated on the A4174 ring road, which is a complete nightmare during rush hour, so I would avoid any area that you have to use a car for.

When you call the HIVE - you could get the PFI web address from them to do the tour of the quartes online if nobody else here knows it?

here I think!

ooh yes - that's it. Fab. Wish all DE quartes had this same facility - like that's ever gonna happen.
Can you imagine the efficiency of DE if it were ran by forces wives???

That's cause Emersons Green isn't run by DE The PFI houses in Bristol are very well managed, because they are on a 25 yr lease and the owners want to look after their investment. AFAIK the management company are very quick with repairs etc. However, DE will still be your landlord (boo hiss)

Hmm - aren't lots of quarters going to managed like that in the future? DE are dinosaurs and the whole DE system really annoys me

Thanks for all your responses everyone. I emailed the Hive earlier for more info and also called the HIC. Currently, there are no type 3 quarters anywhere in Bristol and they are offering Colerne only. Although, she did also say that, by the time we want something, they may also be all taken so we would be looking at a private rental. I guess only time will tell but thanks for all the info, at least we can put some preferences down now - even if the chances of getting them are slim!

I think it's worse than normal there at the mo due to the move from Andover. Another housing possibility for working in Bristol is Chepstow - you would have to ask for it but would probably get it if you did.

Thanks for the info Drusilla; I'll look into Chepstow too. Have to say I was looking forward to being in Bristol, so the closer the better.

Hi,

Know this post is old but relevant to to us now and wondered if information was the same or anyone else had any input. 😊

Very likely move to Bristol from Helensburgh where we have been for 10 years and with 3 girls (10, 8 and 6) 2 cats and a pony very daunting!! 🙈

Can anyone shine any light on the officers patch/quarters? Are there still options, I guess we may be quite unique in that we would like as out of city/populated areas as possible, as we are happy with country living and would like to have different stabling options, although ironically I don't drive so would need to take that into consideration.

What are the schools like are primary/secondary are there some better than others and are any more amenable then others?

And I guess most of all is it a happy and nice place to bring up kids, do serving families mingle and is there stuff organised for for wife's and kids? I'm so nervous as we are so settled where we are and quite frankly petrified of change haha so would be grateful for any help/input on the area.

p.s on the off chance dose anybody know or have experience/info with any riding stables/livery yards or even know any that are easily accessible from any of the patches?

We moved from Bristol about a year ago. We were in Emersons Green, a lovely fairly modern estate and a very good Hive with lots on.
We were in a town house which was fine for us at the time but I think you’d be better pushing for one of the detached houses.

Schools are going to be your hardest thing to organise. The local primary schools were very over subscribed and you may find it difficult to get a place of your choice. No idea about the secondary schools.

It’s about 30-40 mins bike ride to Abbeywood, all on cycle paths, traffic around the ringroad is horrendous in the mornings and evenings. Public transport isn’t to bad but the buses won’t always take you to where you want to go so you may have to change.

Not sure about the livery but there was a couple there at the same time as us and I know they had a couple of horses, the hive may be able to point you in the right direction.

Thanks so much, hopefully planning a visit down soon to go scout out the area.

What were the gardens like? Xx