can anyone help me sort out the different parts of Bath?

[Lua]

and no, I do not mean the tap and the basins...

I receive a job offer to move to Bath, and everyone tells me it is lovely!

However, the first time I went there it all look sterile at first gaze...

I have moved before, and I know just looking around might not be enough to get a feeling for a place, so I a going a second time.

I have two young children and will be working in the university. Will have to find a place in school ( I know, impossible!)

What I was wondering if anyone can help is:

• is there an area that is a bit more bohemian, but family oriented?

• what are good park, stores, resturants that I should go and hang out to get a feeling for the place?

• any suggestions of a nice place to live with walking access to useful stores a nice cafe?

• is there a local bakery, co-op, etc that is good?

thanks a lot in advace!

i don`t know the answers to your questions but will just say that my daughter is so pleased she chose to go to university there-she loves it-excellent sports facilities up there too.It feels safe there,plenty of shops etc and easy to get to Bristol or London.

thank you maddylou.

Is good to know it might be a place good for little one and bigger ones...

She does not complain about all the hill?

It's streets rather than areas - the nicest/arty/poncy (I don't mean that nastily!) bits are from Lansdown Crescent, down to The Circus, miss out the town centre and then go from Great Stanhope Street out towards Kensington Place.

Warning - very very very pricey/

You need a map of Bath and draw on it.

Go into any estate agent in Bath and tell them your description and they will point you right.

Widdcombe is also very nice, more of a villagey feel. Nearer the RUH less expensive.

More "normal"/suburban but good access to Bath is Oldland Common/Keynsham/Bitton. Part of Bristol really but actually nearer Bath.

One word - Twerton. Avoid.

Have you looked around Larkhall. That has its own shops and a nice cafe. Think it is a bit more "arty". Don't know what the schools are like there though.

If your children are of nursery age - get them booked into the university nursery asap. It is very good and there is a waiting list.

thank you georgimama! that is very helpful!

I know my budget does not allow landsdown...

do you have an opinion on newbridge or bathford? would it be crazy to commute from there to the uni?

people at uni tell me bradfors upon avon is an option. do you know anything about it? is thereenough there that I would not have to depend on driving to bath on regular basis? i.e. nice family restaurant, food shopping, bakery, etc...

sorry for all the questions! but I must decide in a weel, and I don't think I can figure all out by one more visit....

gooseyloosey,

could you give me a couple of street names I could walk in to get a feeling for larkhall?

may thanks!

Also, do you want to live in Bath, or would you consider living in a town near Bath. Frome is cheaper than Bath and again quite arty but again, I have no idea at all of schools.

If you take the job you will have plenty of students on tap for babysitting.Good to see you have been showered with advice.The university Accomodation office will probably very helpful if you feel you are drowning in information!!!!!Sorry!

BOA is lovely, it has; bakery, pubs, kids clothes, pretty gift shops, good swimming pool, cafes, sainsburys and loads more.

For Larkhall, if you are going into Bath down the A4/London Road, turn right onto St Saviour's Road and that will take you into Larkhall and you can wander from there. As I said, there is a nice child friendly cafe there.

Someone else mentioned around the RUH. If you want a cafe to sit in and absorb the atmosphere and 1 or 2 local shops, try the Kindling Coffee House. It is on Chelsea Road which is right off the a4/Newbridge Road (on the other side of Bath to Larkhall).

Another nice bit with shops etc, but a bit father from the university is. This map should show you where it is.

weepootleflump,
that is great to know! any chance is could point me in the direction of a pub, bakery or cafe to have lunch at with the kids and get a feel for the place?

On Bradford on Avon, you could deffinitely live there without having to go to Bath all of the time and I have friends who live there who think the schools are OK.

Newbridge is where I mean by near RUH - couldn't remember the name! Yes, it's fine. Bathford likewise. Traffic does get busy but it's completely doable. There are lots of useful rat runs through Bath, you will soon learn them!

When I used to get stuck in a Bath traffic jam I would wait for a Mondeo/BMW to get impatient and turn off somewhere random, then follow it. Never fails.

Also area above the Lower Bristol Road (can't think what the area is called sorry) - has local shops and easy walk into centre, downside - some of your students will probably be neighbours!

thanks everybody?
any mor tips of where I should go in my breakneck speed trip down there to get a feeling for the place?

oops I meant thanks everybody!

I live outside and commute in to work there (although not full-time), so am a bit biased. Bath always reminds me of living in Clapham, rather rammed with yummy mummies.

Bradford on Avon is lovely, if you like Cotswold-stylee towns, but not cheap. You can buy pretty much everything you need there on a regular basis. Don't know about schools though. And it has good trains.

I'm in Frome, which is a 35-min commute into central Bath and has rubbish trains, but again, you don't need to go anywhere else unless you need clothes. But it is quite 'arty' (full of people who believe they are creative because they once threw a pot, as it was memorably described to me), and increasingly full of London and Bristol refugees because of the house prices (ours was about half what we would have paid for it in Bath). Schools patchy, some good but full...

...Newbridge is affordable and ok. It isn't bohemian, though. Ditto Weston.

Larkhall is more akin to your description, as is nearby Camden. These are more expensive.

South of the river is Widcombe. This is lovely. If I tell you that the Aga shop is there you can figure out the demographics and housing costs, though...

...Oldfield Park is studentland, and up the hill is Bear Flat/Poets' Corner (it has streets named after a number of poets, hence the apostrophe position. Ahem). This is a pleasant middle class area, with reasonable schools/parks/cafes etc close by.

If you move there, try and talk the area down to the vendors, as that is where I want to move to...

Combe Down/Odd Down are ok, if featureless, suburban areas. Make sure, if you move to this part of town, that you are in the Ralph Allen catchment, not Culverhay (unless secondary schooling is not an issue for you).

...Twerton and Whiteway are to be avoided.

....any Rightmove search will show you lots of new build houses in a development called 'Pulteney View'. If you can see Pulteney bridge from there, though, I would suggest that you either have superpowers or access to the Hubble telescope.....

lol at views of pultney bridge!
I am not bother whether i see it or not...

lots of people tell me about bear flat. I can see it is a nice residential area, but where do you walk from there? I didn't see any mini highstreets around, if you seee what I mean...

...the Wellsway is the 'mini highstreet' for Bear Flat.

It's only a short roll down the hill to the centre, too.

...getting back up is the problem...

oh welll, maybe I can finally get in shape and use the money i pay for the gym without using for the mortgage....

love love love Bath. Lucky you ! I went to Uni there and had a ball. Also got married there with reception in the assembly rooms and guests taken there in an open top tourist bus from the church.
Widcombe is lovely but there are so many great areas tbh. Go spend a weekend there and have a really good poke around.

Any of you can tell me anyhting about fromme primary schools?

Yes. Although they mostly aren't primary, they're first and middle schools. The only primary is the Catholic one, (which also seems to take children from v religious CofE families) and which is in demand because it feeds into excellent Catholic secondary.

Of the others, Trinity has a glowing Ofsted (although some say a bit strict); St Johns (no catchment area, CofE maintained) does OK, but coasts on mostly taking middle class kids, Vallis has a mixed catchment and was in special measures, but I know people who speak highly of it now (and who have chosen it over Trinity as more play-centred). On the outskirts, Berkeley is not bad.

The two middle schools are much of a muchness I think, and not bad. Frome College (post-14) is however a whole other story...

CAT me if you want to know more...

I don't think you are wrong about it looking a bit empty - it is a bit, no edgy urban living here. Thing to bear in mind too is that it's REALLY small so there aren't neighbourhoods as such which define the place. You can walk across Bath fairly quickly. Also once you scratch the surface, there are nice and interesting people here, promise, as well as a lot of botox bores.

Larkhall and Camden are probably the areas you are looking for. No amazing bakeries on the mini high streets, but there is a farmer's market on Saturdays, and Bertinet Kitchen opens on saturday mornings off George Street - early about 8.00 and sells amazing pastries. Lots of independent shops and cafes. You might want to try at least and live on the side of Bath where the Uni is. Also check out Batheaston which has a good primary school. Lots of good primary schools here

Where are you moving from?

I grew up in Bradford on Avon and still have family there so go back quite a bit, would move there if DH didnt work in London.

Lovely family friendly place, small community atmosphere, good swimming pool, nice cafes/restaurants, small local shops instead of the normal chains, lovely park near the canal/river, lovely riverside/canalside walks/cycleways. I used to work in Bath, so the commute is very easy and you would be the right side of Bath for Bradford On Avon.

No idea on schools, there are 2 junior schools and one secondary.

If you go for an explore I would go to BOA and have a look, go to the bottom of the town and head towards Barton Farm Country Park, its lovely, there is a lovely little cafe called the The Lock Inn next to the canal, very child friendly, just opposite The Lock Inn, up the hill is a junior school, the one I used to go too.

Let us know what you think