Places to live near Taunton

[ali13]

Hi there

I've seen someone elses thread about moving to Somerset and commuting to Bristol, and wondered if anyone can offer any tips about living around Taunton.

We are moving to the area later this year and wondered whether anyone can recommend areas that are within half an hours drive to Taunton.

We would quite like to be rural, but wondered what the commute into Taunton will be like....

Thanks
Ali

At rush hour times commuting to Taunton from any direction is utterly dire. However outside these times, there's not a problem. Toward Ilminster is probably the worst for commuting in, Henlade is a bottleneck. There are some lovely villages out to the North, like Kingston St Mary, seems very rural, but only 2 miles in to Taunton. Bishop's Lydeard is also out that way; it is a reasonable sized village itself and not far into Taunton, some lovely small hamlets/villages out round there. It is more towards Minehead. In terms of commuting to Bristol, if doing so by train (good idea) Kingston St Mary etc is ideal as it is very quick to get from there to the station (right side of nightmare town traffic). If driving, you want to be out towards Bridgwater (but not, dear god NOT Bridgwater itself). Good luck, happy to answer any questions. x

Oi Cheeky

I LOVE Wiveliscombe. It is beautiful, everything you need in the village, lovely shops, lovely people, lovely views, lovely EVERYTHING!! hehe

Hi, i live between taunton and yeovil and my other half commutes by train and car to london and bath.

are you going to commute by train or car? Why Taunton?

sarah

Oh yeah, god forbid you should live in Bridgwater we've all got two heads and dragging knuckles FFS.

However there are some lovely villages around Somerset within an easy drive of Taunton. South side of the quantocks is good. I quite like nether storey and cannington but probably contaminated by being too near bridgwater... Stoke st Mary, trull side of Taunton generally. Some really pretty countryside around Wellington. You need to spend a few long weekends in the area and just have S good look.

Would Strongly suggest North Petherton and the surrounding villages, lovely place, close to Taunton and Bridgwater, good bus links to Taunton. 15 minute drive even in peak times, 20 minute bus pretty much quarter hourly.. brilliant
x

We live just outside Bridgwater (but we're selling if you're interested )

We go the back way into Taunton and its not too bad - about 30-40 mins but I guess it can depend where in Taunton you're trying to get to. If you're thinking of commuting to Bristol then we're just off Jct 23 - much easier to get onto here than at Taunton

I live in between Taunton & Weston - Super - Mare, which is about 20 minutes on the motorway from Taunton.. It's okay, but there are definitely much nicer villages in the surrounding area. Brent Knoll is lovely, and there's East Huntspill & West Huntspill, all within easy commuting distance! There's also the Mendips, which are a bit further out, but absolutely beautiful!

Hi.We are hoping to move to Taunton soon and would like any feedback on the nicest aresa to live.We are open to either living in Taunton or any villages within 5 or so miles.Whats Taunton like as a place generally?We have 3 kids aged 7,5,and 1 and are hoping that they would really love this move to Taunton and Somerset as a whole.Thanks

Taunton is great..its a county town. As a mum of a 4.5 year old and a 2 year old, it fulfills my needs. I live about 20 mins from Taunton on the somerset levels..which is lovely. I'm not a country girl, used to big towns and cities- its taken some time to get used to, but I like it.
I think it also depends on what you're looking for with schools as it will be important. Think about whether you would like a village primary school, or larger one. My son who has just started is in an intake of 13 this year and its wonderful for him.

We live in Bishops Lydeard which is a lovely busy little village just outside Taunton. It has pre-school, primary school, library, doctors, garages, petrol station, pubs, co-op, paper shop, butchers, lots of clubs so we don't need to go in to Taunton much! The secondary school is Ofsted Outstanding Grade 1 Wiveliscombe and the children are bussed from the village on free school buses. My husband works in Bridgwater so goes from Bishops Lydeard "over the hills" avoiding any congestion as he doesn't go via Taunton. Takes him about 15 minutes in the car. There are lots of back lanes to avoid the bypass which gets a bit congested first thing in the morning I believe. See www.bishopslydeard.org.uk for more information on the village.