Moving to south Oxfordshire and help needed!

[lozwp]

Hiya all, I'm new to mumsnet and would love some help deciding where to move to in south Oxfordshire. (I've seen a few threads about moving to Oxfordshire on here, but I'm not sure they apply to the area we're looking at). My husband has just got a job in Abingdon and so we'll be moving there in February, but we have no idea of the good and not so good places to live .

What we're looking for: we'd like to live in a town within about 15/20 minutes drive of Abingdon (if not Abingdon itself) and we have a 1 year old daughter so somewhere with nice parent/toddler groups and parks etc would be fab. We are only looking to rent, but I doubt that has any influence on the area, no? I've had a look on a few estate agents websites and the areas that keep popping up are Didcot, Sutton Courtenay, Dorchester, Berinsfield, Clifton Hampden, Culham and of course Abingdon. Does anyone know about these areas? Or suggest other areas to watch out for?

Any advice would be hugely appreciated!

Hi monmolly. Only just seen your message as it dropped off active conversations. I am home Thursday and Friday so could meet on a Friday. My sil lives in spring road and has only been here a little while. She has a 15 month old too and would like to meet more people too. Can you pm me - if you click on my name it should give you the option to send me a personal message.

Do you live in one of the townhouses or a normal house? I am in a town house. My dh teaches guitar so you may know the house if you have ever passed during lesson time!

Hi ladies,

I just wanted to say thanks again to everyone for all your advice - it really did help an awful lot! We opted to live in Abingdon so that we didn't have to get another car and found a house in North Abingdon just 15 mins walk from my hubby's work. We moved in last week and are really happy with the house and the area! I'm hoping to get out and about to some groups next week so maybe I'll bump into some of you.

x

Fantastic! I'm really happy for you.

Welcome to the area! (I just saw this, managed to miss this thread before now)

There is a really nice toddler group "Link" every other Wednesday morning (and every other Thursday afternoon) at Christchurch on Northcourt Road.

We also like going to drop in storytelling sessions at Mostly Books in Stert Street, and I joined a book group there to help me meet people when we first moved to this area.

Thanks Saracen!

And thanks to you too Checkmate...I shall keep them in mind!

x

Hello :)

Just to let you know that www.localtots.com has details of all the activities and baby/toddler groups in Abingdon

xx

Steventon also has the most fab bakery (yum)

lozwp glad you found somewhere you are happy with

nottheeurowinner their lardy cake is lush!!

LadygroveMum (assume from your username that we probably live fairly close to each other!

Lol, thanks ladies!

I have just checked out that localtots website and it's fab! Thanks Ladygrovemum!!!

I've lived in Didcot for 3 years and absolutely loved it. In fact I miss it so much that with a friend, I have set up a new facebook group for Mums in Didcot - it's a closed group for mums only to share experiences, discuss events in Didcot, etc.. so if you want to talk there - it's very new but please join and invite your friends: www.facebook.com/groups/mumsindidcot/?ref=ts&fref=ts
It will be especially useful to people moving to Didcot to help them find their bearing.

Hope it is useful to some of you!
Lucie

Hi everyone,
I realise this thread is old now but we're moving to north abingdon and wondered if anyone has advice on good/bad places.we've seen houses we like in peachcroft and long furlong so particularly interested in those areas. We have a 16 month old so are looking for a nice place for her to grow up.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Ruth

Hi Ruth,

I can't advise as to where is best in Abingdon, but would recommend you start a similar thread in Mumsnet Oxfordshire as well, as you may get some useful responses there, too.

Hello all
Here I am finding lots of information from a 2011’s thread! I know a lot would have changed about Abingdon and didcot and many places in south Oxfordshire. But it would be a big help if the kind moms here can please let me know their thoughts about didcot and Abingdon as we will be moving in to Oxfordshire for work in Harwell campus and we have a 7 year old daughter who is a ballet and gymnastics enthusiast.

Hi! Again, only vague rumour-type info from me: I've heard that Abingdon is lovely to live in but you have to be careful exactly where you live in relation to school. Traffic around the bridges can back up a long way at school run time, making it far worse than you would have imagined. So you want to ask around in order to be sure you aren't going to have a nightmare school run, or ensure you can walk to school.

Also if you were tempted to live in Oxford and commute: don't! Unless you live at the very edge of town. The council has been experimenting with traffic calming measures, with the result that some roads in the city come to a standstill at busy times. Likewise, if you are thinking of signing your daughter up to any activities in Oxford, first make sure that you aren't signing up to sit in traffic for ridiculous amounts of time.

Hope you find somewhere nice!

Thank you so much @Saracen for sharing your thoughts