Sorry, more relocation advice needed!

[NotYourPrincess]

DH and I are hoping to ditch London for Oxfordshire. We fell in love with Woodstock and the lovely places north of Oxford last year when visiting friends but, as he'll be commuting back into West London, DH wants somewhere sort of south east of Oxford, closer to junction 8 on the M40.

Everyone seems to be giving grat advice on north of Oxford / Oxford itself, so I was hoping for a couple of pointers on Thame, maybe, or villages in that sort of area.

Our DD is 14 months and I'm a SAHM, though maybe when she's at school I'll want to go back to work. I'd like to live somewhere with a good community, local activities for mums and children, and nice schools. I don't really know where to start!

"I'd be over the moon if there was some sort of yearly arts festival as it's something that I grew up with and I find really lacking where we are at the moment. Theatre or drama groups would be amazing too, especially if it was something that I could get involved in, behind the scenes."

Coming late to this but your paragraph above stood out as people upthread have mentioned Wheatley- v handy for the M40, lots of community stuff going on as it's a big village including a very active am dram group and nearby Waterperry Gardens hosts Art in Action and various other arts stuff through the year www.waterperrygardens.co.uk/ . There are some lovely parts of the village and though the schools have had their problems hopefully they are now being addressed. Commuting to W London is possible by car, coach (Thornhill Park and Ride is a 10 minute cycle away) or the closest train station is Haddenham, 8 miles away. It's also an easy journey into central Oxford by bike or bus.

Wallingford and Thame are lovely market towns, bigger and further from the M40 but closer to train stations- Haddenham for Thame, on the Chiltern line to Marylebone and Cholsey for Wallingford, on the line to Paddington (though it may be faster to drive to Didcot, not sure).

Although Bicester itself isn't nice, there are lots of nice villages surrounding it. Big benefit for your DH would be that the train service from Bicester North station is excellent and goes into Marylebone in 50 minutes.

and there's Oxford Art Weeks ...Beware the Oxofrd/motorway traffic in rushhour it's an ABSOLUTE nightmare..