Starting a new life near Warwick Uni? - schools, areas...help!

[emissionspectra]

Hi all,

I'm hoping to study at Warwick Uni next year but I have no idea where to start with hunting for schools, houses, and even the general area to live in.

Some background...

We have a 3 year old daughter who currently goes to a lovely all girls preparatory school in High Wycombe, near where we live.
We drive.
Being nearish to a train station would be helpful as lots of friends, family and - occasionally - work in London; I know Leamington Spa is about 90mins as it's on the Wycombe line which is bearable.
We are exploring the possibility of a 'normal' primary school but if we can't get her in anywhere good would be happy to go private again as have had an amazing experience where she is.
I want to be very close to the uni.

I've been looking at rental properties and they seem shockingly cheap. My other choice will be UCL in London where we'll be looking at £1200+ a month to be somewhere decent and while I love London I'm not sure I want to bring my daughter up there.

What are Coventry/Leamington Spa/surrounding areas like? We've been to look around and Leamington Spa looked ok but I was very disappointed with Coventry, though we were mostly in the centre so I'm not sure about nice residential areas.

Could anyone advise as to safety, atmosphere, proximity to amenities and good schools?

We wouldn't mind being a little far out if it meant an amazing school and a nice area but otherwise would quite like to be near the uni or a good train station.

Are there any nice villages around these areas I should be considering?

You seem to get so much more house for your money up there but is it too good to be true? Many thanks!

Well, I've lived in Leamington Spa for over 20 years now. I chose it over Warwick and Kenilworth because it had more of the amenities I wanted than the other two - good shopping, a cinema, lots of restaurants, parks. Leamington and Warwick are joined at the hip though, only takes ten minutes to travel between the two, so don't discount Warwick. It is quieter, and the town centre shops are a bit skewed towards antiques.

Leamington has a regular bus service to Warwick Uni, so a lot of students who live off-campus are in Leamington.

Primary schools are good, I think I'd have been happy with any of them to be honest, but my DS went to Milverton (terrible website, brilliant school); its cachement covers a lot of the north-west of the town all the way down to the River Leam, which runs through the centre of town. There are several private schools if you prefer, such as Kingsley and Warwick Prep (although a friend did think Warwick were inclined to hothouse). There are also a couple of Montessori preschools that might suit.

Safety - like any town it has its moments, but really nothing of note. Yes at the weekend there are the drunken youth going from bar to bar dressed as if it is Ibeza regardless of the weather; but I don't think you can escape that anywhere. Atmosphere is fairly laid-back, I used to joke that this town was the last outpost of the hippies (they've all decamped to Totnes now).

I'd put your shock at house prices/rents down to London being so out of whack with the rest of us. I know a few people in town who have decamped here from there, all were able to upgrade their accommodation for less.

Leamington is a very nice town to live in, I never want to live anywhere else. If you have any specific questions, please feel free to PM me.

Coventry does have some nice bits - Earlsdon is like a self-contained village.

There are lots of nice villages around here, but I have no idea about the schools they have, sorry.