Winchester: meeting up with other mums 2012

[Lottsie]

Taken the plunge and moving to Winchester in July/Aug this year as my DC starts at St.Swithuns in Sept as a weekly boarder. Bit nervous about it as have a lively social life in London (Dulwich/ Clapham) way & only know 2 people in the Win/Southampton area. Scared I'm never going to have a really good girly night out again!!
Just wanted to know is it easy to meet people there? My other DC is going to a state school (if he gets a place!) fingers crossed in Central Winchester & I play tennis so thought I could join the Winchester TC & meet some mums at whichever state school he gets into. But would love to know if there are any book clubs or if there were other St. Swithuns parents on mumsnet willing to meet up Aug/Sept time?

Hi Lottsie, we are taking the plunge and moving to Winchester as well. We are from SW London (Barnes) and are planning on moving to Winchester on or after 1 June 2012, just waiting on completion of sale of our house. We will be renting in the St cross area to get a feel for Winchester until we buy. My DS will be starting reception at Pilgrims in September and we plan to send our DD to St Swithuns, but she is only 22 months, so not for a while! Would definitely be interested in meeting up as we don't know anyone in Winchester.

Oh fab- what a relief. Thanks for your lovely post and you'll be there before me so will be able to fill me in on what it's like!! I've heard it's full of ex-Londoners anyway & am sure you'll get to meet alot of the mums once yr DS starts at Pilgrims. Heard that Pilgrims is an amazing school & still thinking of sending my son there as he's at a private school in Dulwich at mo and a bit nervous he may get placed in the middle of nowhere!!
How come yr moving there? To be honest, I'm terrified but know it's absolutely the right thing to do as don't want to spend another 10years in London & don't really want my DD growing up where I worry about her safety every time she's out. You've got ages to go before you get to that point & my DD is only 10 but the time flies by so quickly.
Did it find you long to find somewhere to rent? I've heard St.Cross is a great part of the city along with Fulflood so going to put aside a couple of weekends in July to start the search. Just about to put my own house on the Market this week so got everything crossed I sell on time so that the move is smooth.
Thanks again for getting in touch. Would be great to meet up when I'm down there but any tips in meantime, gratefully received.

To be quite honest with you, I keep asking myself, why we are moving as I love Barnes and we have an amazing social life here!!! I'm terrified as well! The basic answer is that we want more space for kiddies to run around and we want a bigger house and the house prices have gone completely bonkers in Barnes...also the planes are driving my DH mad. They don't bother me. We chose Winchester, simply by getting out a map and looking at where was an hour commute or less and still had a bit of life to it. We are not ready for the country completely so we are looking at the St cross area as its a 10 minute or less walk into town and particularly Pilgrims and there are lots of pubs and restuarants and hopefully fun and interesting people. We are actually going to look at a property to rent tomorrow and if we like it we will take it. Fingers crossed! Good luck with your house sale...if you haven't put it on the market yet, have a think about using www.housenetwork.co.uk instead of an estate agency...we listed ours with them and it sold in 4 days and went to sealed bids (as I said Barnes in bonkers) and you save thousands on estate agent fees! I am only mentioning it as we are so pleased and I find london estate agents to be very slimy! :)

How did the property hunt go? Hope you managed to put up with the slimy agents (surely they can't be slimy in Winchester?) & secured a lovely house. I'm looking on websites regularly & worried as anything decent gets 'Let' as soon as they go on the Market. Have to be really on the ball when it comes to finding a house there, and I really want to be central as, like you, not ready for a move to the country where I know the quietness would totally freak me out. Was impressed by the way you found your next move; nothing like a bit of spontaneity! Although, I suppose I was similarly haphazard in choosing my DD's schools as found an article whose title was 'Schools worth leaving London for'. St. Swithuns was up there so applied without having even seen the school. Missed the open day because my mini schnauzer went into labour! Couldn't really head off to W for a jolly? So we only got round to seeing it about a month ago. Bit sloppy really. Anyhow, I'm sure it's all going to be a massive shock to the system but have seen a few social get together things they run in Winchester which I may join up to if I get desperate (you'll have to come with me if u fancy a laugh!!). I do know 3 people in total. One is a couple who live in Arlesford & the other is a rather yummy ex actor/model who is in between Southampton & Winchester. I am single (div 4 yrs ago) but get on really well with ex & really love my life & do love being single! My children seem blissfully happy and see my ex dh quite alot so all good there.
Thanks also for advice about housenetwork. I checked out their website last night & when builders ever get round to finishing, I may give them a call. Do you pay the £500 up front? Can't remember; already!
Happy Mothers Day- hope u were spoilt?

Hello you two, ok just joined mumsnet, already regretting username, just had a blank!

We are hoping to move to Winchester too!!! We have moved from Richmond, currently renting in Henley but have seen a place we like just outside Winchester and thinking of putting an offer in! We also sold our house with House Network ((how easy was that!?!) Yes paid up front and at the end they also gave us a great deal on the conveyancing side of things.) Also saw the schools worth leaving London for but our edging towards Twyford at the mo as their music is really good.

Just love Winchester from what I've seen thus far but like you know no-one. Not too sure how this thing works but would love to get your contact details and meet up. Still popping back to Richmond if that works?

I have a 26 month girl and a 3 month boy.

Hope all the house hunting etc is going well. :-)

Great. Another mum from London heading that way!! It's a bit late now so will post more tomorrow when can keep my eyes open but def keen to meet up.

Hi Ladies, house hunt in Winchester went well. All references have been approved and we should be signing the lease any day now. The rental market is crazy in Winchester! We had to go to bidding on the property! Ridiculous! At least we got it....and we move in on June 1. We had my son's assessment at Pilgrims a few weeks ago and that went really well and they offered him a place so we are getting really excited about the move. Dreamfeed, we are using housenetwork conveyancing as well, so far it just seems too easy!! Although the purchasers solicitors have come up with a list of ridiculous questions that I've got to answer, just makes me laugh! Lotsie - there are several options, the one we used was pay a bit up front and then on completion pay £1,000. The up front cost covers the man coming to your house and taking photos, doing EPC and the floor plan and building the website that feeds into prime location, right move, etc. Was such an easy process!
I would definitelly be up for meeting up, I work three days a week but can do any Wednesday or Friday morning in Richmond if you're offering to come this way...:)

Hello girls, Wow well done Barnesbabe on the lease thing, bidding on rental, it's madness but congratulations!! On the selling front, I think the best question we had from our purchaser's solicitors was could we provide the protection paperwork for a pear tree; didn't even know we had one!! We paid the one off payment nothing on completion but I did design our own brochure to give people (quite enjoyed it). Will let you know when I am heading over Barnes way.

Not entirely sure how I can send you two my details without the whole of mumsnet seeing it. Getting really excited about the prospect of moving to Winchester. Nothing to report on the house front yet but still really liking a place we've seen just outside. St Cross end.

Write soon.

Anna

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Hi there. Not been on MN for a while. Still desperately struggling with annoying builders which is just getting so boring. Anyhow, my 2 break up tomoz for Easter holidays so next few weeks are also 'on hold' in terms of getting the house on the Market. However, getting there slowly but surely but sounds also like renting in Winchester is going to be tougher than I thought but congrats BarnesBabe for getting the house. Can't believe you had to enter a bidding war! Thanks also for the contact details Dreamfeed- I'll pm you back but maybe we should try to meet up for lunch or something before we all move. Am happy to head to Richmond way. I'm self-employed so can fit around most days/times so maybe we should get something in the diary for May? Having very cold feet at mo as just really panicking about losing my friends here & also worried that haven't heard a word from Hampshire county council about a primary school for my DS. Must chase tomorrow as have to hand in his notice for his current school in 4 weeks time! Really pleased about your Pilgrims offer. You must be relieved. And now you've only got a couple of months till the big move! Must stop typing, it's sooo late & up early!

Hi Lottsie, BarnesBabe & Dreamfeed, just wanted to encourage you that deciding to move to Winchester is an excellent idea. My husband and I, plus our five children, moved here twelve years ago not long after Child Number 4 started at Rosemead Prep, Dulwich and we did some maths on what School Fees was going to cost us for five ..... state schools are very good here by the way!

We absolutely love it here. Here are some things I enjoy about living here.

1. You can drive for twenty minutes and be in the country.
2. Traffic jams are rare.
3. You can walk into town to go out in the evening (although must pre-book at weekends for really nice restaurants)
4. You can get to a lovely beach (or the New Forest) in under an hour.
5. You can bump into people you know (after a few years) in town.
6. There are some lovely shops.
7. There is a fabulous street arts festival every year called The Hat Fair.
8. There is a half decent Theatre.

I could go on! The restaurant choices are surprisingly good. We have a Jamie Oliver's opening in the Summer, Union Jacks. Raymond Blanc has a place here and The Black Rat (hideous name I know) is a Michelin star place (handily it's at the end of my road). The following are good too The Wykeham Arms, La Place, No5 Bridge Street, The Chesil Rectory and there are several villages with good pubs too like The Chestnut Horse at Easton and the White Horse at Littleton. If the summer is good you MUST go to Lainston House in Sparsholt for a glass of fizz on the terrace.

Areas to consider for renting, apart from St Cross, are St Giles' Hill (a secret not even many Winchester residents know about) and of course Fulflood near the station.

I could rave on for ever about Winch (as its known by old timers) so if you have any questions, just ask me!