Is Oxfordshire full of tiger mums....?

[WildWellyNelly]

Hi All,
DH, 2 D(4)D(2)s and me are thinking of moving to Oxfordshire shortly for a new job in Culham. We currently live in Hebden Bridge in Yorkshire, which is very laid back, has plenty of good, caring primary schools and loads for kids to do.

The towns near Culham - Abingdon, Wantage, Wallingford seem nice (Oxford is pretty much out of our price league), but to be honest I'm having a bit of tiger mum anxiety. Chatting to mums who've lived down South recently and then moved up North, I get the impression that most Oxfordshire mums have their kids careers mapped out from birth and will stop at nothing to get their kids into the right school if they can't afford to go independent.

Is this just a few bad experiences colouring my admittedly limited view of the area or should I be start baking so I can join in bunfight? Please let me know what you think? Any hot tips on chosing between these towns would be great too. Thanks in advance x

Hello WildWellyNelly,
I would say put it down to the bad experiences of those who moved north again! I have a lovely friend who's moved here from up north and is definitely set to stay (much as her old friends would love to tempt her back!).

In some ways it's all about finding your niche. I'm sure there are different vibes in different parts of Oxford, but I wouldn't want to stereotype. I'm in East Oxford and find that there's a lovely, friendly group of mums and lots of great activities to do with our children. It's a really supportive community too. There are some great primary schools here - but a lack of school spaces is a problem.

I don't know the other towns so well. Hopefully others here will be able to tell you more. Wallingford looks very pretty and has some great craft shops!
Good luck with the decision.

Hi Akebia - thanks for the response! I guess I just want to make sure there a potential niche to fill and we're not moving somewhere we have no hope of meeting any like minded people. Visiting the area this weekend so this should help us with the decision.

Ooh it might be a bit late to respond but here's my two cents ;)

I know Hebden well as I grew up in Brighouse - love Hebden. I'm now in West Oxon but I know Wallingford really quite well and there's a thriving attachment parenting community there - not tiger mum-ish at all! Wallingford is really rather lovely actually.

I think you'll find your niche wherever. It's a very different vibe than back up north, but there are lots of lovely families and businesses. Good luck!

Hi, I'm in Abingdon and it defiantly isn't full of the sort of mums you describe though I could find a few at DD's school (highly selective independent). The biggest problem I find living here is the highly mobile population, quite a few of both DD and my friends have moved away.