Help! Living near Harwell?

[laimama]

Hello, my DH will start work in Harwell soon and we are looking to move from Berkshire to the area. Can anyone suggest any place to live nearby (within 20min)? I work in central london so ideally has good rail link or within 10mins drive to train station. Didcot would be good for that but have heard some horrible story about the place. We also have a one-year-old and are expecting our second so need good toddler groups and schools. Know we have to compromise somewhat but would like to know what the local thinks about the different areas please?

My dh works on Harwell site and we live in Harwell village (about a mile away).
Can recommend the village preschool little Pippins, plus there are toddler groups on Mondays and Tuesday plus baby music on Friday in the village.

I've lived near didcot all my life, it's been refurbished, the shopping, cinema and secondaries are good and there will be more investment in the area.

Pm if you have any questions

There are lots of nice villages around Didcot, alternatively there's Cholsey which has a rail link to reading (not as fast though) and is lovely to live in.

Didcot is definitely coming up in the world, but I think ideally it might be nicer to live slightly outside it.

As regards things to do - keep an eye on the listings here, new ones are being added all the time.

Schools in Oxfordshire are generally excellent. I've heard good things about the ones in Didcot.

I moved to Harwell village about a year ago. It's very friendly here and easy to meet people through village book groups, play groups etc. The village preschool is good, and the primary is supposed to be reasonable, with a strong emphasis on conservation and environmental awareness. Didcot isn't great, but we're not far from Oxford and Wallingford. If you need to be within 20 mins of the Harwell site, you've got quite a lot of villages to choose from.

I live in Didcot and it really isn't as bad as some people make it out to be!

40 mins to Paddington. Loads of activities/groups for children. Most of the surrounding villages are lovely but will obviously be more expensive to rent/buy property.

Hi we live near Harwell, look around the area like Chilton, Hendreds, Ardington, Wantage isnt far. There is a great community feel and plenty of events like Busy Bees, and local coffee mornings, events at West Hendred and East Hendred village hall. I run a garage locally so do shout, be more than happy point you in a few directions.
Harwell business park has quite a community there too with shops, groups, nursery, clubs, walking and cycling etc.

Thanks for all your responses. Sorry haven't responded earlier as sadly had a m/c. Anyway, we have made a start looking at Cholsey. Hopefully I may see some of you lovely people out and about in the area soon.

Hi Laimama, just came upon your post, so sorry for your loss. Had same myself before. On brighter note hope you are keeping busy with move to near Harwell, just to say we are in similar situation - dh works in Harwell, we currently live in London with our 9 month old and looking to move to the area and keep good transport links to London. Am focusing search on Goring as looks like great community, has rail link and is 20-25 mins to Harwell. But also Wallingford, East Hagbourne, Long Wittenham, Blewbury, Steventon and Sutton Courtenay. If you want to get in touch when you move feel free to pm me, i would love to meet other mums in the area!