Relocating to Portishead

[sunnysideup01]

Hi everyone,

We are looking to move to Portishead as my partner has got a job in Somerset. Anyone who knows the area can you please answer these questions:

1.) is it a family orientated place? Child friendly?
2.) what are the popular schools and how easy is it to get into them?
3.) what are the nice/popular house estates where families live?
4.) how easy is it to commute to Bristol for work?

Many thanks,

Sunny

Reply to myself :-) I'm new here and so far very disappointed. Please somebody out there can surely answer at least some of my questions?

Hi Sunny

I'm sorry no-one replied to you - I don't pop into this section often...

I live in Portishead and love it. To answer your questions:

1. Very family and child friendly. There are lots of activities for all ages of children, swimming pools (indoor and outdoor) the Lakegrounds (sea front tennis, cricket, play area..), Marina (good for crabbing) a nature reserve for walking and cycling..
2. All the schools are good - there are 5 primary schools, most expanded recently so previous problems with getting places seems to be resolved. Although the ones closest to the main housing (Portishead Primary, Trinity) may fill up and so you may find yourself at High Down (up the top of Portishead in the older area), which is where my kids are and its great or St Peters (along the High Street). St Josephs is Catholic and may have some entry restrictions as a result. There is only one secondary school in the town - Gordano - but its very good and is well recommended. 3)The new housing estates - Village Quarter and Vale - are popular, but rather crowded in places, but lots of choice of size of house. Older housing areas are around Brampton Way, or up higher on the hill around Down Road/Nore Road including Badger Rise/Nightingale Rise/Charlcombe Rise near the Police HQ and beyond - further out of town and away from the facilities. Council estate areas are around Mendip Road and top of Avon Way, up the hill. All depends on your taste/requirements really.
3. Communting to Bristol can be a problem depending on time - around 8am is the worst for getting out past the motorway junction and getting off the M5 at junction 19 in the evening is a real pain. Buses exist but can be unreliable, timetable wise. I work from home and DH commutes up the motorway to Bradley Stoke after the school run to avoid the traffic.

Feel free to PM me if you have any questions and welcome to Somerset. You'll be loving the Wurzels before very long...

Thank you so much for your reply MyAngels, I really appreciate it. I was beginning to feel a bit down hearted above the move but your positive message has really cheered me up.

I will send you a message too.

Not sure if anyone will read this now but you won't like it here if you're sociable. People in the main are very reserved and anti social. House prices high too. Sorry but I don't recommend it.

The leisure pool has been closed for a couple of weeks and the slides a couple of months with no sign of reopening. You need a car to travel to either cribbs or Bristol to buy anything! Oh and don't consider it here if you don't have kids as most here don't seem to do anything other than breed!

Hi Sunny!
I live in Portishead, it's fine, very child friendly, we moved from Bristol 13 years ago for the schools when our kids were little. They went to High Down which was fine, and now they are doing well at Gordano. It feels safe and manageable here, there is a range of shops etc.I would echo the housing options given above. The commute can be a pain, we both do flexible hours so miss the worst, there is a back way and we are hoping for the rail link to be reinstated in the next few years. Personally it's a bit boring /small town/conservative here for me but we moved for safety/ space/ schools. I haven't really made good networks but I'm a bit shy and my contacts are still in Bristol. But there are more groups etc around now, and a lot of new people moving here so I'm sure you'll be fine