Moving to Hampshire

[Devana10]

Good morning

We are moving to Hampshire in a month and a half, as my husband has been transferred there.
We are looking for nice areas to live , my favorite being Winchester, but we think about Southampton, Portsmouth and Fareham.

I have two children, aged 9 and 7 and we are looking for schools too.

Any comments, suggestions, ideas...?

thanks a lot!

Those are all very different places. What are your priorities over a place to live and where will your husband be based?

Hi Odgehog

thanks for answering!
well I would like a nice place with children and families, good schools (we are actually looking for Catholic ones), and with access to services - my husband will work in Hamble le Rice, and I will not have car, so I would love something close to shops etc for me to go walking.
I thought Winchester could be good, because we can go exploring around (we love to take weekends off visiting other places) and I read is a good city with good quality of life, and not too big not too small.
And I have read so many different reviews about Portsmouth and Southampton, good, bad and in between that I am lost :)
I thought Fareham because is close to Hamble, and seems quite nice though I do not know whether it would be too quiet for me...

Winchester, Romsey, Chandlers Ford triangle has a lot of very good schools, though I don't think any are catholic. More expensive area to live than S'oton though. Winchester in particular very expensive as loads of people commute to London from there.
Sorry can't help with further away than that.

M27 gets very busy at rush hours. You may well benefit from being closer to your DH's work to reduce his commute.

Winchester is not a bad place to be without a car provided you live close to the centre eg Hyde, Fulflood, Highcliffe, city centre etc but do not underestimate how expensive housing is and how little you get for your money. Small terraces easily go for 500K, bigger ones anywhere north of 750K. Nice Edwardian semi-detached are currently 1M+. It's cheaper further out e.g. Badger Farm but cheaper is relative and the bus service into the city centre doesn't run very late.

There are no Catholic schools in Winchester but there is a thriving Catholic community. Overall the schools here are excellent, although you're unlikely to have much of a choice as to where your children get placed for in-year entry.

I hope this doesn't sound unduly negative but Winchester seems to exist in a special kind of bubble at the moment. There is loads to like about it too!

There is a Catholic primary in Winchester - St. Peter's. There are several excellent Catholic primaries in Hants, if you go to the find a school section of hants.gov.uk you can search for catholic schools. Not many secondaries though. Oaklands in Waterlooville has an excellent reputation, and if you have girls, St Anne's is an excellent sec girls' school in central Southampton, that's in Southampton LA which is a separate unitary authority. It takes girls from far and wide. St George boys' in Southampton doesn't have a great reputation.

There's also a Catholic primary in Chandlers Ford - St Swithun Wells.

Of course - St Peters. Dunno how I forgot that; my DH went there . It's oversubscribed and you'll have to live very close to have any chance.

thank you all for the advice!

my children will have to get in one school during the year, as the company wants my husband to start 1st March.
We'd prefer to rent a house, because he works in a multinational and every few years we are expected to move. No that we complain, but it gets difficult to have roots anywhere....

We are from Spain - my husband and I though we have been living in different countries for more than 10 years - but my children have been born (my son) in Scotland and my daughter in The Netherlands, and they both have been educated and raised in UK. And we would love for them to keep doing so...

Ah, renting should be easier than buying in Winchester. And it's a surprisingly cosmopolitan city; my friends, or those of my children, include people from France, Germany, Russia, the Netherlands, Sweden, India and the US.

Oh that's great!!
We have friends from England, Netherlands, Nigeria, India, France, Italy and Poland here and we love that! And I would love for me and my wee ones to do the same in Hampshire, meet people from all around the world.

St Peters has quite an international intake, I've heard. A friend recently transferred her kids there from a few miles outside the city centre, so I guess it's worth contacting them about capacity?

Definitely will do TopTack, thanks for replying (thanks to all).

Hi there, we are hoping to move back to the UK after 10 years in Australia. My parents live in Sussex and hubby will need to work in London so we are looking to locate ourselves somewhere rural or semi-rural in Sussex or Hampshire with good transport links to London. Our children will be 6, 4 and 2. We are looking to locate close to or in a village with a family friendly and lively vibe so that we can feel part of a community. Any advice on where to head to or where to avoid would be much appreciated. TIA.

Sorry, somehow managed to add to this thread rather than starting a new one... please ignore me!

Winchester is a fantastic place to live but if you have a DS please don't send your DC to St. Peter's. They are appalling with boys.