Oxford

[Sazzascare]

Hi

My husband and two children are re-locating from Sussex to Oxford in a few months. We have no idea where to look really! Our children are 2 and newborn so nursery is a consideration. My little boy is at forest school at the moment and loves it so we wd love to live somewhere close to a forest school (don't mind driving up to 10 miles though as that's what we do currently). Other considerations are my husband has to commute into London around 3 times a week so we need to be near either An Oxford or Didcot train so he can get there in under an hour (or any village station that takes no more than an hour).

In terms of house we are looking to spend £600-800k for 3/4 beds and a big garden for our dog and kids. Ideally wd like parks or country walks nearby. But we wd also like to be part of a community - a local pub is a must and preferably a coffee shop and some other amensities too. I'd also like to not have a total nightmare getting to the bigger shops or a mall.

So we have a big wish list! Areas that we've googled and found to be maybe a good bet for us are Jericho, Blewbury, Chilton, Sutton Courtenay, and East Hagbourne.

Can anyone shed any light on these areas or any others that might offer at least a good proportion of the things we are looking for.

Looking for enlightening answers that you'd give to a friend so pls speak freely. And Pls don't post snippy comments if others say something you don't like, find upsetting or put an area down. We're all entitled to our own opinions and I'm asking for people tonne honest about what they think. Snippy comments will be ignored!

Thanks so much in advance. Hoping to come to Oxford and South Oxfordshire for the weekend and trying to narrow down where to check out. At the moment we are struggling to decide whether to be semi rural or more urban on the fringes of Oxford.

What we don't want - edgy urban areas too built up with no green spaces for dog and kids, university student-ville

Help! We don't know anyone local to ask so all advice is hugely appreciated

Thank you x

Jericho is lovely but I would be surprised if you could get a big garden there for the price you are suggesting (or at all in fact) so if that is important to you I would strike it off your list. You would be looking at something like this which is typical for the area.

On nurseries there is a forest farm school to the North but that is probably not the right location for you. Lots of friends have used Smallworld nursery in Boar's Hill/Kennington and they have a lot of outdoor space/time.

You could try Witney or long hanborough or one of he villages around the area. It takes just over an hour from hanborough station to Paddington. Your budget would find you a lovely house in the area. There are great amenities in Witney: shops, supermarkets and restaurants/coffee shops.

I don't know Oxford itself very well though. Didcot is a growing town because of its good links to London.

Unfortunately Jericho isn't going to cut it for a big garden, plus it is very studenty. I live in Headington and my husband commutes on the X90 coach to London, although it takes longer than an hour (but cheaper and you're guaranteed a seat...!) - we absolutely love it here. Brilliant place to raise a family.

Thanks so much Arius that's really helpful x

Thanks so much all of you. Have just seen all your replies. I will look at Witney and Headingtom too. Sounds like Jericho was a bad call - there's only so far you can get with google!

Do you know what you want to do for schools (state/private etc)?
From your originally list, I have friends who live in Chilton and it has a nice community, 'outstanding' primary school that is well thought of and good big park. It's also close to lots of good countryside and easy to get to Didcot for London train. Probably more of a pain to get to Oxford at rush hour (Oxford traffic is awful). It seems a lovely place to be and you get much more for your money in the villages round there than towards Oxford itself.