Advice for parents looking to move to Marlborough

[camillealice]

My parents are looking to move and I wanted to ask for them what are the areas to avoid for a middle aged couple who want a quiet life in the best possible areas within: Devises, Marlborough and surrounding villages? Many thanks Camille

Depends how quiet. There is only one small to medium size Tesco in M, if you want a larger supermarket you would have to go to Swindon as the nearest. Shopping in M is limited to some of the smarter causal women's clothing chains or places that sell wooden ducks. Chain eateries and some nice pubs. The Jazz festival every summer and stuff going on at the college. Very little free parking.

Walking is good with Savernake Forest nearby, the M downs and off road cycling on the old railway line.

Devizes has better shopping but is a traffic bottleneck. There are some nice villages in the area like Pewsey or Bedwyn (where the train runs from) and canal walks, notably Caen locks.

Are they willing to look a little further afield in Wilsthire, say Trowbridge?

Sorry for typos.

Aldbourne has a lovely community - and great little facilities (local shop/cafe, really active churches, nice pubs etc). Close enough to nip in to Swindon as needed for bigger shops or Marlborough for the High street and waitrose etc.

Oh, there is a Waitrose in M, apparently it is the most profitable of their stores, it's always rammed buy my goodness the other shoppers are polite!

The M to Swindon road is a nightmare, ask DPs to try it if they are seriously looking to live there, it can take days off your life.

Or Pewsey might be worth a look - not as “naice” as Marlborough (so not a winner if best area is the absolute priority) but has a mainline station which is quite a bonus, high street etc etc. Still think Aldbourne would be my winner. Or maybe Ramsbury (nice attractive village with good amenities and excellent pub but IMO not quite as friendly and community spirited as Aldbourne).