Moving from London - just accepted job in N Oxford - anybody nearby?

[Fiona365]

I have just accepted a job in Woodstock. I used to live in Oxford (in a previous life) but am now moving back as single mum with DS of 2, which is a totally different proposition.

Anybody in the area know where would be good to live? Good nurseries/childminders? Feel a bit at sea, as have to pack house and move out in next 5 weeks!

All help much appreciated!
thanks

congrats on landing the job! are you planning to live in Oxford and commute to Woodstock, or live there?

ooh lovely!

how many hours of childcare are you looking for?

i'm in west oxford so unlikely to be directly relevant. If any link with the Uni then I hear good things about the Balliol College nursery.

Hope you find what you need.

Congratulations! What are you looking for in terms of where to live? (town/country, commute etc) there are some lovely places in that direction but also some quite expensive places... It's a vey nice part of the country though.

Choosyfloosy - I'm w. Oxford too. Hope you weren't flooded.

Congratulations! What are you looking for in terms of where to live? (town/country, commute etc) there are some lovely places in that direction but also some quite expensive places... It's a vey nice part of the country though.

Choosyfloosy - I'm w. Oxford too. Hope you weren't flooded.

Thanks for your messages.

I was thinking Oxford/Woodstock would probably be too expensive, so smaller town/village nearby? Or are they all the kind of place you would have hated to live in as a kid?

Ideally I'd like to be 20 min drive to Woodstock max, which opens up a few options. Preferably somewhere with a shop and a park!! And the chance of making some friends...

I'll be looking for fulltime childcare too - gulp. I have just got the list from the council with childminder vacancies. Any recommendations or nursery recommendations? Sadly no connections with the uni, but thanks for the suggestion, choosyfloosy.

Thanks!

There are loads of small towns/villages nearby but it depends a bit on your budget (I guess you're renting first if you're moving so soon?)

The furthest place in that radius is probably Witney (now not under water!) which is really excellent for young families. For the area it's pretty cheap. It's a small market town with quite a few new estates around it. I have several friends who live on one of these (Madley Park) and, at least as far as that one goes, virtualy everyone there has small children and it's been set up really well with playgrounds/open areas for play and a new primary school and nursery. There's a really good social network there but it is very new build so if you don't like that it might not be your thing.

Then there are some good larger villages that aren't too expensive (or have parts that aren't too bad) like Long Hanborough and Eynsham. Stonesfield is very nice and has some reasonable parts too.

There are also some very cute pretty villages which are probably very expensve like Wootton and most of Stonesfield.

Can't help you with nurseries sorry, I use the Uni ones.

Hi Catz

Thanks so much for that. I was wondering about Witney, but didn't really know much about it.

Having lived in a Victorian conversion for the last 6 years, I am more than happy with something new and hopefully low maintenance! Especially as it's just me and DS.

I'm in touch with a few estate agents now, so hope they will come through with something we can go and see in the next 2 weeks.

thanks again
Fiona