Calling Wives of Bath

[notnigella]

dh and i are considering "moving to the country", specifically bath or bradford on avon. ds is 18 months and dc2 due in january. would love to hear from anyone who lives there, esp which are the nice areas of bath to live in (i only know of landsowne) and what the state schools are like in that area. also, is bath too towny, and if so, is bradford a good compromise?? thanks in advance

I don't live in Bath but I live about 20min out in Corsham which isn't far from Bradford. Bath is very urban in places whilst Bradford is gorgeous and I have heard has some very good schools and is a nice place to bring up kids with lots for them to do. Also loads of nice walks in the area.
Sorry I can't be more help but I thought this would bump your post up.
P.S Corsham is a great place to live and Neston (a small village on the outskirts)has a primary which has continually been rated as excellent by ofsted.

Bradford is lovely, St Lawrence School supposed to be very good. Corsham is also great - super deli, bread shop and health food shop! Supposed to be good for family life. I would probably choose Corsham/Bradford over Bath to actually live in, although Bath is super for days out, culture, shopping etc.

I used to live in Bath.
Bradford is fab, think it has fairtrade stauts now.
Good shops, nice river, rai links, places to eat, think schools are pretty good too. Plus brillianr pool.

Bath is nice, we moved due to DH's work, and whilst I miss it (though we aren't far), I don't misss the traffic, the shiote parking and all that. It is undergoinga change now, as they have finally demilished the southgate area.

thanks, don't know corsham but will check it out on our reccy in a couple of weeks. havent got as far as secondary schools yet, but both st maurice and christ church primaries are rated good by ofsted. does anyone know what the main differences are - is it mainly geographic? here in surrey church schools are better than community schools, but v difficult to get into.
litterach, have you moved from bath itself to one of the surrounding villages? if so, how does it compare?? thx

I've just moved to Corsham and love it - don't have any dc at school yet though so only know about the nurseries.

I do love Bath but we're close enough to go shopping there every other day - I'd spend too much if I lived there. .

hello
i live in one of the outlying villages between bath and boa. it's the best of both worlds really.
fitzmaurice and christchurch are the main primaries in boa. fitzmaurice used to have a poor reputation, but has improved massively. however, its catchment is not brilliant. christchurch is a good, larger primary, close to st laurence (the secondary). if i had to choose, i'd go for christchurch.
boa is a lovely little town but doesn't have all the things you need, so it's great to have bath on the doorstep. i don't go into bath on a sat, however, as the parking is a nightmare. you can always go into trowbridge, which is only a couple of miles from boa, and has a large tesco plus a new M&S food shop. trowbridge is quite different to bath in terms of the deprivation and the people who live there.
there are some really lovely people around boa and a thriving nct network. i've been here for just over 3 years and i do like it very much.

We moved to a village near Trowbridge about 5 years ago.
Prior to that, I lived in Bath for 8 years, as a stuedent then stayed there. Whilst I loved living there, and still have an idealsied image of life in Bath, now I really like where I live.
If I need to, I can go to Bath (or salisbury, not far,) but mostly I go into Trowbridge, which isn't that nice, but has plenty of high street stores. And we sue independant shops a lot more now.
DH moved form Bristol to Bath and never really like dit. He worked near westbury, so it cut into his time a lot, but he used to get so cross with traffic and parking in bath. And he doesn't like shopping!! But we both wax lyrical about having decent restaurants and a nightlife (not that we would ever use it, just cos we can!!) and some form of culture!!

WRT your OP, Weston is nice, Oldfield Park used ot be, noy sure now.
Am sure that more local people can advis eon areas to live tough!

If I had to chose, I'd gp for BOA right now.

thanks, am thinking that boa is a good compromise between bath itself and a little village - at least it has a few shops, pubs, restaurants. is the olde worlde tearoom on the other side of the bridge still there? - that could be dangerous last time i was there, there was a great new clothes shop next to a pub going up the hill (silver street?)... am thinking that may be a sign of things to come

so far have found that the architecturally beautiful houses in boa tend to be town houses with no garden or parking - not that family friendly considering our move out of town! any pointers on which areas to look at appreciated

bump