Calling anyone who knows BRISTOL

[Lonelymum]

Fill me in on the place. Dh has just been offered a job and we are moving to Bristol, but we have to decide some things very quickly. Dh has to start job in a fortnight and I would like to just pick up the kids and go with him. Work will rent us a house for 6 months so we have time to buy later but still need to know which areas to look at.

A lot of our decision is based on schools. From what we can tell on the internet, good schools are The Castle Thornbury, Marlwood, Cotham and The Ridings. We also don't really want to live in the centre of Bristol but in a smaller community to the north or west. Can anyone advise please? Nice areas? Not nice areas? We are going to look at the weekend. Where would you suggest we looked?

I went to The Castle School, it is a very good school as is Marlwood in Alveston. My husband went to Wellsway in Keynsham and that is another good school as is Sir Bernard Lovvell in Oldland Common. I did my sixth form at Cotham Grammar and it was not that great tbh, I should have taken the place I was offered at St Brendans. Also, John Cabot Technical College is another ood school.

What I would say about Bristol is that there are really nice areas to msot parts of the city. I would probably avoid Bishopsworth, Hartcliffe, Southmead, Lawrence Weston, St Pauls, Easton and Knowle West. Frenchay and Hambrook are lovely but expensive. Downend and Hanham are nice.

Chipping Sodvury is nice

Hi lonelymum. I think quite a few areas of Bristol are villagey in feel in that you do get to know people who live near you and there is often a heart to an area. Henleaze is lovely, as is Westbury Park although Henleaze would be easier from a getting to the motorway pov. Westbury on Trym is next to Henleaze more or less and is nice too. It used to be cheaper than a lot of other adjacent areas but I don't know if it still is. Bishopston is lovely too and has lots of big houses and good villagey shops on Glos Rd but I think you probably need to go for Cotham if you're looking at that school. It's central and fairly expensive but cheaper than Redland or Clifton. I think you could rent in Henleaze as a good starting point. Sobernow, ha ha at Sad village of Westbury!

Hi Lonelymum

I used to live in Abbots Leigh, and loved it. If you look on the map it's on the A369, on the other side of the suspension bridge from Clifton, ie north west of Bristol.

The villages round there are very peaceful, with lovely woodland walks, yet it's very close to the city and to the M5. I worked in Wales quite a bit and found it a reasonable commute.

Disadvantages: traffic jams on the suspension bridge at rush hour, also I'm not sure what the rental situation is like.

Anyway, for what it's worth I thought it was a great place to live! Getting all nostalgic now!

Thank you for all contributions. I am now having a bad day, going through the blues at the thought of having to leave where we are, so any positive comments about Bristol are much appreciated.

Lonelymum - did i read it right that your dh is going to be working in cwmbran? if so, why not consider Newport, Gwent. Am sure property prices there will be less than in Bristol and you'll save the £100 or month cost of the severn bridge

Didn't think Newport was very nice. Hope that doesn't offend anyone. Mostly though, we want to be this side of the Severn so that our families are more accessible.

I was born in Thornbury, gettin all nostalgic now.

Does Thornbury have old buildings in it or is it modern?

Hi Lonelymum. I grew up in Bristol, we lived in Westbury-on-Trym. I had a great time. I know quite a few people who went to University in Bristol and never left as they love it there. I can't help you on schools I'm afraid - I get the impression that there are some very good primary schools but for secondary schools I think you need to look slightly outside, with the exception of St Mary Redcliffe, a church school, hard to get into unless you go to Church regularly. I went to Cotham Grammar which was very good when I was there but I think it went greatly downhill after I left, but think it is picking up again, not sure. There is a lot going on and is a good place to live.

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That's wierd about the wind, Yurtgirl. I thought the prevailing wind on the british mainland was southwesterly, so you'd have thought the western side would be MORE windy (and thus less attractive. Unless, of course, you wanted to dry your washing )

Thornbury town centre and down towards the castle has old buildings, with more modern houses on the outskirts.

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Do you definitely want to live in the north or west? To the south of Bristol are some lovely villages, round Backwell, Nailsea, Congresbury, Failand, Long Ashton, and the schools are pretty good too - Backwell, Churchill and Nailsea all have good schools.

Westbury on Trym is ok, it's quite villagey, but within the context of a city. I think there is quite a lot of car crime etc there. It is marginally cheaper than Henleaze, which again is cheaper than Stoke Bishop/Clifton. St Andrews is lovely, but getting quite expensive. Almondsbury is gorgeous, but don't know about prices. There are some lovely places looking out to the Severn.

Well we are going to have a look round on Saturday but the west and the north do seem the better options as dh needs quick access to the Severn bridges and Wales. Porbably don't want to be in the city itself, but I can't say for sure until we look around. We live in a large village right now and like the ambience of that sort of community. We prefer older places and really just want a good school, an area popular with families, no significant nightlife (we want the quiet life, as long as kids can get into Bristol city when they are older, dh and I don't want things on our doorstep IYSWIM) minimum crime, leafy streets, nice countryside etc. Studenty areas fill me with horror TBH! I have just turned 40 and think I have left all that behind long ago!

If you want to live in the North and have good access to motorways then do consider Downend, Frenchay, Hambrook, Chipping Sodbury, Frampton Cotterell and Thornbury.

Just to update: we spent all yesterday driving around Bristol and surrounding areas and came away feeling very depressed as we really couldn't get a feel for anywhere. Have probably decided Bristol itself is not for us as we have been too long in the country, but we are struggling to find a village that is right. Thanks for all your suggestions though as it helped us to identify areas.

lonelymum - villages to the south are generally nicer. I agree with whoever told you to look around long ashton, flax bourton, backwell etc. and actually it is pretty fast getting to the north and the severn bridge - you just pick up the m5 and go around the city to the west, it can be quite fast. and if you are there you are about 20 mins into the middle of bristol, and you are also accessible to the chew valley and the social life there, which is very busy and nice. and which you'll get plugged into through schools. also if you are looking at private ed, it is better to be south of bristol for private preps in the vicinity. hth

just reading your post of 1.45 - long ashton is def the place for you.
it is also v convenient for bristol airport - great cheap flights to nice etc and they are starting flights to NY from there in may!

We did look at Long Ashton and Nailsea with not much enthusiasm. I can't believe we are finding it so hard. I know the children don't want to move, but dh and I do, so you would think we would be more receptive than we are. Dh still thinks the north will be easier for him to get to South Wales from and there is also the issue that if we go too far south from Bristol the company won't pay the relocation expenses.

So what has Long Ashton got that we couldn't see? We need a five bedroomed house and couldn't really see any large houses there at all.

Lonelymum, a friend of mine lives in a huge house in Long Ashton, you couldn't see any bigger houses because they're all set back, off the road along winding lanes. I'm sure there's an estate agent there if you google. It doesn't sound to me as if you want to move though. Do you really have to or could dh get another job?

No, I do want to move and especially to the west of England where I have always preferred the scenery and culture. I am feeling low about it because we have lived where we are for five years and I realise I have put down a lot of roots here. Also, we are just realising what an amazing village it is in terms of community spirit and it is hard to leave that and instantly see the same spirit in another place. I am sure it is there, but it is hard to see.

Anyway, dh would take months to find another job (he only got this one so quickly because they offered it to him in August and he turned them down because he had accepted somewhere else, and they are still looking for someone to fill the vacancy: that is how slow the recruitment process is in dh's line of work!!) Even if he answered an ad for a job this week, he wouldn't expect to be employed by them until the summer. We have no resources to live off until then so it would be really foolish to turn this job down just because we can't quite find our ideal home.

So don't get me wrong, we do want to move and the south west is our preferred location but Bristol is too busy for us (I feel like Mole in The Wind in the Willows - we are quiet people not bustling river people) and we just need help finding the right place for us.

Not sure if it is any help, my frind works in Bristol and lives in Farrington Guerney area, I think it is just off A37 or A39, ib Bath and N E Somerset, it is nice and quiet, but close enough to drive to Bristol to work. There are other villages around there, High Littleton, Farmborough, and it is nice.