Where to live near to Swindon? Any recommendations?

[janeybops]

Hi,
now it looks like we will be moving to Swindon area. Not in Swindon but would like a nice village/small town. Some facilities like some shops, PO and primary school. Anyone know which are the nicest ones to live in?

My sister lives in Wootton Bassett. (about 5 miles from Swindon) Lovely market town with nice shops and pubs,(and a brewsters type place with play area for kids while you wait for food quite rural and with a primary school and one of the better secondary schools in the country (so I am told) Am looking to move there in the future or nearby. Other places I would like to live would be Malborough, Corsham or Devizes.

that sounds nice.
anyone else?

The places mentioned are really nice fwiw my sister actually lives on the new abbey meads estate and it is nice. The facilitties are good, people nice. Just dont live anywhere beginning with p - eg penhill. sorry if anyone from there but apparantly lots of trouble.

thanks for that tip!

well we did a little trip down to Cricklade today and had a look around. Seems really nice.

Wanborough is nice. Village (approx 5 mins from Swindon) about 10 pubs, some shops, schools and church.

I live in Swindon (there are some nice parts) agree don't live anywhere beginning with P. Abbey Meads is in Swindon, just a new expansion so wouldn't recommend there as it isn't village/small town sorry Awen

To be honest there are loads of nice villages around Swindon, as we are surrounded by country side (although swindon is expanding into some of it)..

Where are you moving from?

moving from London so a bit nervous about moving to the countryside.

Wroughton and Chiseldon are very close together and Wroughton has all the facilities you mention. Wanborough and Liddington are lovely too. The Ogbournes are a little further away from Swindon towards Marlborough, but again are lovely. Not sure about schools in any of the areas i mention

faringdon is nice - do a search on the mn archives as there's been a thread on it before

Ok thanks this is helpful.

jamese - no need to apologise thought id said it was the new estate

but it is in the country side bit ;) - far old taxi fair to tghe centre ofr a night out if i remember corectly

whichever village/town you choose, make sure that you do a trial run into Swindon in the mornings(if that is where you/hubby will be working. It can be a nightmare from some directions. Although what is a nightmare for me, probably isn't anything compared to what you are used to....

Good luck with your search, there are loads to lovely villages/small towns to choose from.

Awen - sorry you did mention Estate - although it may be in the country side bit now, I don't think that they have finished the developement - so could be swamped with more housing soon.

I agree with comments about Farringdon, Wootton Bassett and but no so keen on Corsham or Devizes as bigger town without the facilities of Swindon.

Malmesbury about 10 miles from Swindon is lovely

Not sure how busy is busy in Swindon area. I used to drive 5 miles in London to get to and from work and it used to take 35-60 mins depending on traffic.

Is that the same in Swindon?

Ahh Janeybops I grew up in Cricklade, lovely village, I couldnt recommend it enough. People are so friendly, the school is great too

it all sounds lovely, lovely

Hi :) we are planning to moving to swindon buying a house in Cheney manor road.
Can someone please share how is it live there?
Is it a good residential area to live with kids and safe for kids?

I have family in swindon they have been happy there for years. if I was moving there I agree with others about Cricklade.

I luffs Swindon Grew up going there Christmas shopping. It holds lovely memories for me. It's a place that doesn't pretend to be anything it isn't. It has a Magic Roundabout too! What's not to like!

I live not far away...

key point is to work out which bit of Swindon you need to commute to each day and then decide whether to live N / S / E / W etc. - if you are working in South Swindon and choose to live North of Swindon, then it will add 20 minutes to your commute etc.

it is a very easy town to commute into and nothing like London - depending on time of day you can get in about 7 times faster than the time you quote above

lots of lovely villages in Oxon / Glos / Wilts
Virtually all villages though will not have the facilities - you need to be in a small town - so Wooton Basset / Lechlade / Fairford / Cricklade / Highworth / Wroughton / etc. will all be slightly larger but may have leisure facilities / schooling right through / shops / etc. You could even move to somewhere like Malborough or Cirencester - both bigger but really nice and easy to commute from them to Swindon - Cirencester to Swindon is only 15 minutes outside rush hour...