anyone moved from london to dorset

[Feelingsensitive]

I have this romantic idea of moving to dorset in particular the area around Dorchester. What's it like with regard to general stuff, schools, people and alike? DH, myself and the 2 DCs wouldn't know anyone. The houses look lovely (way bigger than we have now). I love London but we have a cramped house and the secondary schools are not good. Am I kidding myself by thinking all will be better in Dorset?

It's a beautiful county, if a little traditional. I moved there from London 7 years ago or so for work. I've since moved up to rural Somerset.

The coastline is spectacular - Durdle Door is my absolute favourite place in the world.

I lived in Wimborne Minster (lovely, pretty town) and then Blandford Forum (bad rep but handsome and interesting)

I moved to Dorset because I had the romantic idea of long dog walks on windswept beaches - I wasn't disappointed!

The move was a bit of a culture shock, but the only thing I really missed about London was the range of food available in shops and restaurants.

I live in Dorset - and have all my life. We live in a village just outside Dorchester (puddletown) and love it. It has a pub, shop, pre-school, first school and middle school! The community is lovely and wouldn't change it for the world. Quite a number of people have moved around this area from larger towns/cities and have settled really well. Poole and Bournemouth are 20-40 min drive away and they have bigger shops and better nightlife etc. The beaches are stunning and schooling very good. Dorchester has a new shopping development in progress and I think another one soon, which includes a larger waitrose than we have now!

have you thought about work? we, like many people, moved from london having previously lived in a range of places. as long as you can get a decently paid job its great - lovely mix of country and beach.

pay for my job here is generally crap - i managed to relocate with the same company. many people work in london during the week and come back at weekends

do you like countryside or prefer shops/restaurants/theatres - we obviously have all these but you have to spend time driving to them.

from what my husband tells me of london schools they sound much better here - though the good ones are usually oversubscribed.

some areas can get annoyingly touristy in the summer, especially weymouth. but you tend to steer clear of the hot spots

I moved to Dorset after a brief spell in London for work but am originally from Bristol rather than London. We have been here for 8 years now and wouldn't move away again. There are a lot of people from London who have made the move here, have all integrated very well, a good mixture of locals who were taught by a couple of the teachers still at the middle school and people who have moved down.

We're by Wimborne which is close to the New Forest, Poole and Bournemouth and just far enough out for me to cut through the back routes and avoid traffic in the summer. 3 mins walk to acres of woodland, DC's can walk to school plus a new 50 million pound school building for our upper school. Very good quality of life and I don't know anyone who has moved back to London or big city.

I really need to work on DH now . You have all confirmed what I thought.