Where to live near-ish to North Bristol?

[redllamayellowllama]

Help needed please! DH has an interview on Friday for a job I think he is very likely to get. We are currently in South-East London and the job is in North Bristol.

We have two DC's, 2.5 and 5 months, so would need to consider primary schools, playgroups and activities. We're both Londoners and whilst keen to move away from a big city, we don't want to go to the other end of the spectrum either.

I'm planning on working again when DD is 2, so my commute etc is not a concern at the moment.

We have friends all over the South-West, but would happily go anywhere.

I know nothing, so any advice would be gratefully received!

TIA

Hello TIA I can't recomend Portishead enough. I don't think you'd class it as North Bristol but worth a look.

I lived in nth Bris for ages, and loved it (in Horfield, just off Gloucester Rd - fab shopping.) I don't know if you mean that far in? Bristol's a great place to live with kids, though watch out for the schools being cramped. (My daughters' classroom had to have a one way system, it was so crowded, and not a blade of grass in sight in the playground.)

Despite that, there's always tons going on in Bristol arts-wise for families, also look out for St Andrews Park, just off the Gloucester Rd. Fab in the summer! (Tea and cake from the cafe, good enclosed toddler park, permanent paddling pool, etc.) Too many great shops in Glos Rd to mention.

South Gloucestershire is nice. You've got the choice of areas that are essentially suburbs of Bristol, market towns and villages. The schools tend to be better and less over subscribed (or at least less of a lottery). You also have easy access to the M4 and M5 so can get back to the south east or elsewhere in the west fairly easily.

Road links are good, and there's quite a lot of "local" rail services around.

Just think carefully about traffic. It used to take me 30 minutes to travel 2 miles within Bristol to the M32, then 10 minutes to do the next 5 or so miles to my office near Parkway station. And it's got worse since!

Thank you. Portishead is already on our list, despite never having been there..! Whereabouts in South Glos would you recommend Barbeasty? Specifics are good as we have no idea. At all.

Missmehalia - I don't know about being that far in. One of the reasons for our move is to get away from the schools lottery in SE London (although DH would never admit to this). Badly-worded thread title really.

Budget-wise, we could go up to £350,000 but want our money to work for us - somewhere with lots of space is important.

Portishead is very nice Red - its got a lovely waitrose

Seriously though a friend lives there and loves it - you get a lot for your money and the schools seem to be pretty good too.

Were you after small town or suburbia or village ideally?

Portishead is great for young families, but the traffic on the one road in/out is an utter ballbag.

Lots of people seem to like Thornbury.

Oh Tracey, I just don't know. I've never lived anywhere but London and have a burning desire to give my children a different childhood to the one I had. So, more time spent outdoors, a less polarised society (there are too many extremes in London for me), somewhere which has a real sense of community. The holy Grail really. But, I know that I need certain things to keep me happy; decent restaurant/s, a good book shop, exercise classes, somewhere nice to have coffee and shopping not too far away . Somewhere we can settle that will welcome us. You're the expert - tell me!

Bath

I'm not that brilliant on around Bristol to be honest as we're north of Bath.

Bath is lovely though but I think a bit too far from where you're looking.

Portishead is not far from Cribbs Causeway (large shopping mall) and then there's Cabots Circus in the centre of Bristol.

But am not sure about restaurants etc and it may be a faff to always have to go into Bristol to go out.

In my ideal world, yes. DH was at University there and would be back in a flash, but I have a feeling the commute for him would be fairly unpalatable. He is driving the move though, so I do have the upper hand in location negotiations.

He went for a job in Chew Magna last year, which wasn't quite right. Shame, as would have been perfect location to commute to.

portishead ideal for families I came when i was 14 and am now a grannie!! Hasn't bookshop it closed. but has some good places to eat and all the outdoors you could want. Even has a lovely seafront outdoor heated swimming pool!!!As long as you don't want to leave at 8 in the morning road out is ok and they are just spending millions on improving it.

redllama - from your description of things you'd like to be near (bookshops, restaurants, coffee shops etc) it sounds like you'd enjoy living around the Gloucester Road, or maybe areas like Redland or Westbury Park - all northern side of Bristol city centre, so probably an OK commute depending on where your DH is going (Filton? Patchway?). For your budget, you could get a nice but smallish house in one of the more upmarket areas (good schools etc) eg this one in Westbury Park - upmarket area, couple of good primaries and a good secondary nearby, lots of little shops and a Waitrose and cinema round the corner. Or slightly more centrally in Redland, handy for Gloucester Road.

But if you want a bigger house and more garden, you'd be looking slightly further out - maybe Westbury or Henleaze, which are more suburban feeling but still lively (lots of young families, local shops etc). You could get a decent 4-bed with garden for your budget, eg this one or this 3-bed.

Obviously the further out you go, the more space you'll get for your money, but the less lively the areas tend to be, and the more car-dependent you become.

BTW, there have been several recent threads in the 'local - Bristol' section here where people have been asking for advice on moving to Bristol. You might find some of them useful to read if you sign up on the Bristol page and read back through local chat.

Thank you exex. Westbury and Henleaze have been mentioned as well as Westbury-on-Trym. DH would be in Henbury, but we wouldn't want to be too near there. Will sign up to Bristol page and have a gander.

Like the look of the Westbury Park house you linked to, but think DH and I are going to have many town vs. country debates should he get the job. Will no doubt be back if this becomes a reality!

Am bumping this as DH got his job today, which is brilliant news, but we now need to find somewhere to live by September.

So, we're thinking South Gloucestershire and somewhere a bit more rural/villagey. Where should we be looking?

Congratulations! I'm not so clued up about the villagey bits (I'm a city person) but have you had a browse through the local threads yet? This one might be helpful, and I think there have been similar ones in the past year or two as well.

Also worth reposting on the local board and asking specifically about villages north of Bristol with preschoolers - I expect someone will come out of the woodwork with expert local knowledge.

I used to live in Bristol and all I would say is really look carefully at schools, Bristol has a deserved reputation for being tough on that front, especially at secondary.

Westbury Park, Bishopston and Henleaze are all nice but do think about catchment for secondary (or whether you would pay), it's one of the very tough things about the city.

We moved away 5 years ago though so things may have improved.

It depends how much your husband is willing to commute. I live in Horfield (Glos Road) and work in Southmead, which is very civilised. Public transport tends to be in and out of the city centre.

Rural and villagey is not well provided for in SGlos to be honest. SGlos is largely suburban or smaller towns such as Thornbury which are further out. Thornbury can be a bit lager lager at the weekends, some people like it.

Portishead to Henbury would be a horrible commute tbh. Look at Long Ashton, technically North Somerset but primary schools massively oversubscribed. I'm afraid £350k won't get you as much as you might like.

Congratulations, and sorry for not coming back sooner.

I'd second Nailsworth or the Stroud area generally. But it's about 40 miles into Bristol and you need to leave pretty early in the morning if you want the drive to be under an hour.

There are lively villages near Thornbury so that would be another good option.

Wotton is nice, but no book shop (nearest would be Stroud with lovely independent separate children's and grown-up book shops, as well as this year's winner of Radio 4's food awards farmers' market and selection of restaurants) and again there are some nice villages there.

Villages around Winterbourne are good for commuting in, and aren't far from Cribbs Causeway, which at least has a waterstones.

Alternatively you could look around Dursley or head in the other direction towards Blackwell, or even go into Wiltshire around Bradford-on-Avon/ Freshford etc (near Bath rather than Bristol) and your husband could commute by train. Not so sure about schools in the Wiltshire direction.

And that should be lovely villages near Thornbury, but some do have plenty going on!

I'd like to throw another suggestion in for you and recommend the chepstow area just over the severn bridge. For your money you would get something really nice out there and you are right on the edge of two forests. The bridge would cost you 1200 a year but I know a lot of people who have moved out of bristol to there but commute in. Would be 30-45 min drive to henbury. I did it for 7 years. Good primary schools and a lovely sense of community. Not as artsy as bristol but more for your money and is an AONB. We had to move due to work but I'd go back in a flash to bring my children up there.

Stroud and surroundings would be good - theres some fab schools, and the girls high school (looking ahead) is v near the top of the national league tables.