Right, I'm here at last. We've moved into a rented house between Hereford & Worcester, about 6 miles north of Ledbury. DS is in Y10 at HCS, it's his 2nd year and so far he's a lot happier and more motivated than he was in a much smaller school in the north of the county. HCS in my limited experience is pretty competitive, but this suits DS as he needs the pushing.
Area wise, we've always lived in the north of the county and this is my first experience of being this far "over" so it's all new to me. Just to say if you do think of looking further north HCS do have a load of children on the train from both Leominster & Ludlow, about 20 & 30 mins train time respectively.
I agree with Elansofar re traffic, it can be difficult from all approaches, but coming over the river from the south is definitely the worst. Mobile reception and broadband speed is also not brilliant in some places as Elansofar has pointed out - it's a bit hit and miss, but you just have to learn to live with it really otherwise it would drive you nuts. For £500k you should do quite well, are you looking for rural, village or town? When you've had a look, you can always PM me and I'll give you the lowdown if I can on the area - assuming I know it! I used to work on the Property Section of the Hereford Times and am slightly property obsessed!
It's a lovely county, and I love living here - there are drawbacks in that it takes ages to get anywhere sophisticated, but a couple of hours travelling fixes that - mostly the people are incredibly friendly and welcoming, and it's beautiful, even when it's wet, windy and snowy!