Bath outskirts on a budget, any help please?

[GuyMartinsSideburns]

Do and I are finally able to start looking to buy our first ever house, having lived in council properties for over a decade. We can't afford Bath, the ex council house 5 doors down recently went for £220,000 and our budget is more like £180,000 at the most so we're looking to move a few miles out.

Dh needs to commute to Saltford to work, and we need 3 beds at least. Now from my hours spent on Rightmove I guess I'm going to be looking at Radstock, Trowbridge etc however I don't know much about these areas (I'm not from here) except from the small bits I've read on here when others looking for property. There weren't exactly glowing reviews, however I've read the offsted reports for what are the local schools and theyre good. I'd like to be in a small town/village location I think but I also don't want the kids to have nothing to do when a bit older. I don't mind moving somewhere a bit further for a nicer house, I've seen one I really like the look of in Trowbridge but again I don't know the area. Ideally I'd like to be able to walk the children to primary school, and be on a bus route for when they go to secondary.

I like Frome, but don't think we can afford it except for the new town house style houses however an acquaintance lives in one and says it very small, they had problems getting their furniture in etc. ideally we'd like to not live on an estate anymore.

I like the little miners cottages, the only thing I don't like about them is that a lot of them have downstairs bathrooms but I guess there might be scope to build a double story extension at some point and put a bathroom upstairs? I don't know what I should be looking at/thinking about etc I've read that having a downstairs bathroom may make the house difficult to sell in the future?

Any opinions on Paulton? I've only driven through it once lol

Sorry this is so long, none of my friends actually own property so I don't really have anyone to bounce ideas off and ask for information.

Thanks very much for any help/advice, or ideas of other places to look.

Plenty of doctors/dentists about. Don't worry about that.

Plenty of primary schools about too. 3 large secondary schools, rumours of a 4th being built but that will be years away.

Fantastic vet here too if you have pets.

The area around the college is lovely. Garden Centre nearby which has a lovely cafe - is aimed at pensioners so the prices are low. There's quite a large Tesco Express next to it. A pub (Black Horse/Dog) which has a lot of live bands. You'd be close to all three secondary schools and several primary schools. Up the road is the Hope Nature Centre - another cafe and has a little wildlife area, nothing fancy, rabbits, goats, chickens, some particularly friendly pigs. Is very nice there.

Thanks King. Could I walk to the primary schools and the main shopping area from pitman court? Is there a lot of parking in the centre? I do like walking and if I can get everywhere on foot I'd be really happy.

I live in the area.
I like Warminster especially as it's got a Waitrose, Frome is ok but a bit arty farty for me., Wells (also has Waitrose)seems lovely but I don't know it well.
Trobo, as we call it, is fine. As it's bigger than the other places mentioned it's got more going on and more good versus bad spots. There are some lovely roads and by the amount of development going on in and around it seems to be on the way up. You'll definitely get more for your money in Trobo or Warmister than in most of the other areas mentioned. They also both have a station with a fair service to Bath, Bristol and beyond. There are lovely villages around these towns but buying a family property in many of them would be a stretch.

I like Bath but I wouldn't like to live there, especially in the areas I could actually afford

You can walk anywhere. Trowbridge isn't that big.

I've never driven.

Plenty of parking in town.

Fussy - thanks for your reply. I agree with what you have to say, and I too was wondering if Trowbridge was now on its way up a bit more. I'll miss Bath because I've lived here so long, but there's nothing here for me so I won't miss it in that respect. We'd be stretched to afford an ex council house here, so we'd rather move out and get more for our money.

Thanks king, I'm glad to read that.

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-32708367.html disclaimer no idea how naice the area is, have not lived in bath for a few years.

or this?

Yeah I've seen those, really wouldn't want to move to those areas. Thanks for looking though I appreciate it.

Midsomer Norton. Good schools.

Plenty of parking and also very vigilant traffic wardens (bitter after getting a ticket today)

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-49536161.html

How about this one? Good level walk to town and schools.

so Trowbridge or Midsomer norton then I reckon. Schools, nice enough areas, things to do for the kids and all without being too far from Bath and friends etc here. We're going to go and look at that house near wells I mentioned, then have a drive around Trowbridge and Midsomer norton afterwards. Don't think we can afford something we'd like In Frome etc at the moment but I guess you have to start somewhere.

Whats Frome road like? Is it busy?

Oooo, avoid Frome Road.

Busy and hideous.

Ok thanks King, that's v helpful.

Shame really, there's a lovely house there. I may end up staying in council property at this rate!

My friend lives on that road.

Noisy and dusty. No parking. That's lower down though. Houses towards the top are nicer.

Midsomer, Radstock and peasdown - there are 2 bits to peasedown with the village and the newer bit being separate. My friend lives there and cycles into bath. Wells is lovely but generally expensive.

Rightmove gave the impression it was on pittman road or whatever its called, whereas its actually on the Frome road. What about the roads off Frome road, i.e Alan road (may be Allen, cant remember). Or are they not much difference?

Thanks again

Right I'm back! Wells house disappointing, it needs a hell of a lot of work doing - new front and back doors and porches, loft conversion for 4th bedroom. All of this I could live with if it wasn't for the fact that it only has a tiny back yard, to access the garden you have to go through the neighbours back yard, across a shared driveway and there's the garden. So I couldn't leave the kids out in the garden playing.

We had a look at the areas in Trowbridge on the way back home. I didn't find the Frome road to be all that bad - just a normal road. No parking but a couple of the houses I saw have taken the front garden wall down and built a parking space there. We had a look at the Pittman areas but I can't say I thought they were better, if anything I preferred the main road... I may be spectacularly missing something here lol

Dh says we don't need to be looking for our forever house, just somewhere we can be comfortable for a few years and then have a bit more scope (hopefully dh's business continuing to build) to then move on to somewhere better. In that respect I think I could feel okay about those areas of Trowbridge. Ideally we'd be younger and could hang on for another year or two and then apply but with our ages we do need to be getting a bit of a move on by the looks of things.

Have you looked at Chippenham and Corsham? About 40 mins drive to Saltford. Both have very good secondaries.

Just bear in mind commuting times from Trowbridge side. It is not easy to get to the other side of Bath in the mornings. Midsomer Norton means you can go round the 'side' of Bath to get to Saltford, up the A39 which is open country. I reckon 30 minutes in the rush hour.

Re the 'isolated' bit, it's not that bad. MSN does lack DIY stores (small hardware shop is good) so people go to Bath or Longwell Green mainly. But to balance that out, you can walk to dentist, doctors, vets, school, shops, cafes, sports centre, skate park and play area and park for free. It's all together.

EauPea - on your second link, the front garden is described as "Wild flower and perennial mix, fences to side and front". Does that mean crazy overgrown, untended jungle in estate agent speak?

I think I'm getting decision-making fatigue My god this is hard.

You'll end up in Trowvegas because it's awesome.

How far away from Midsomer Norton can you live but still be in the catchment area for Norton hill school? I.e would Paulton be too far? I don't know what secondary schools would cover Paulton. Are there ways of finding all this out? Sorry for being dense