South Warwickshire - what are the best places to live?

[Torirose]

We are looking to move quite soon but are torn in half. We currently live and I'm a teacher in Birmingham and for the last year my DH has been travelling for work in Basingstoke. It's a huge commute for him and he ends up staying there a couple of nights a week. His flat is in Southampton so he still has a good commute from there. To add to the complications, I'm pregnant with twins. We want to stay in the Midlands but definitely more rural than Brum.

Do you need to commute to Brum?

Bear in mind that Warks has grammars. Bidford on Avon and Alcester are nice. Or how about Evesham?

How about Stratford upon Avon?

I'm assist head at the school I work in and don't really want to move from there just yet. Also I will have to at least work out my maternity before I can move out of the LA so yes I would still need to be able to get back to Birmingham.

Stratford is lovely in the centre. What is it like further out. We would love to be able to get out into the countryside for walks.

How about Solihull / Knowle / Dorridge then? Henley? Meriden? Easy access to motorway for DH. I'm not sure south Warks will solve your DH's commute, although Stratford is handy for the M40.

Roughly where in Birmingham do you need to commute to?

Thanks Yippie. Just looked at where Bideford is and that looks a possible. We originally thought of Knowle, Solihull etc as we know them quite well but think it might be too far north as we want to try and reduce DH'S commute a bit so he can possibly give up the Southampton flat. My link to Birmingham for work might only be for another year or so but most of our friends are there so would still like to get back fairly easily.

Small Heath

What about studley? Technically Warwickshire but on the edge of Worcestershire. It's a nice little town with a high street, park, local pool, and near to countryside, but you're close to the motorway and main routes into Birmingham. Or redditch, bit bigger town, which is technically Worcestershire but is the next town to studley (and is cheaper, and much much cheaper than Solihull and knowle)

Yes, Studley is nice, and the surrounding villages - Mappleborough Green, Kings Coughton etc. Easily commutable to Birmingham.

It still wouldn't solve the Basingstoke problem though. Solihull, Redditch, Bidford, Stratford and Studley are all 2h to Basingstoke, according to Google Maps - only about 10 mins quicker than Birmingham-Basingstoke. Going south doesn't necessarily cut the commute as from that part of the world you need to get onto the M40 regardless, so the commute from Knowle is basically the same as the one from Bidford.

If you seriously need to cut DH's commute below 90mins, I think you'd need to go as far as Oxfordshire or Gloucestershire - but you won't be able to commute to Birmingham. Conversely, if your priority is a more rural setting with easy access to Birmingham then south Warks is the answer - but I'm not sure you can have both. Sorry.