Advice on Bath - south and surrounding area

[justdoit19]

Hello - I'm looking to rent and eventually buy somewhere around Bath area as just got a job there. The job is in South Bath (near Combe Down) I have 2 children so need a primary and a secondary school. Any advice on: 1.) which areas to avoid 2.) which areas have good schools (maintained sector) 3.) anything I should think about, would be very much appreciated. Thank you

Would be very happy to commute also up to 35/40 minutes

Maybe have a look at Frome. It’s a small market town, reasonable facilities and not too far south of Bath.

It’s a great area to live. I’ve lived in Bath for 12 years and elsewhere in Somerset for another 10. I’d personally avoid Peasedown and Radstock - they both have poor reputations (though to be fair I’ve never lived in either). Frome and Bradford are both lovely to visit, as are the surrounding villages, and friends who live there say they’d never move.

The roads around Bath can be very slow and easily congested, so it’s worth looking at journey times when you’ll be commuting. I commuted from Wells (a great small city which feels more like a market town) to Bath for 3 years, but found the driving too much each day.

In Bath Combe Down itself is lovely, as is Widcombe (although you'd have a journey up an extremely large hill from there). Avoid like the plague Twerton on the western edge of Bath, Southdown and Whiteway. Oldfield Park is student-ville (and also at the bottom of the hill) and Odd Down is hit-and-miss.

If you're after village life, Midford, Limpley Stoke and Freshford are all lovely. From Midford you could cycle all the way into Bath on the Two Tunnels route (car-free).

South Stoke and Combe Hay are also lovely (villages).

Just checked—it's 4 minutes from Midford to Combe Down on the Two Tunnels path. It's making me want to move there myself!
What's your budget for renting/buying?

I used to work in Claverton and live in Keynsham (the Bristol side). The commute varied from about 30 - 50 minutes by car. The train from Keynsham to Bath Spa takes about 10 minutes.