The lowdown on newbury/hungerford area

[wibbleweed]

Hi - we're thinking about moving to the newbury/hungerford area and was wondering if anyone knows this area and could give me their opinions on what these towns and the surrounding villages are like. Where's nice (and is there anywhere to avoid?). We have two young children.

Many thanks xx

I used to work in Newbury and Thatcham is meant to be very nice, small village nearby.

I used to live in Newbury and really liked it there. We moved mainly because of high house prices, we got something much better for the same price a bit further west!

I have to disagree about Thatcham, it's not very nice at all, unless it's changed in the last few years. Not villagey at all, very bland and faceless. Didn't ever seem anything there, everyone I knew who lived there seemed to come to Newbury for all their leisure and other needs.

Newbury itself generally very nice, although obviously a couple of rougher areas - generally you can tell those because the house prices are lower. Although I lived on an ex-council estate for years there and never had a moment's trouble in any way. Around St Bart's school is very sought-after, both for the school and the houses there. The Speen area is also good, and Wash Common was always popular with families. Loads of new developments in and around Newbury since we moved away, I can't comment on those. Newbury was a great place for families, lots to do, good schools and easy access to countryside, shopping, culture etc.
Most of the villages around Newbury are nice, I had friends in Bucklebury, Cold Ash, Kintbury, Chieveley etc who were happy there.

Hungerford also seemed a lovely place. Nice to visit, but I don't know what it's like to live there.

Hi Wibbleweed!

Can probably help a bit because I live in the area!

What kind of place are you looking for? Villagey? Closer to conveniences of town? Schools?

BTW, I love living there!

portonovo - I used to work in Newbury and commute from a South of Winchester (over 60 mins commute each way) so maybe the work mates who lived in Thatcham were telling porkies, but they said they liked it. I liked Newbury for work!

Very central and good road links, work colleagues came from Oxford, Swindon, Winchester, Hungerford and as far as Southampton.

Thanks for your responses so far. To be honest we're not sure what we're looking for yet. We currently live in SW London and are priced out of a bigger house and have homed in on the Newbury area because it's a (tiny!) bit more affordable, has good links to London and airport, and it's nice and reachable for both sets of grandparents, which our current house is not. We've also heard that it's a nice place to live, with lovely countryside etc.

Town or village? I'm not sure - we certainly want to live in a 'nice' area - schools are important (DS1 will be starting primary next year), and although it's a long way off and things may change, secondary also a consideration (wasn't impressed by the Trinity ofsted report - others looked ok - is that right?). Also, I don't want to be too isolated - would be good to live somewhere walkable to at least a primary school and a shop. One factor is that although we have a car, we'd like to be able to use public transport, and the idea of being able to walk to a station appeals though is not essential.

So don't really know where to start - we're planning on going down for the day this coming weekend and having a look round some areas. What a long and clueless waffle!

J xxx

Well I think a day trip is good and if you like it, next time maybe you could stay over for a few nights in a B&B, and have a real explore around. Even visit a couple of schools.

Onlywotz - I suppose I was a bit disparaging about Thatcham, but having lived in Newbury that's certainly how we viewed it. Put it this way, we lived on the Thatcham side of Newbury and it was just as easy for us to walk into Thatcham as it was to go to Newbury, and yet there was virtually nothing to tempt you to Thatcham. Many of my colleagues lived there, but only because houses were that bit cheaper than Newbury, they came to Newbury for everything else. Still, it might have changed since we moved away.

wibbleweed, there are plenty of places within Newbury that are very walkable to station, leisure facilities, shops etc. We lived 20-30 mins out of the town centre, and it was a lovely canal-side walk into town. Some of the villages are a bit more remote and with varying amounts of facilities.

As far as schools go, Trinity is very new, since my time, but funnily enough everyone I know with children there seems happy with it. St Barts is always the really popular one, does very well in league tables etc, but I don't know about it's catchment area and how easy it is to get in.

I'm surprised Newbury is more affordable - that's the very reason we moved out and lots of our friends did too, it just got pricier and pricier. Many people moved a bit south-west, e.g. the Bath, Chippenham areas because they are much more affordable, great schools, good transport links etc. Some went to Swindon but I personally wouldn't live there.

How near to London do you near to be? And where are the sets of grandparents you'd like to be nearer? I wouldn't put you off Newbury - we found it a lovely place to live - but in terms of affordability we and our friends found other places with similar quality of life, just more affordable.

Certainly have a look around Newbury and surrounding areas (Hungerford, Marlborough (although again, can be pricey), Chippenham and along to Bath. You probably wouldn't go much further west if proximity to London is important to you, but that area and all the villages in between give lots of scope.

Have fun looking anyway!

I live in Hungerford and I love it.

I moved to UK from Australia ago to work in Swindon and DH and I decided Hungerford would be a nice place to live. We planned to stay in UK for 2 years - that was 6 years ago

Pros: Railway station, market on Wednesdays, canal + river, some nice pubs and coffee shops (generally child friendly), large enough to have 1 good supermarket (Somerfield) + petrol station but also has some nice small shops.
Quite a few nice parks and facilities (gym and indoor pool). The Marsh and the Common are great for walking and only about 5 min from the High St.
Great new family centre for new parents/babies/toddlers - lots of really nice toddler groups/activites

Cons: You need a car to get anywhere. Tesco and Waitrose deliever but not Sainsbury's. CLosest movie theatres are Swindon and Reading.
There are some not as nice areas in Hungerford, but nothing I would call 'bad'.

Portonovo - the reason this has come up is that on paper at least, it seems to be the best location in terms of what we're looking for in terms of distance between grandparents (one set glos, one set nw london), proximity to Heathrow (DH travel), proximity to reading and london (DH work). We came up with an N-S axis that's basically the A34 and this seemed the best place. We haven't started looking properly, but on the internet, it certainly seems that you can get a bit more for your money than where we currently live (Teddington). We're after a 4 bed detached house and that would set us back @750K around here which is just plain stupid. We looked at Bath about 3 years ago, and that seemed even more expensive - maybe not so now??? We both love Bath and also Bradford on Avon, but they are both just a bit too far from London etc. Maybe we're being far too picky already - before we've started looking in earnest!!

Yes, Bath is still expensive, although I don't know how it compares with London. However, come say 8 miles or so from Bath and you have Corsham (lovely place although train station not yet re-opened), while about 13 miles from Bath and you have Chippenham, good family market town, good transport links. Good for Gloucester too. Perhaps not so good for work though, although Chippenham is only 45 mins by train from Reading and 1 hr 15 mins from London. Bradford on Avon really is lovely, you're right, again good for families, but it seems a bit too far out for you is it?

My main concern with Newbury was the price, but it sounds like even that would be better than London! The other slight drawback from what I've heard in recent years from those who've stayed in Newbury is that it has grown massively in the last few years and is losing a bit of it's small market-town appeal. Still a good place to bring up a family though.

I think if I were you I would just have lots of day-trips and weekend visits to towns along the general area you're considering.

Ok - thanks for this - we'll start having some day trips/weekends in the Newbury and Hungerford area and see how it goes...

J xx

Hi - we're thinking about moving to the newbury/reading area and was wondering if anyone knows this area and could give me their opinions on what these towns, renting apartments and their primary schools are like. Where's nice (and is there anywhere to avoid?). We are a family with one kid.
Thanks in advance

I live in Southampton. OH lives in Newbury. I dont drive, so know there re no good links from here to there. apart from coach, which runs once a day morning A to be and evening B to A. Newbury trains tend to change at Reading with a half hour wait for the cross over. Newbury is nice for canal walks, and nearby is Greenham common, which is Awesome in the summer for family strolls. Shopping in Newbury is pretty high end. Not many cheapo shops, so if you are on a budget you will need to go further afield, like Andover or Basingstoke, which are both easy to get to by car. Basingstoke an hour by bus.
House prices seem to be a bit on the high end, probably becasue it has the race course, and famed for royal visits. The schools are all really good.high scores on most form ofstad they are also hard to get into tho, so check that out before thinking of a move.