Witney Oxfordshire - Nice place to live? Any recommendations?

[Siobhanny88]

Hi everyone,

My fiancé and I are considering relocating from Hertfordshire to between Oxfordshire/Cotswolds. We’ve looked around a few different areas such as Banbury, Abingdon, Witney, Chipping Norton and we think Witney seems to appeal to us the most. Looking around the town centre and the area it seems really nice with lots to offer.

Can any one give any advice on what it’s like to live there and what are the best areas to potentially buy a house? Ideally within a few miles of the town centre, a 3-4 bed with a decent sized garden.

My partner and I are late 20’s, early 30’s, looking to start a family, so any info on schools would be helpful. We both can work from home (with the odd day a week or month having to commute to London / Luton) so train-lines shouldn’t be too much of an issue.

Also, we noticed that the Oxford airport is approx. 20-25 mins away and the RAF Brize Norton base is not too far away either. Does any one know if there is a lot of noise that carries over, or any places to avoid if we have concerns about noise?

Any help would be really appreciated. Thank you!

I have an Aunt that lives there. No train station, a lot of traffic but has free parking. Not overly impressed by the town but obviously some of the surrounding villages are very attractive (prices reflect this). I have noticed the massive transporter aircraft from Brize but I wouldn’t say they are excessive and no where near as noisy as the aircraft from my nearest RAF base, the fast fighter/bomber type aircraft.

Witney is great for families, I’ve lived there 15 with boys now 8 and 4.
Loads of good things for young families. You specifically asked about schools, most primaries are good, there are two secondary schools and the closest independent is Cokethorpe. You need to be close to the most popular primaries to ensure a place, the Batt for example.
Oxford is easy to get to but a nightmare on A40 at peak times. Your weekly London commute could be from Hanborough station.

If you want to be within a few miles that also includes villages of Ducklington and Leafield.
Old Minster is £££££

If you give me an idea of budget that’ll make area suggestions easier as there is a big difference between period homes, new builds and everything in between.

Oh, and don’t worry about the aircraft noise, get the odd plane over but it’s not in the normal flight path. Carterton, Bampton, Alvescot is where that happens.

Thanks that is really helpful.

Budget-wise we're probably going to be at a max of £525k. Are there any places you'd recommend for that price? Ideally we would be looking for a 4 bed (3 if potential to extend), with good garden space, semi or detached house.

Good to know about the flight path, as it was something we were quite worried about.

Thanks!

Sorry, when I said Leafield I meant Hailey. Leafield may be a bit far out.

Firstly there are a lot of new builds on Burford road above the river and over towards Witney Lakes Resort and the road in from Curbridge. I don’t know much about these but I’m sure you would get a decent 4 bed in budget.

The nicest period houses are along Woodstock road and around Church Green and along West End. I’d avoid Bridge Street as it’s a traffic bottleneck and suffers from bad air pollution. There’s a house on RM for 525 and you can see how dirty the stone of the houses is.

I think for that budget I’d avoid the estates -Madley Park, Deer Park but there may be the odd big house there you may like.

Newland Mill has some nice houses. Also Woodford mill, but you won’t get the decent garden.

My friend lived in Eynsham and taught at Ducklington. A lot of RAF families live in Carterton.

It’s sold STC but this is nice:

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-71912481.html

That property is lovely, shame it's sold!

Thanks everyone for your help, lots of things to think about!

Hello,
Which cities is nicer to live ?Eynsham or Chipping Norton ?
I will be grateful if anyone share their thoughts
Thank you

Dunno about Chipping Norton.

The issue with Eynsham is getting out of it. Towards Oxford you have the A40 which is always rammed at rush hour, or the Toll bridge which also has queues.

So not a great place if you are commuting to Ox.

Lived just outside Banbury in the edge of the Cotswolds, brilliant for kids, loads of options for (really beautiful) villages and for your budget you'd have a good choice 👍

I used to live near there and have friends who moved there and to Eynsham. I really like both and would happily live in either. I only know about the school in Eynsham and that has been really good for the kids I know who went there. Air traffic not remotely an issue.

The friend in Eynsham cycles to Oxford for work. The A40 isn't great during peak times.

Thanks a lot , big help 🙏

Thank you very much 😊

Thank you! Really helpful 🙏😊

Hello everyone,

Please can you share your thoughts about Picket Piece, Sp11 6 and Andover area?
I'm looking to swap my home but don't know about the area at all.
Any information would be appreciated.

Thank you 😊