Worcestershire, West Mids or Warks - any friendly, creative towns or villages?

[Clebaby]

Hi there! I hope someone can help us.

We are moving out of London to have more space and less work pressure. It’s making us all sick! With Covid restrictions - and us being in Tier 3 now in London - we can’t look around the areas where there is property we like, so I’m hoping someone can help give us the low down!

I grew up near Banbury/Bicester (which I don’t like) and posted a while back about wanting to move to a diverse/open minded town or village in the Midlands, ideally near Leamington (but that seems too expensive) to be near family: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/property/4024215-Mixed-race-family-want-to-leave-London

Race was my main issue as we would hate kids (2 and 4) to be the only non-white ones in their class, but I think if we are to move to a more affordable house outside a city then that’s probably going to be the case. So instead I’m looking for places that are open-minded and friendly and welcoming, in the hope they won’t be places with overt or underlying racism. Places that welcome new people, or get lots of people coming and going, or maybe families moving out from Birmingham/Coventry/London would be good!

Stuff for a young family to do. Even better if there is creative or music or alternative things happening.

Rural is good, as we may do a project - open minded about crazy rundown places etc. But it be good to have a bit of friendliness in our nearest village or town.

The Warwickshire side of Worcestershire, towards the Rugby/Northampton side, and south of Birmingham seem to be more affordable for us, but all these towns and villages are unknown to me. I heard of them growing up but am clueless as to their community spirit or general people.

Can anyone tell me about these places:

• Alcester
• Evesham
• Pershore
• Bredon
• any villages near Worcester
• Bidford on Avon
• Northampton
• any villages near Leamington
• Southam/Cubbington/Kenilworth villages
• Alvechurch
• places near Rugby
• places near Milton Keynes

We looked at Malvern and Stroud for their culture but they are too far from family. We looked around Birmingham for diversity but we realised we do not want to be in a city anymore.

Any other ideas please let me know, we are basically clueless. All we know is that we are sick of working 24/7 and breathing in toxic air!

Thanks so much for any info you can share about these places x

I’m from worcester, I’d definitely avoid Evesham, there are lots of drug problems there! There are lots of little villages in/around worcester/Hereford border (kempsey, Upton upon Severn, claines - all gorgeous, wellend, rushwick, powick all gorgeous, then the nicer parts that are parishes rather than villages, St. Peter’s in particular is lovely) but I wouldn’t necessarily say they are the most mixed race areas, if that is very important to you? Tolerance wise I’d say they are really great- very accepting, great schools and wonderful scenery, great links to the m5 and therefore north and south in easy reach.

That’s the only bit I have any great knowledge on sorry!

As for being the only non-white person in the class, I would say that is definitely untrue- in dd’s class there are at least 7-8 non-Caucasian children out of 28

Thank you very useful! If somewhere is very welcoming and a bit different often race isn’t as much of an issue

Useful to know re Worcester too - is that on edge or middle of town?

I went to school in alcester 1995-2008 and everyone in my primary school was white. My grandmother still lives there and it’s not a very diverse town.

I'm south Warwickshire, village. It's not massively diverse but it's never been issue with the non-white kids in schools my kids have attended. Definitely good arts community in Leamington. Also Stratford too I think. Leamington isn't hugely diverse but has reasonably sized Polish community, students and a lovely and large Sikh community too.

Be careful with HS2 route if you look into the area more. Some of the villages are badly affected.

Bidford is a bit.... anticlimactic. No real centre. Welford-on-Avon is nice village.

Feel free to DM me if you want.

I second Worcester. Me and DP are mixed race couple moved here from London 12 months ago to be nearer family in Birmingham. we have had no 'race' issues. As it is a university city the population is quite diverse and varied, plus it looks like the students then stay, grow and have families and settle in the area.

In terms of size the city is quite small (I say having lived in London 30 years and originally from Bham), a lot smaller than say Watford, with everything you need in terms of shops, restaurants etc, but the countryside is very close. Where we are (Claines side) we have country walks literally 10 minutes walk away.

I’m from Worcester and know most of the towns and villages Stratford direction. Crowle is lovely as is Flyford Flavell, Wyre Piddle etc all beautiful little villages. I also love Inkberrow- said to be the village the Archers is based around. I wouldn’t live in Evesham if you paid me- sorry! Alcester is nice but pricey for what it is to be honest.

I’m a teacher and can assure you that Worcester whilst is predominantly white British is a friendly place- I’m not white British or Christian to put this into perspective.

Worcester is a lovely city!

There is quite a lot of people who have moved into the area from elsewhere.

I think its definitely worth a look.

Pershore is very quiet - seems to have a higher elderly population

While those areas aren’t as diverse as London, they still have BAME families. My DD goes to a little village school and there are several non-white kids in her class.

The area between Evesham and Worcester is lovely, as is the area between Worcester and Evesham. But I completely agree that Evesham is a dump.

Upton upon Severn

Are you sure you don't mean Upton In Severn?

I'm in Malvern which you've ruled out.

People are suggesting Upton on Severn. Massive drug problem, worse than Evesham! Avoid.

I do like Worcester itself.

Where about are the family you want to be near?

I don't like cities in general but Worcester is nice. More of a large town feel. I agree with everyone else - Evesham is a dump.

I grew up near Worcester. Droitwich is quite nice. Not really diverse but friendly.

So useful thank you all!! Good to know about Evesham. Sounds like we may be happy on outskirts or in a village near Worcester as similar to Leamington but not as pricey (family are in a village near Leam/Stratford).
Wouldn’t mind being around a load of old people but would mean there isn’t much to do for kids so this is good to know about some of the villages!
Thank you xxxx

I'd avoid the villages, there are some lovely ones but you'll be a taxi driver when they are teens. Evesham and Pershore are ok ish, not sure that they are that diverse though.
I'd go for Worcester but I'd recommend living and working on the same side of the river.

I live in Pershore, and although there are quite a lot of oldies (I live on an estate where there are 3 families with under 16's out of 90 houses), but the new estates have a much higher number of families.
Loads for kids to do, and as its a nice small town they can walk everywhere and have a lot of freedom, which is a sharp contrast to living in the villages where they have to be driven everywhere.
We relocated here in 2007 from the SE and love it. Good food, friendly people, low crime, thriving high street, and directly out into the countryside.
DM me if you want

@CMOTDibbler I wonder if we've seen each other in Coffee & More/Coffee One unknowingly.

Alvechurch is nice, a nice community feel, a few amenities, near the motorway and on the train line to Bham, the primary schools are ok (I think)

Welford is nice, but I'm not sure how diverse / arty it would be tbh.

Have you considered Harbury? SE of Leamington and seems a lively community with stuff going on. A few pubs and sports clubs and it's own PO, doctors, corner shop etc. An expensive pretty bit and reasonably priced less pretty bit, but small enough to walk everywhere. One of the farms in the village has a milk collection point for super local produce.

You definitely get more for your money in Worcs than Warks though.

Oh and HS2 is going very near to Harbury, but through a tunnel so it wouldn't worry me

@birdseedpie we are in Coffee and More a lot on a Saturday for the dogs to have their sausages :-)

I live in the South Cotswolds and we are half thinking about moving to the same area as we have family in the area, and have considered similar places.
Like others have said Evesham has a bit of a reputation, surprisingly has quite a bit of deprivation.
Have you considered Warwick, Kidderminster or Bewdley? Stratford is high on my list - although a lot of tourists, on the plus side there is a lot of cultural and creative things going on there.

There's drug problems absolutely everywhere so I wouldn't let that sway you.

Personally, for diversity I'd go for Staffs or West Midlands.

Halesowen in the West Midlands is close enough to the city but also far enough away! Stourbridge is nice, Hagley or Kinver perhaps?