Moving to Wiltshire

[stickybun]

Heading south as DH has got job in Bristol. Think we'd like to live in Corsham as job is north of Bristol itself. Does anyone have any advice about primary schools and nice places to live. We've sold our house hopefully and would be looking to rent until we find something we like. Ta v. much x

Corsham is a good place to live from what my friends/relatives say. Not much in the way of 'ordinary' shops but great independent ones - a gorgeous bakery, deli, healthfood shop, butchers etc. Really lovely teashop/restaurant (Cinnamon) - almost worth moving for that alone! There is also a small leisure centre with swimming pool.

Friends with small children say there is a lot going on for families. Think schools are supposed to be good.

Anywhere in the Corsham area, surrounding villages etc would probably be good. A few miles away you have Chippenham which is much bigger, more facilities, more shops but fewer 'different' shops. Schools there are good, particularly secondary schools which are excellent.

Most of North Wiltshire would be fine, although personally I would never live in Calne.

Chippenham isnt bad, close to the motorway. My friend lives there, can't rememeber what school her ds goes to, but she speaks very highly of it. That's not very helpful is it, sorry.

I live fairly near Corsham.

Do you want village life or a small town (like Corsham)?

Also, sorry to be personal but do you have a biggish budget, medium sized or small as areas differ wildly in price?

Thanks for help. Our kids are nearly 6 and 9 in March so looking to the future think we would prefer small town (Corsham); possibly a bit more independence for them than if we are in rustic idyll and have to use car a lot. Think we've got about £400k to play with, altho'could go a bit higher. Am going down this weekend on my own to house/area hunt and taking kids to visit Corsham Scool at 'new' site. Does anyone have any info./ideas on how the take over is going - apparantly the previous school was in special measures. Thanks so much for any ideas/info.

Only one school was in special measures - Box Highlands. This has now merged with Corsham Primary and is on two sites. Corsham Primary has always been well regarded, and as far as I know the 'merger' is going well.

£400k is quite a lot in North Wiltshire, depending on what sort of house you're after. You should have no problems! You could definitely get a 4-5 bed detached for that. In fact you can get 4-bed detached for much less than £300k, depending on exact location, style of house etc.

Thanks gooseylucy and exbatt. That's reassuring - it's a bit hard to make snap decisions when you're out of area (Manchester). Altho' normally have only lived in older non-estate houses am considering renting in something like Katherine Park (II?) just to try something completely different as am imagining it would help kids to settle more quickly if they are surrounded by other kids/families. Would this be a bad idea? alternatively want to find aomething in town. They are excited but also to be leaving their friends - altho think Corsham looks fab. Thanks again xx