Relocating to Winchester

[tootiefruitie6]

We are a young family likely to be relocating to Winchester next year and excited to make the move. I know it is a pricey area though. We have a budget of £950k/£1000,000. Will this get us a 4/5 bed on the outskirts? I have seen lots of new builds around the area although not much on the market although hopefully that is just because of Christmas approaching. Also, please could anyone tell me their experiences of living there? We will need to commute to London occasionally. Do others find this ok? Many thanks

Anyone? Thanks

It’s usually fine commuting from Winchester, regular service. Not sure about Winchester house prices. You’d get more for your money in Romsey/ Chandlers Ford, and a choice of good schools too.

If you're happy with a non period property and being at least a mile from the station you'll easily get a 4 bed in that budget.

What sort of areas will you be looking in?

Winchester is brilliant, loads of great restaurants and lots for kids to do.

Commuting is fine, everyone is polite and respects the queues for the trains. You can usually get a seat, just not right in the front carriage of the fast ones.

Romsey and chandler's ford are rubbish for commuting to London, chandler's ford especially. There's also nothing in CF apart from a Waitrose and a library.

(I have lived in both Winchester and CF)

It’s fab, come and play (except when the Christmas market is on when we all get a bit sweary). House prices are stupid but it’s a lovely place to live.

But it’s an easy drive to Winchester station, and there’s plenty of parking at the station. Agree there’s not much in Chandlers Ford, but it’s a handy location for M3 and M27 and south coast beaches

The trick for London commuting is to live in ChF and drive to Shawford station (free parking) to definitely get a seat on the train before it arrives in Winch!

I work in Winch. It's okay but awash with 'London money' and some of the commensurate entitlement.

All the Shawford trains are the slow ones though and frequently get cancelled if they're are problems especially on the way home, you can get stuck waiting at winch for hours. Plus the car park is full by 630.

@Chickenkorma64 have you commuted from CF? I've done the commute to London for years and there's no way I'd contemplate it if you're not a walk/bike ride away from a direct line station. Anything that involves a drive to the station quickly becomes a bit soul destroying. I guess it's ok if it's twice a year or something, not sure what OP means by occasionally.

Thanks so much all. We love Winchester itself and would prefer not to add time to our commute so we are hoping to stick to there or a village not far from Winchester station providing we can find a decent house for our budget. Whilst we would prefer an older house, we are happy to compromise on a new build providing it has min of 4 beds so hopefully more will come onto the market in the new year 🤞. Are there any nice villages/areas within about 2 miles of Winchester or is it best ti stick to Winchester itself? Thanks again.

We moved from Romsey to otterbourne (2 miles from Winchester centre) with a budget similar to yours. Check it out. Excellent houses, schools and pubs ! Easy commute to Winchester via buses and train and also very easy to get to London.

Ubers and taxi services work here in otterbourne (we didn't have that luxury in Romsey)

Just to add to the ‘alternatives to Winch’ - have you thought about Highfield in Southampton? Lovely village-in-the-city feel, good housing options, cheaper than Winch, good access to the common, easy cycle to central station, good access to the forest and beaches, good schools.

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/127785905

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/127559687

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/128979020

Oh fab, thanks @cravingmilkshake. It sounds ideal for us. And good to know you had a similar budget (and that there are nice pubs as we don't have any near us currently and miss that 🤣). Silly question but I'm nervous that there doesn't seem to be much on Rightmove/zoopla but do things come on the market there? I'm hoping the new year will improve things...

Shawford/Twyford are walking distance from Shawford station

mysteriously, these tiny villages have a direct train link to London Waterloo, because an MP once lived there who made that happen

both are lovely to live. Otterbourne a bit further down the road more affordable with lovely houses

good state school catchment area too!

Thank you @SotonLass. That's definitely food for thought.

It's not easy to get to London from Otterbourne - it's a long walk to Shawford station or a bus into Winchester.

Shawford/Twyford are in lovely countryside but not much actually there apart from a Spar, Cafe, and a couple of pubs. Also you'd need to bus into Winchester for secondary and the service is very unreliable. Street lighting is not great and there's a lot of roads without pavements. Has a lovely park though and beautiful walks along the river.

How old are your DCs?

If you're used to London transport I'd say you'd be shocked at bus frequency in some of the surrounding villages.

The number one bus comes through otterbourne every 20 minutes..... and goes to Winchester city centre (10mins) . I've done the commute for a year and never had a problem. You can also drive to shawford and get on the Winchester to London train from there.

Never had an issue with busses in otterbourne.

Thanks. It sounds like we might be best compromising on property and sticking with Winchester itself. Our children are 2.5 and 9 months.

That's what I'd suggest, Tootie, although it depends how often you'd be doing the journey and where you're working. We have a Tory council whose priority for transport is roads and drivers hence the decimation of some bus services.

I also find some of the villages not nice to walk around with young DCs because of a lack of pavements. I think the suburbs of Winchester are much nicer with safe and quiet roads, wide pavements, easy access to a range of classes for babies/toddlers etc.

Schools are good everywhere in Winchester -people get het up about particular ones but they're all decent. Similarly there's nowhere in Winchester that is properly dodgy -some of Stanmore and Winnall has a reputation of not being great but in the context of other large towns/cities they're absolutely fine!

I'd try Badger farm although you'd struggle for large 4 beds, Oliver's Battery is too far out for me. Fulflood is lovely but expensive, some of the outskirts would be good, just be careful about parking. Abbots Barton/ Weeke/ Harestock are all lovely. Teg Down is fine but not much too it and a bit further out.

Kings Worthy is ok but again would be too far from the centre for me.

Thank you so much all for taking the time to reply. I really appreciate it and feel excited to find somewhere and hopefully make a move next year. 🤞

Sorry one more question...how are the nurseries in Winchester? Do you think we'd struggle to get a place or do they tend to be ok and have availability? Thanks again!

There's some great ones. You should be fine, just might have to go with what's available and move to a more convenient one later.

Thank you @HeyBuggy 😘