Is Stonehouse, Gloucester nice place to live?

[OW0809]

Hi all

We are looking to relocate closer to Bristol.
Our budget is £450k and we need 4 bed property somewhere that has a train station with direct train to Bristol.

Schools are also important.

Where we urrently live, we are surrounded by countryside (which we love) and completely stuck on locations.

We have looked at Chippenham, but feel we don't get a lot for our money.

We are considering to compromise on train, so decided to look at Stonehouse

Could anyone give their honest opinions what is it like? Is there much to do for children? Schools? We are currently primary age but if location works, secondary schools would also be of a consideration.

Any other ideas would also be very welcome

Many thanks in advance

I wouldn't go for it personally. There are nicer places around Stonehouse and there's very little actually there. You could look more towards Stroud. There are houses within your budget in that area on rightmove and there's a wider choice of schools.

I’d go for Stroud and surroundings rather than Stonehouse itself. Stonehouse has always been the poor relation and hasn’t got a lot better over the years (I was born there about 50 years ago).

Commuting to Bristol from this part of Gloucestershire looks fine in paper but isn’t great by road, though it has improved with the advent of widespread hybrid working, so fewer people going in by car at once. There is a good park and ride at Avonmouth on the M5, though the buses can take a while to get to the centre as there aren’t dedicated bus lanes on all of the route. Trains which run through Stonehouse or Stroud would take you a long way out of your way before they got a connection to Bristol.

Dursley is not far, has direct trains to Bristol and has some nice parts. I can’t speak to the schools though.

Stonehouse isn't anything to write home about, though some nice restaurants and a small high street. I'd say it is more Stroud than Gloucester located though. Not the greatest of areas, but generally decent. Probably nothing much going on for teenagers though. The secondary school I think generally has a mixed reputation but tbh with the local grammar schools I think they don't necessarily get the highest performing of pupils. I believe it has bus services once an hour or so to Gloucester and Stroud plus trains. It also has a local special needs school; handy if you have a child needing provision for that. Also worth bearing in mind is that there are quite a few grammar schools in the area with good reputation. Also, if trains are cancelled then it is in good reach of the M5 to drive down to Bristol.

Oh dear! We are looking at Redrow in Great Oldbury after someone saying its a lovely area.

Looks like if I'm desperate to get a train, I could go up to Gloucester.

We are truly spoilt where we are at the moment, apart from train link to Bristol or distance.

I think we need to lower our expectations or carry on saving and accept the painful commute for awhile.

Some are suggesting Swindon, but haven't heard many good things about the area 🫤

Not sure if anyone knows anything about Caldicot?

Lots of people working in Bristol live in Caldicot, Undy and Magor areas and come in on the train from Severn Tunnel Crossing. A couple of my colleagues do, and seem to be happy there. You get more for your money on that side of the river!

Found a beautiful 4 bed house within the budget in Caldicot, just need DH to agree to have a look around the area 🤣

hi all

my husband and I are torn between a house purchase in either Upton st Leonard’s or stonehouse

the house in Stonehouse we really love. It’s bigger and cheaper.

my husband works in Kemble.

what do you recommend? Location v house? Is Stonehouse decent ? Our two daughters ages are 3 yrs and 6 months. We really like the house but worried about moving into bad area.

I actually think Stonehouse is fab! Lovely villages, fab community feel, brilliant Primary schools, beautiful countryside. Easy to get to Bristol/Stroud/Cirencester.
The local secondary school did well in last ofsted, fab feedback from friends with children there about the vertical learning communities, small school feel.
Easy to get to other schools such as in Dursley/Stroud.

@Hannahmunsoor Upton St Leonard’s also beautiful, easy to get to chelt/Gloucester.

Matter of taste I guess but does it have to be that side for a reason? I would think keynsham, saltford and nailsea were easier - I like stroud but it's not that easy a commute from that side.

I mean even here in Bath you can get odd 4 bedders in that range and it's a very very easy commute- this is terraced but in a very nice bit

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/134435459#/?channel=RES_BUY

Great schools here in Bath and that house is right next to nice countryside but still has shops within 10 minutes

Hi I am moving to Bristol in november and want to know if bradely stoke is a good place to move school wise? My daughter will turn 5 in november

I think you could have a good quality of life in Stonehouse. It is cheap, has canal, parks, Parkrun and Junior Parkrun, library, schools and football clubs, close to motorway, good high street and a market, garden centre, close to Stroud and Gloucester, close enough to Bristol and Cheltenham.
You might wish you were somewhere prettier though, as almost everywhere near there is. Dursley is better for trains to the SW.

@Sabrinauzair I live there and have a 5 year old who has just finished reception. It's a really lovely area and the schools are great - we use Holy Trinity and couldn't sing their praises enough. Do you have an idea of the road you'll be moving to or school you're looking at??

@Hannahmunsoor i live near Upton st Leonard’s and have friends in stone house. I would say Upton is a nicer place to live if I had to choose.

How close to the station do you need to be? Cam & Dursley station is on the Bristol line. Leonard Stanley & Kings Stanley on the outskirts of Stonehouse are nice villages. Uley, Wotton-under-Edge are lovely too but you would need to drive to Cam or Yate for the train to Bristol.

OP - what did you decide in the end? We’re currently in London and are seeking a country life with good schools. Visiting the local independent school last month Wycliffe really enthused us about Stonehouse. Would make a lot of sense to buy a house in Stonehouse since we like the school and move, the financials make a lot of sense too.

how are you finding Stonehouse? Is there anything you’d like to add. Thanks so much.

We are actually still looking. We nearly bought in Melksham (Chippenham side) but changed our minds.
We are still looking at Stonehouse but also now considering Dursley as need to be between Cheltenham and Bristol.

However, we are also considering Cheltenham areas - Bishops Cleeve, Charlton Kings, and possibly Swindon Village. However, not ideal for Bristol's commute.

Do you need to commute to any particular town/city?

thanks for your reply. I’m also looking at the surrounding areas. How’ve you found the market? Not a lot of choice in Stonehouse itself but you’d expect that it’s tightly held and also small. I don’t have to commute much at all it’s quite discretionary but will be to London whenever it does need to happen.

Yes, agree, not a lot in Stonehouse. Bovis will be releasing plots soon but when I looked at the site plan, I wasn't keen, plus the whole development is huge!

I wouldn't like to offend anyone but if I had a choice, I would look at Wiltshire. Stunning countryside, Bath and Bristol near by, direct and quicker links to London, excellent schools. We really liked how much Chippenham had to offer as a town but surrounding villages are just lovely.

You are also not too far from the Cotswolds water park.

As we are not too far from Gloucester/Cheltenham at the moment, we have visited the area few times, and I found Gloucester very run down. I have been told (by locals) that only some areas in Cheltenham should be considered (the ones I listed above).

Gloucester while has the awesome Kings school did look run down I agree with you. I don’t mean to offend anyone either.

I was told flooding is a major issue in most of Wiltshire , I’ve yet to check this for a fact though. I didn’t know about better train links

Hi @OW0809 @BrightDreamer
did you buy in the end? We are looking at stonehouse Redrow/Bovis and moving from London with 2 boys 3&1.

would love your advice. Thank you!

Hi!
We actually decided not to move to the area afterall.
For us, we weren't keen on the huge development that it is (there are a lot of other developments around it). We also weren't so keen on Stroud/Gloucester/Cheltenham.

Stonehouse itself, seemed ok but we felt we'll be spending most of our time driving our DC around, which once teenager years hit us, won't be ideal.

I know there is a lot of investment in Gloucester city centre (by the looks of things and how much work is going on) but just didn't get "that" feeling from the area.

It sure has very pretty parts to it, but wasn't for us.

If you need to commute to London, then I would say worth also considering Wiltshire (Chippenham has directed line to London).

Otherwise, Cheltenham but there are only few areas that people have recommended and there weren't a lot of houses that I felt were worth the money.

Have you moved to Stonehouse?

Just seen this, I know stonehouse very well. Parts are lovely, there are lots of nice old Victorian houses but they usually sell super fast!

There have been an awful lot of new developments built in the last 5 years in great oldbury, this areas near the motorway and there's a canal nearby with lovely walks.

Personality I would go for the older roads in stonehouse if you can face the battle for a lovely older house.

Also a great point is the train station in stonehouse, direct trains to London so good for teens!