charminster.......hmmmmm.......depends on where really.
flame lives in charminster so could probably give an up-to-date impression of living there, but we lived there when first married, and DH's grandma is still living there at 95, so can give our impression.....
down the bottom end (ie, towards the five-ways pub/queens park avenue) it is actually nice and quite quiet. Queens park ave is very posh and looks over the golf course (we, don;t live there, and could never afford to either).
St. Walberger school (catholic) is a very good one so I have heard, as is St' Luke's (C of E), and IMO Queens Park infants and juniors (where mine go).
they link to lots of secondary schools, grammer (girls and boys),other girls and boys, and also two mixed schools. only one mixed school has a bad rep.
Flame lives at the 'top end' of charminster. it is near the uni, so has a very 'uni' feel to it, and is very very international in types of shops and restaurants. On one drive thro recently I counted over 20 different nationality restaurants.
flame loves living there as far as she has told me, altho parking is a huge issue as many, if not most, of the houses were built early 1900's so not many driveways and some of the roads are rather narrow.
looks rather run-down in part, but IMO, tis a very vibrant part of bournemouth (to quote estate agent speak)