Hi all,
My SO and I are moving to West Oxfordshire soon (for our new jobs in Oxford) and are both new to the area. We're planning to buy our first home as part of this move and hope to live in a village or small market town, as opposed to Oxford itself. Some useful context: 1) we plan to start a family soon, so would like to be somewhere family-friendly; 2) we both WFH 3-4 days a week, so don't mind a bit of a commute (up to 1hr drive).
We've found a few areas that we think we like and where there are houses we can afford. Since we're both feeling nervous about buying our first home in a place which is new to us, I was really hoping we could get some honest opinions/feedback/warnings from locals about any of these places 😊
The areas we're thinking about are:
- Bampton. Easily one of our fave spots because it has such charm, but we know there have been quite a few changes in recent years (e.g. the upsurge in tourist busses) and wondered if these have made it a less desirable place to live (?). Are there any other issues besides tourism?
- Witney. It looks like Witney has some quite nice old areas with a friendly, family feel. Also seems like the prices are lower than places like Bampton and the villages in the Cotswolds, so might get more for our money.
- Eynsham. Looks like it's super close to Oxford, but we hear that traffic coming through from Witney and Eynsham can be pretty awful?
- Chipping Norton/Enstone. We LOVED Chipping Norton when we visited as there's so much going on for a small population town. Lots of new housing developments though, so we're unsure how far that's affecting the town's infrastructure, traffic etc.
Please note that we have ruled out Carterton, Brize Norton, Charlbury, and Burford for various reasons.
Does anyone have any thoughts about the places listed above, particularly Bampton or Witney?
Thank you so much :)