Relocation help please - Dorset & Hampshire

[Kitttycatt]

We are considering a move to the Dorset/ Hampshire area from the North East. Can anyone recommend some family friendly towns/ villages? DH will be commuting to Bournemouth airport and wants to keep the drive to 30-40 mins. I’m going to consider commuting into London once or twice a week, so near a main line station would be ideal. We have two DS (2.5 and 1) so good schools is also must. Thank you.

I'd probably say villages around Romsey such as West Wellow, Awbridge for ease of getting to Bournemouth and 15 mins from Southampton airport parkway station for getting to London.

Why not Bournemouth itself? Save a 30-40 minute commute for him and if you need a main line station, the journey into London is long enough ( 2 hours?) without added travelling time.

Ringwood is nice 10 mins from Bournemouth Airport and a 90 minute London commute.

Southbourne lovely or Christchurch

I’m in this neck of the woods (Ringwood) so 15 mins from Hurn / Bournemouth airport.

The best station to use to get to London is Southampton parkway.
Things to consider summer traffic in Bournemouth is rubbish - we have the same situation with my work in Bournemouth and DH working North and Ringwood avoids the worst traffic. It’s 25 mins to Southampton parkway.
Poulner is a nice village by Ringwood with a nice primary school.

But important to bear in mind that you would be outside the catchment area for the Bournemouth grammar schools .

You could also consider Romsey - would be 40 mins for DH and nearer the station for you

PS - Ringwood secondary school is non selective but very well thought of.

Agree with pp that probably best to focus your search to the east of the airport for ease of access to London and also those areas are a bit nicer. The nicest area of Bournemouth is probably Talbot Woods which is ok for Bournemouth airport and Bournemouth station but it’s expensive and trains from Bournemouth take 2 hours plus into Waterloo as they stop loads.

Your dc are small so you could always move into catchment for grammar later if you wanted to but otherwise I believe Verwood is in catchment for Bournemouth grammars.

Another option might be to live up towards Salisbury and commute to London from there but that’s stretching the 40 min commute to the airport.

I would say a good station to get to London would be Brockenhurst. It is a village in the New Forest so beautiful but not cheap. If your budget allows I would look around there or to either side towards Lymington or Cadnam. Ashurst could also be an option.
If you want better value Poole on the other side of Bournemouth might be a good choice then you could use Bournemouth station.

If you lived in Poole why wouldn’t you use Poole station rather than Bournemouth?

True, I wasn’t sure if the train still went from Poole to London.

Depends where in Poole you live as can be quicker to drive to Bournemouth than Poole as to drive to Poole you’re driving in the wrong direction to come back. But I personally think Poole is too far for a daily commute anyway whether you get on at Poole or drive to Bournemouth. Unless you work v close to Waterloo you’re looking st 3hrs plus each way. Obviously there are people that do it but I wouldn’t choose it. In the OPs shoes I’d focus east of the airport.

They do.

Agree that Bournemouth is a better option than Poole for someone needing to commute into London.

Thanks all, some good options to consider.

I live in a very family friendly area at the moment (Gosforth in Newcastle) with plenty of toddler groups, good schools and cafes. So as long as something similar was available within a short drive I'd be happy. We all love living up here but want to move closer to family down south before we need to think about primary schools.

@Twiglets1 I've only ever lived in cities (London and now Newcastle) so fancied living somewhere a little more semi rural rather than another suburb.

Salisbury could also be an option, is that generally cheaper than at the coast?

New forest looks amazing but it's probably out of our budget for what we want. 4 bed detached for £700k??

Have you looked around ferndown/wimborne? Both family friendly, have local shops and cafes and good schools. Not far from the airport and 30 mins to either poole or bournemouth train station too

Thanks @Choccyyesplease I will certainly look into those areas.

Look at Winchester, I’d move there in a heartbeat. Great schools, lovely city and a beautiful area.

I had family who lived in Wimborne, they loved it there and I loved visiting

Wimborne does looks really pretty. @NewYearTimeToChange Winchester would be handy for the London commute but I have heard it's pricey!

Plenty of options to think about. Thanks all.

Wimborne is lovely, very pretty and old worldy. There is alot of building going on, new sites popping up all around wimborne, apparently a new school being built in the near future too. I live in Ferndown now but only moved from Wimborne last summer and my dc still go to school there so if you have any questions please ask 😊

I agree with looking at Ferndown or Wimborne. Probably Ferndown at the moment as the upper school in Wimborne is in a state of flux at the moment with yet another new head and judging from my FB feed there are a lot of pissed off parents currently . Ferndown Upper has a better reputation these days with the current head but it does depend on what age your DC are, if they are younger than upper schools not as relevant.

If you don’t want an awful London commute, you really don’t want to move further into Bournemouth and Poole, you want to be Ringwood as the further over, max, so you can get the fast train from Southampton Parkway! I live in Ringwood and have colleagues in Bournemouth and Poole and they have over an hour LONGER commute than me on London days.

I have a 25 min drive to the station, then the 7.08 gets me to Waterloo for 8.20, or the 7.38 is just as fast. My colleagues get on the train over an hour earlier than me and spend an hour stopping multiples times across the New Forest!

Brockenhurst would be amazing for the train but £700k won’t get you much and I think there is less to do there for kids so if you commit to the Parkway option for the train, it’s then just a case of deciding how far you want your husband to drive.

Ringwood would be the closest- 15/20 min drive to Bournemouth airport, lots of shops, cafes, good schools, community feel e.g carnival and town events. Romsey is very similar but probably much bigger and you could get more for your money, particularly on the outskirts (though less walkable to the town centre than most of Ringwood). Your husband’s commute would be more like 45 mins but you’d also be close to Southampton if you want access to a city. Both good market towns basically.

There is also Totton and surrounding villages. It doesn’t look “cutesy”, definitely not a market town or as “naice” as Romsey/Ringwood but plenty of families and schools and really well located- you could jump on the train at Totton or Ashurst, it’s right of the edge of the New Forest, easy access to the A31 for your husbands commute and if you will have teens then buses/trains into Southampton for them. As a kid I could be out on my bike in the Forest one day and on the bus into town the next. Your budget would go much further for a house too.

Oooh saw your also mentioned Salisbury- this is not a bad option for your either- plenty going on in the city, house prices cheaper than the New Forest area and I do know people that get the train to London from there once or twice a week- not sure how long it takes! I would be a little careful of the A338 as a commute for your husband- if he needs to go at peak times there can be queues coming into Ringwood.

try Whiteparish / Downton / Wellow - close to the New Forest / you would get something in your budget and easy commuting plus in catchment on bus route for the Salisbury grammars. If not grammars then Trafalgar School at Downton is well thought of locally

@user1471548941 I agree about Totton especially the west side and Ashurst. Great schools and a lot more for your money than new forest villages. Also very good transport connections and easy access to other places.