A move from London to Bath

[allaboutmoving]

Hi,
After going back and forth for the past couple of years at least, we have decided to move from London to Bath next year. Does anyone have recommendations of where to live? We want to have more space than we currently do in London, be somewhere with more green space, a bit quieter and safer than London, but somewhere where there are still shops, facilities and parks etc. So definitely not a village location.
We have two school-aged boys but will educate them privately. We are in the process of viewing schools but subject to dismissing any outright, we need to factor in where we would like to buy.
I've been looking at Bear Flat - does anyone have any thoughts on this area? And / or any recommendations for anywhere else?
We would like minimum 4 bedrooms and ideally 5. Must have a decent sized-garden and be a period property (open minded on which period, but definitely not a new build). Budget £1.3m max.
Thanks in advance.

@HeartandSeoul I think a couple of the ones I posted were more upper Oldfield park - yep Twerton isn't quite what OP is after - although having driven through there recently to pick something up - it's actually not nearly as grim as I thought it might be given the reputation and actually for young families wanting a moderately priced home, good facilities and close in to town actually has plenty going for it.

@HeartandSeoul I don't agree either about lack of diversity-just maybe not quite 'the right kind of diversity' for the diversity obsessed. I was sat having a porridge in Leon's this morning next to a Polish couple, 2 Malaysian students and a white mum with 2 mixed race youngsters and nor is it all posh middle class - I've heard far more strong local accents here still than in many other places, including Bristol- I do think maybe if you come for the odd day as a tourist you don't quite get the full picture and it's easy to judge .

I live in London and love it but I grew up in Bath and I still visit it all the time! I can confirm it's a lush city to grow up in!

My parents started in the 70s in Bear Flat but moved out to Limply Stoke, then Bradford-on-Avon. All great. For £1.3 you would literally be buying a mansion in Bradders, and it's a stunning town (in my opinion).

Monkton Combe also worth a look, but appreciate you might want to be more central with growing kids.

Yup. Twerton is known as Chav Central!

Great minds! Apologies, I didn’t click on the links. I think Twerton is lovely. I would happily live there, compared to certain other areas of Bath.

@HeartandSeoul yep I agree. It has lots of community stuff going on too

I would look at Keynsham. You will get more for your money. Its got buses to Bath and Bristol bus stations , Southmead Hospital and Bristol Airport. Its also got a railway station with regular trains to Bristol Bath, and further afield.

There's no private schools in Keynsham though but St Keyna and St John's have, at various times, been the most oversubscribed primary schools Bath and North East Somerset council area (BANES for short ).

Broadlands Academy has just got a new Principal and it's been a few years since DS was there but it's small and good for SEN. Wellsway has a good reputation but is about twice the students.

@MrsMoastyToasty but I don't think she needs to get more for her money- she's got a big budget and I've sent her stuff that fits at well below budget and suitable schools on hand - I'm getting the feeling it's not just about maximum house for budget but she still wants the bars/restaurants/venues/ quality shopping on tap and absolutely nothing against Keynsham but don't think it's quite what OP is after.

DD is at Uni in Bath and was in a rental in Bear Flat last year. Lovely residential street and a house that was used as a HMO - They had the neighbours knocking more than once so be careful of any student lets!

@Crikeyalmighty I am resurrecting this thread and hoping to tap into your super useful info again please. Do you have any insights about living in claverton down please?

@allaboutmoving ah, I actually live in claverton down !! Brilliant for the uni bus if you live down the bit I do - beyond the uni though it’s bus desert and you need to walk to Combe down for a bus ( 10 minutes maybe) - not a problem by the way if you drive everywhere as 6 minutes into town - one thing to note is there isn’t a shop or pub on doorstep - unless you nip to the coop at the Uni - taxi is around £8 at night if you don’t get the bus after a night out. ( they run late) Bus is brilliant during term time if as I say you live in ‘our bit’ around every 5 minutes, about every 20 out of term time. Lovely for walks as you have miles of national trust land on doorstep, loads of sheep, bluebell woods etc - you have the big mixed comp if needed up there plus the big private hospital .

For private schools - a fair few send to monkton combe which is about 8 minutes drive away - and some send to King Edward’s ( which is terrific) - about 3 minutes drive from us and doable on the UNI bus ( just with a 3 minute walk at the end) looking at your original post - the one thing I would say is it doesn’t have shops, pubs etc ‘on the doorstep’. - however it’s on the edge of town - 1.2 miles ( but a whopping great hill) so you just go into town a lot - it’s not isolated.

Thanks so much @Crikeyalmighty that’s super helpful! Rather annoyingly (for our house search!) we have our heart set on the Paragon, so I don’t think that will work from claverton down. I had thought the search would be reasonably straightforward but it’s not proving that way! Onwards and all that…!

Yep quite a few of the private schools are landsdown way - my friend who lives round the corners kids go to paragon though -maybe there’s a bus? How old are yours? Landsdown and newbridge /weston areas much better placed for the schools that side - king Edwards is lovely though on our side

Very envious love Bath!

I would be led a bit by your school choice e.g. if you had decided on Kingswood you could live around the Lansdowne rd area/Charlcombe etc to save crossing the city. I also love Bear Flat and the ‘poets’ streets but only slightly further out, Midford is beautiful and Monkton Combe is a gorgeous village with its own independent school. You’ll find somewhere lovely with your budget.

Oops, clearly only read page 1!!

@Crikeyalmighty they are 6 and 8. The only bus route I can see stops in the city so it’s still a trek up the hill from there. I think I’d have to drive every morning and evening which isn’t really what I wanted. It’s ok as and when, but not if we have to every single day (if that makes sense)

@Rellotello thank you! We were looking at widcombe / bear flat initially but have struggled to find anything. Hopefully the tides will turn!