Dorset towns for families?

[CrazyCatLady1993]

Hi everyone

I live in Reading with my husband and three children. We are looking at move out of Reading and in certain areas of Dorset. I have seen some lovely houses on right move from the below areas.

Can anyone tell me about the following areas?

• Gillingham
• Sturminster Newton
• Stalbridge
• Dorchester
• Beaminster
• Blandford Forum
• Shaftesbury
• Winterborne Kingston
• Sherborne
• Piddlehinton

We are looking for somewhere not too built up or busy, lots of places to walk, good schools, not too far away from independent shops or cafes (we don’t mind if we have to drive). And a real community feel, we are really friendly and will talk to anyone. Human contact is really important to me so if the people aren’t friendly, I don’t want to go there 😂

Wherever you look for, an absolute must at the minimum for kids is access to bus, or train so they can get somewhere without you driving

Thank you so much for telling me this, my son has a medical condition that requires 3-4 monthly hospital visits so this is good to know!

That’s super helpful! Thank you x

I live very close to Sherborne, and have young children. We think it's a fantastic area for families, and there are many wonderful primary schools. The Gryphon (secondary school) in Sherborne also has a good reputation.

How old are your children if you don’t mind me asking? Some people have said Sherborne is a boring area for kids, but some have said it’s great! I have 6 year old twins and a 4 month old baby x

@CrazyCatLady1993
They're 6 and 3. My eldest is at a fantastic village school, and does lots of extra curricular. My youngest is at nursery. There are lots of sports facilities, in part due to the abundance of private schools, in/near Sherborne. We definitely manage to fill our time. Personally, I think it's a really lovely town. Of course it can't compete with a larger city in terms of activities but there is still a lot going on!

@CrazyCatLady1993
Feel free to message me if I can help anymore!

If your son needs that regular hospital visits then you need to look around Dorchester

I’d be looking at Weymouth if you want a smaller town with young DC and need access to a hospital-Dorchester County is just outside Weymouth. Loads of beautiful countryside and beaches to choose from nearby. Lovely walking with DC along Weymouth beach to Osmington. Nothe Fort, Weymouth Harbour, Portland Bill and Chesil beach are wonderful too. Plenty of restaurants and supermarkets and you won’t have a problem setting up a beauty business down there. Bournemouth/Southampton are not too far for bigger shopping days and days out.

Not the poshest of towns but it has its charm. Traffic a nightmare in summer but you get used to it.

Worth thinking about the hospitals having seen your update - Dorset County hospital (Dorchester) is lovely but only has fairly general paeds etc (although some satellite clinics I think), lots of tertiary stuff is at Southampton. Poole and Bournemouth hospitals are merging with inpatient stuff at Bournemouth and outpatient stuff at Poole so might be worth considering!

Dorchester is great for transport links and has good schools.
Bridport is also lovely.

It at least has an ENT department, I got ambulanced over there from Yeovil after they’d admitted me via A&E and then decided they couldn’t actually treat me 🫣😣

If you live in Sherborne most medical care seems to happen at Yeovil District, which we have found to be good when we've needed it. There are plenty of extra-curriculars for kids in Sherborne and the schools are good. It's very safe for young teenagers to have early independence. I wouldn't say it's boring for kids (although obviously much less going on than in Reading- we've lived there too). It might be boring for older teens though.

That said, I would choose Dorchester mainly because of the proximity to Weymouth and all the beach/ water sports options available there.

Wimborne is lovely. I also like Blandford Forum but it's tiny compared to Reading.

DM me if you want yo know about schools in Weymouth or anything else Weymouth related

I spent my teens in a couple of the places you mention. Small villages are a nightmare for teens, no transport, nothing to do, lots of drugs/social issues. Small communities are also often not very welcoming for newbies or inclusive. I'd look Poole/Bournemouth or maybe Dorchester areas

BCP gets a lot of hate- if you read the community FB groups you’d think it was Yemen. It does absolutely have its issues - Bournemouth town centre is a bit of a hole and there is a drug and homeless problem and council being bankrupted by adult social care costs but it’s also got a lot of upsides- relatively good employment options, not completely unaffordable housing, amazing beaches, near to lovely countryside, people are generally nice and quite friendly, some good pubs and restaurants and a lot to do in terms of sports teams, local amenities etc . Grammar schools if that’s your thing. Good public transport relative to rest of Bournemouth - Southampton is commutable for work or Uni. The other place to maybe consider that is Hampshire but only just is Ringwood. That is quite a nice town.

Ringwood is nice. New Forest on its doorstep, with good road link to Bournemouth and Southampton. No railway though.

At the risk of getting shot down I'd say that if you are used to living in Reading and have family and friends nearby please think very carefully before making the move. Also come and visit and stay in the winter. As it can be a bit bleak! I say this from experience as 18m ago my husband and I and our 2 daughters (now aged 11 and 9) moved from Hampshire to a village just outside Weymouth. We thought we'd love it but we don't and we are desperate to move back to Hampshire.

There are no motorways in Dorset so if the main roads are busy or there's an accident you are stuck for ages. The trains aren't great, its at least 2.5 hours if you want to go to London. Its a 180 mile round trip and 4 hours of driving if we want to visit our family in Hampshire which we though would be ok but really its a bit much. Weymouth itself is fun for a couple of days in the sunshine but any other time it's not good. It's old fashioned and dated (yes that's part of it charm in a way but i feel that after being somewhere with all the amenities and transport links that Reading has you may feel a bit stranded and lonely in Dorset- unless you have family/friends nearby of course) The cinema has closed, there's no trampoline parks or bowling or anything nearby and the only shops are little knick knack types. All of your clothes will come from the supermarket which is fine for everyday stuff but for anything else youll have to go to Poole or Southampton or Bristol. Dorchester is tiny. Quaint on the first visit and thats about it! Poundbury is bland and overpriced and there are certain restrictions with most of the houses there, like you get with some management companies.

And the weather is very changeable! Obviously being by the coast it can get very windy and wet. But if we had visited in the dead of winter we definitely wouldn't have moved and would have saved ourselves a lot of stress. (My house is about to go on the market though if you want to live in a village!)
If you have a dog you will most probably enjoy Dorset as there seem to be a majority of dog owners here which makes sense with all the lovely walks and coastline.
But honestly do a few trips when it's raining and freezing just so you'll know what it's like.

I'm totally expecting to get hammered now but that's my personal opinion after making the move to somewhere on the coast that's a lot more rural, to the buzzy town life with great transport links that we left behind. We also feel that as our girls get older if we are back in Hampshire they will have better opportunities for things like work experience/jobs etc when they are able to access more locations more easily.

Just being picky but Reading isn't a city, it's a town. Population about 355,000

Piddlehinton is a small village. Population about 400.

@Upintheairnow When I first got together with DH (old friend, LDR) our choices were for him to live with me in Dorset or for me to move to the Midlands. Very relieved that I decided to move North.
I love to visit family in Dorset but the journey over the years has gone from 3.5 to 5+ hours the majority of the time and the traffic there is horrendous.
The only things I miss are easy access to the sea and hills, but with teenagers now, am very grateful for decent bus routes, education options, cinemas, great shopping choices (Nottingham, Lincoln, Sheffield etc) and the East Coast mainline.

Dorset is beautiful, but I think if you want countryside there are places near Reading that might tick a lot of the boxes.

I grew up somewhere rural and now live somewhere urban for pretty much the reasons @Upintheairnow and @TinyRebel gave.

Meant to say, I still live rurally but only 10 minutes drive from a mainline station and pretty market town so best of both worlds. Granted is not quite so scenic though.

I absolutely love Dorset but would share pps concerns about moving there from an urban location, now I have teens. It could be quite isolating.

Hampshire is a good compromise with lovely countryside and good schools - it’s also easy to get almost anywhere. Except on a bank holiday.

My husband grew up in Winterbourne Kingston and found it very isolating as a teenager...hated relying on his parents for lifts etc .

His parents have since moved to Wareham which is lovely.