Wiltshire/Hampshire/Dorset/Somerset/Gloucestershire help!

[tapandteacake]

Hi everyone, would love some inspiration or suggestions for our relocation. I'm finding looking across multiple counties so difficult and am spending way too long on google maps.

We are looking to move out of an expensive part of Surrey, hoping to significantly "downspend" as the current monthly mortgage payment has just become too expensive, but not downsize. We will have a budget of £800,000 and will need a 4 bedroom detached house. We are looking for a rural village vibe, ideally I dream of being able to go for a lovely walk in fields or woods without having to get in the car. I love a good farmland vista.

DH can mostly work from home although may need to commute to London (by train) or Bristol (could drive there) once a week. I work from home. We had narrowed it down to areas around Pewsey in Wiltshire and that would be an ok drive back to Surrey and an ok drive to Gloucester where our parents are. However I'm not sure we can get a 4 bed house for £800,000 there. We also really don't want to do any building work as we did our current place up and absolutely swore never to put ourselves through it again.

We have a 1 year old and are hoping for more children so need to bear in mind good state schools too.

Would love to hear any suggestions of locations I should check out.

Thank you!!

Look at the villages round Marlborough /Hungerford. Great Bedwyn is nice and has a rail line to London.

If you want to look Salisbury way I agree with the above on Woodford, broad chalke etc. Also towards the new forest side of town - Whiteparish, Landford side is nice. Not too far from Southampton for better shopping but still near enough to Salisbury for schools. All the villages up to Romsey are nice too.

Salisbury station goes direct to London in 1 hour 30 ISH or Romsey/Southampton way also goes direct to lots of routes.

I’m sorry I don’t in terms of living there, but we’ve been to lots of places over the years; Lyme Regis, Swanage, Poole, Weymouth, Blashford, Wimborne - all lovely for different reasons.

Have you looked at Wimborne? Might tick a few of your boxes.

Bourne Valley would tick a lot of boxes - it's an hour on the train to London from Whitchurch, 20 mins up the A34 to the M4, lots of nice villages of varying shapes and sizes. All with good primary schools (although often closely linked to the church, if that's an issue.)

Hurstbourne Tarrant has a school, pub, garage, easy to get up onto the hills for some great walks:
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/148414169#/?channel=RES_BUY
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/156032522#/?channel=RES_BUY

Hurstbourne Priors is a tiny village, with very limited facilities beyond the church & village hall, but an easy drive to Whitchurch for shops or Longparish for school, and there's a lot of village social activities https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/153893252#/?channel=RES_BUY

Nothing immediately obvious in St Mary Bourne, but worth keeping an eye on if you want a bigger village vibe (school, multiple pubs, doctors surgery, village shop)

Eastleigh?

Yes Winchester is in its own little bubble of very high property prices. You don’t have to travel far from Winchester until prices get a lot more reasonable. Eastleigh being a good example.

Eastleigh is an anagram of Eagleshit...

Salisbury and surrounds are lovely. They are also more connected to London and Surrey than Marlborough, Pewsey etc. are because they’re on the Waterloo line which means you pass through Woking, Weybridge, WoT, Hersham etc. Depending on where your parents are you could get to them by train.

Tisbury is the next stop west from Salisbury and the area is beautiful. Wiltshire is definitely lacking in houses on the market at the moment.

I live in Poole, Dorset. So can help with this area if you want. I also grew up in Ringwood, Hampshire - close to the New Forest, so can help around that area too. It really depends on the area you are looking for. Poole has a train station, as do some parts of more rural Dorset, that will go into London.

villages/small towns near Chippenham Malmesbury and Bath are all good for the m4 (Bristol commute). Chippenham train station goes direct to London Paddington. There are some lovely places around here which should be well within your price range. Good state schools in Chippenham/malmesbury too.

For anyone that might still be able to help... we are down in Wiltshire staying near Pewsey having a nose around. What I am quite surprised about first off, is that I didn't realise I'd be able to hear heavy artillery fire from Salisbury Plain all day. It's not the most relaxing thing I've ever heard and a bit scary for me. If anyone on here lives in Burbage or Great Bedwyn, or even the Ogbourne villages, can it be heard as far as that ever? Thank you!

It’s not like that all the time. It depends on where on Salisbury Plain the exercises are happening, how major they are and which way the wind is blowing. An exercise might be a one-day event or it might last for a few days but then I might not hear it again for a couple of months. Much quieter, a non-issue in the Ogbournes and Bedwyns. I haven’t heard anything yesterday or today.

Bourton on the Water?

Excellent school, drive to Kingham for the London train.

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/150429893#/?channel=RES_BUY

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/150180929#/?channel=RES_BUY

I think they’re doing army stuff today as there’s lots of helicopters around too. You might hear this a handful of times each year and it does very much depend on where they are practicing stuff on the plain as it’s a massive area. It’s really not a regular occurrence and you tune it out.

A large amount of your search area falls in places where there will be land and air exercises. Around Newbury we don't artillery, but we are in the flight zones for Alton so we do get chinooks and Appaches in the air training. Most of the time it is not loud, but occasionally they do low fly missions at night then it can feel like they are going land in our bedroom.
We are in the North Essex Downs ANOB and we live with annoyance 5% of the time for the 95% that it's amazing.

I grew up close to there and could hear the guns a lot. You do definitely get used to it though.

I’d look around Cirencester - so many beautiful villages.
15/20mins drive to Swindon for commute into London.

I love the area, but am
not wildly keen on Cirencester itself. Which villages would you recommend?

@Herbologistinwaiting have a look at Sapperton, Kempsford, Fairford, Meysey Hampton or you could look towards Stroud - Minchinhampton, Painswick or Sheepscombe all nice areas.

Have you considered Cheltenham?

How about the area around Marlborough and Devizes and along the A4 towards Calne and Chippenham - there are lots of pretty villages around there with reasonable primaries and good road connections via the A4. Chippenham or Swindon stations have good fast connections to Paddington and also Bristol Temple Meads. Secondary schools can be a bit hit and miss.

You will be driving everywhere unless you are on a bus route into a town. Consider your childrens' lives when they are older - whilst at primary its fine when they get to secondary and want to have some independence the lack of public transport and wider distribution of people can be a hassle for the child and also the parent who has to drive them everywhere or pay for taxis etc.

(I say this as someone who comes from a small village in this part of Wiltshire- I wasnt overly fond of it as a child but looking back can see the attraction. We used to drive regularly to relatives near to Gloucester in just over an hour, to family friends in Guildford on a good day in around 2 hours and other relatives in Sussex in around 2 hours 30. Trains to London Paddington and Bath/ Bristol from Chippenham were great after the 15 minute drive to the station.)

The shelling is very variable - we live quite a way from the Plain but can still hear it on clear days. I think today is the kind of weather when sound travels - but no, you won't hear it in Great Bedwyn.
I love the landscape around there, but wouldn't live in Pewsey as there's not much to it, apart from the handy station.
Ogbourne St George is much nicer than either Market Lavington or any of the villages round there but you'd be using Swindon Station, which is less appealing.

Have a look at Randwick village near Stroud in Gloucestershire

I’m not keen on Cheltenham itself but somewhere nearby would be okay. I don’t like Tewkesbury.

I love it there but houses rarely come up.

@Herbologistinwaiting Prestbury is a village just outskirts of Cheltenham. You also have Birdlip or Cowley - nice villages.
Good state schools too if that’s a priority and one of the UK’s best grammar schools.

One of the villages in the Stroud area would meet those requirements - Stroud is 90 mins direct to Paddington, 30 mins drive to Gloucester. Amberley, Box, Minchinhampton are all on the common so have a rural feel. Nailsworth is a nice small town on the Bristol side of Stroud, Painswick is closer to Cheltenham / Gloucester. Chalford, Bisley, Randwick all very nice too.