Where to live between Sherborne and London?

[CatherineCawoodsbestie]

This is a decision we will need to make in about 4 years time and it is not an area we know well.

My parents are getting older and I am currently several hours away from them. We live in a nice town, but without many opportunities, and both of our teenagers are keen on having easier access to London. They will both probably be at uni when we aim to move but no doubt will be home after that so easy London access is important but does not need to be commutable. We both WFH and schools will not be an issue.

Budget would be around 700,000 now, maybe a bit more by then. We would need at 4 bedrooms, a garden and parking. Preference is for period - but this could be anything from Georgian to mid century. Looking for recommendations for pretty market towns with some life/ buzz and a railway station. We both really like smallish cities but can only think of Salisbury .i don’t know it at all.

We will be starting to explore options more but would love views of locals / people with knowledge - gillingham in Dorset, Wimborne, Poole, Dorchester? Westbury, Frome and around there? Or Castle Cary, Taunton etc? Salisbury?

TIA. 😁

Salisbury is nice but check the flood position. I like the look of Romsey - between Salisbury and Southampton. If I was looking now I'd want to check out Wareham and Swanage because of their location near to rewinding areas and RSPB (Spring Watch?) sites.

Use GeoGlider in combo with Area360 to deep dive on property and area on RM.

Salisbury is lovely. Have you thought about Winchester? We lived just outside Frome for a few years, we didn't love it - although it has occasional nice things going on, there's not much in the way of restaurants/stuff to do in the evenings, and much less of a buzz than we'd hoped for, though there are some lovely country pubs and countryside around there. Travel from Frome to London ended up being a pain, I used to do it by driving to Westbury (which is not a nice town in my experience, poorly kept and nothing going on) but the trains are infrequent and the only upside was they were so often so severely delayed that on Delay Repay half my journeys ended up being reimbursed to me 😂 Some people like Warminster (it's much nicer than Westbury!) but we found it a bit too quiet. Shaftesbury is nice but doesnt have a train station (though you could easily get to Gillingham to use that station if you lived in Shaftesbury).

I got off the train a Gillingham once and found it to be quite drab. But you should check for yourself or get local lrecommendations

We used to live in a village a couple of miles outside Shaftesbury (which is indeed lovely), and agree that Gillingham is not. We sold in 2014 so it might have improved since, of course! We found Warminster ok, but less to do there than Shaftesbury.

Stockbridge in Hampshire - great location. 15mibs from Grately or Andover stations for access to London. 15 mins drive to Winchester. V quick into the a303. It’s vv lovely.

Personally I wouldn't be keen on Westbury or Gillingham. Warminster has lovely villages around it if you don't want the town, though there are some lovely period buildings close to the centre, which would be in your price range. In addition to the train there is a very popular daily coach service direct to Hammersmith which we always use if visiting London. Frome gets a lot of positive press but I've never really understood why. Shaftesbury and Salisbury are nice but don't really know about the housing stock in your price range.

I know and love the area around Gillingham in Dorset but Gillingham itself is extremely drab. Almost any other town in the area is nicer. Sadly, most don’t have stations though.

Tisbury, the stop between Gillingham and Salisbury, is nice but quite small. On that trainline the nicest towns are Sherborne and Salisbury.

Wimborne has been absolutely destroyed unfortunately. It used to be well balanced but they have recently finished a huge number of new builds, four estates in total ! Literally done nothing to balance infrastructure. Avoid as its now full of social housing - which would be ok if they had kept a sensible proportion and improved the infrastructure.

Bridport is nice but not really easy to get to London, same for Swanage, Wimborne and Gillingham. Some areas of Christchurch/New Milton are OK. Salisbury, Winchester maybe. I’d avoid Taunton. Poole nowadays seems like everything has died a death. I personally quite like Dorchester.

If you want easy access to London, then I'd look at places on the main rail lines (but perhaps not all, as people are discounting Gillingham - i don't really know it.)

I grew up in Dorchester and still go back - I was there last weekend for a Heritage Days event. I enjoyed living in Romsey, but the train isn't direct, and it's probably more of a faff to get to Sherborne. I also liked living in Whitchurch, which is on the Salisbury to Waterloo line, though driving to Sherborne would mean the A303, including the bits which aren't dual carriageway.

Winchester?

Thank you all - so useful to have on the ground views. Sounds like Wimborne and Gillligham are out. Love Winch but pricey. Will look at New Milton, tisbury and Stockbridge which I don’t know.

Sounds as tho Frome and surrounds are not popular which was my instinct too.

Any thoughts on Castle Cary or Crewkerne?

Thank you again!

Oh and re Shaftesbury..:: i know it doesn’t have a station but I had thought there was v little there apart from Hovis Hill! Tell me more?

It has a nice weekend market (can't remember if it's weekly or monthly) and a good number of independent shops and cafes. Plus easy access to lovely countryside. We'd have liked to live there if circs hadnt meant we needed to move much closer to London. Whitchurch as suggested by pp (or nearby Overton) might also be worth checking out - I've only passed through them, but have heard people speak warmly about both. They're really big villages though, rather than towns so may be smaller than you're after.

There are some lovely villages between Blandford and Sherborne.

Whitchurch as suggested by pp (or nearby Overton) might also be worth checking out - I've only passed through them, but have heard people speak warmly about both. They're really big villages though, rather than towns so may be smaller than you're after.

But no! Whitchurch is Hampshire's smallest town and was chartered in 1284 or something. Small it may be, but definitely an official town.

Absolutely agree. Sherborne, Blandford, Sturminster, Childe Okeford, Shaftesbury there are lots of really lovely towns and villages in that area. The problem is very few are on trainlines.

Salisbury, Winchester and Sherborne of course. Stockbridge is quite sweet. If you want to have access to both Sherborne and London you could look at Odiham in Hampshire. It's a ravishingly pretty market town, easy access to the M3, a rail station nearby at Hook and not far from Basingstoke for life's necessities. Sherborne would be about 90 mins by car, and I think reachable by rail directly from Basingstoke. London by train in about one hour. Another pretty town accessible to M3 corridor would be Hartley Wintney, although I think your budget might get stretched there.

I live near Wareham which is on the line from Dorchester to London, so you can easily get to several big towns very easily by train - and Southampton airport is on the line. It's a great little town, close to beaches and Jurassic Coast, access down the river for boating in Poole harbour and beyond, little cinema, market on a Wednesday, golf course... Main drawback is the tourist traffic in the summer but if you live there you're usually going out when it's coming in.

It may not bother you, it doesn't me, but a lot of the nicer towns in Hampshire eg Romsey have a strongly elderly demographic. I don't know the Dorset ones but I suspect they may also.

Sherborne I’ve heard isn’t particularly friendly as a place, often hear people say it’s quite snobby. Have no idea how true it is but ive heard it many times over the years. Sure is pretty though.

Odiham is near to me now (am in Fleet) and although technically it might be a town, it definitely feels like more of a large village- there’s just not much there. Feels very “red trouser brigade”/old money Tory to me too.

Am looking to move more towards the West Country myself so will follow this thread with interest. Wincanton seems like it might be worth a look, it’s not far to Templecomb for the train and property seems good vfm there. Crewkerne too and the surrounds, don’t know it well although I’ve always liked the area when passing through. Again, you’ll get a lot of house for your money.

Another vote for Wareham - about 2 hr direct train to London, close to Poole/Bournemouth cultural stuff, Southampton for shopping, the glorious Isle of Purbeck and New Forest to explore. Depends how close to London your teens want to be.

Odiham also has the RAF's largest helicopter base. If you think jets are loud you haven't heard helicopters at close range.

As for Wincanton, I've only ever been there on business but it always struck me as a little bit run down and in need of some TLC.

Odiham and Hartley Witney are both lovely. There are lots of nice places around Basingstoke.

Blandford is lovely. Its really quite cosmopolitan these days and some lovely houses in that range. I feel very safe when im there and spend hours pootling around the town