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. 😁

I like Blandford Forum too. I'm not sure I'd want to live there as it's quite a hike to London and there's no station.

Reading to Sherborne can be done by train. There are some nice places near Reading and Newbury.

I had always fancied mooching around Crewkerne having only ever passed through but up close it looks very shabby. The little antique shops aren’t thriving and from the outside anyway it doesn’t feel like there’s much to do there.

We love Bridport but there’s no railway station.

DH has commuted from Bridport to London for work in the past (not daily) and you can get the bus to Dorchester along an extremely beautiful scenic route but it’s a bit of a trek compared to walking to a local station.

It’s so tricky, even Bridport has lost a number of local shops and events in the last 5+ years (not entirely caused by covid but not helped by it). It’s still vibrant and quirky and I love it but this feels slightly precarious now.

Different strokes I guess.
If OP is looking for a pretty market town with lots of period properties between London and Sherborne that will tend to be red trouser predominant places where you need at least £700k to buy four bedrooms and a garden.
The M3-A303 corridor has lots of charming towns and villages of which Sherborne is a good example. There are towns that don't fit your red trouser profile, but no-one is suggesting them because they don't fit OP's wish list either. (eg Aldershot, Andover and Amesbury-Durrington or the huge new build estates around Salisbury Plain military camps.)
I live further West but spend a lot of time visiting Sherborne as my DC go to school there. I can't say I've ever found it unfriendly at all but I guess it's possible there's a town-gown divide. Crewkerne is nice, as as Blandford- maybe more like 'real' towns as they aren't natural commuter hubs for London.

DH has commuted from Bridport to London for work in the past (not daily) and you can get the bus to Dorchester along an extremely beautiful scenic route but it’s a bit of a trek compared to walking to a local station.

And check availability of buses over the winter...

If OP is looking for a pretty market town with lots of period properties between London and Sherborne, I wouldn't be thinking of Aldershot.

Well yes, my point exactly. Aldershot, Andover etc don't fit the OP's criteria, other than being located between two named geographical points.

I don't see why you were making the point, given that OP said 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.

Not many of the places mentioned fit that brief. The only smallish cities I can think of are Salisbury, Winchester and Bath.

My <Dorset born & bred> grandmother used to say, when we left doors open 'Waz you born in Bridport or summat?' Apparently this came from when the fishermen in Bridport lived in houses with a central corridor where they hung their nets to dry, leaving the doors at either end open.

Those little cottages are probably all rental properties now.

@BettyTurpinPies OP was asking about pretty market towns as well as small cities- lots of the suggested towns on here are exactly. I was responding to a pp who seemed to have taken against some of these for being 'snobby' or 'red trouser /old money/Tory' strongholds; rather clumsily suggesting that this is what you will largely find along the M3-A303 corridor. The alternatives- like Aldershot for instance- aren't very much aligned to OP's description of what she's looking for.
This would have been clearer if I hadn't failed to attach the quote referred to...

@CatherineCawoodsbestie do you have a preference for either end of the search area? There's a world of difference between Frome or Bruton and Farnham or Guildford- not least in what your £700k would secure.

@PapardelleFitzgerald , OK, but Aldershot is a long way from Sherborne. I wouldn't have thought of it. Even Salisbury is about an hour away from Sherborne.

That’s quite sad to hear, as Bridport is my favourite town in Dorset hands down. Hope it can stay quirky.

Sherborne is lovely - dd is at school there (state school) but I love Dorchester (close to the sea). Not sure Dorchester is closer to London than Sherborne though. Castle Cary has a bit of a Sherborne feel - small town with independent schools nearby surrounded by fields - and fast train to London. Also lots of investment from The Newt. Crewkerne has a place in my heart as dh and I bought our first home there but I wouldn’t bring up teens there. It’s also further than Sherborne on the train - 2 stops Yeovil then Crewkerne.

i love the villages between Sherborne and Dorchester - Yetminster and Leigh are very active and friendly villages.

Definitely not Westbury. It might be too far north for you but Bradford-on-Avon is in a similar neck of the woods and much much nicer. There are trains to London but I think you'd have to change at Bath.

I know this area extremely well. The obvious answer is somewhere on the trainline, especially if your parents are getting older and good public transport links might be important in the future if they become less confident driving.

Sherborne is pretty but deadly dull imo. I have to mooch around there with my young kids every now and again for family reasons I won't go into, and we get a lot of disapproving looks if my kids so much as talk loudly. There's a reason some people call it "God's waiting room". But if that's where your parents live, you probably know this already!

The next stop, Templecombe, is a nice-ish village with a good playground, but not a lot else.

Gillingham has a bit more going on but is... uninspiring. Quite comfortable, though, I have friends who live there. Good selection of supermarkets.

Tisbury is tiny.

Salisbury is a decent-ish town - mixed, some nice parts especially around the cathedral, some decent shops but some not-so-nice bits. Personally, I wouldn't mind living there if (and I know this is going to sound paranoid) it wasn't for the whole novichok thing a few years ago. It really freaked me out as my kids are still of the age that they like grubbing around in the dirt in parks and touching random stuff and I'm not convinced there aren't still traces around. I realise though that this makes me sound completely loopy and probably not a huge concern if your kids are older 😂.

Grateley is quite small.

Andover is ok and that's about it... there's no reason in particular why you'd choose to live there.

Whitchurch and Overton and both quite small.

Basingstoke and Woking are more urban and grittier. Lots more going on. They have a more city/London vibe. Not particularly pretty but nice enough places to live and obviously quick trains into London.

There are prettier places just off the direct train line - personally I'd look at Romsey (small town) or Guildford (great high street), depending on how 'busy' a place you want to live in.

Regarding your suggestions:

• Gillingham - see above.
• Wimborne - doesn't have a train station, I think. Pretty, expensive, quiet.
• Poole - not fond. I find it a bit rundown and gritty outside the expensive areas. Both Poole and Bournemouth are a mixed bag and bit grotty in parts. Rammed in summer.
• Dorchester - a bit isolated and a while from the motorway but quite nice.
• Castle Cary - nice enough but not a lot going on. It's on the other train line (Paddington) so a pain to get to Sherborne by train (need to go to Salisbury and change, I think).
• Taunton - expensive, ugly and depressingly soulless imo (though don't take my word for it, some people seem to like it).
• Salisbury - see above.

Wow, thank you everyone!

i know that my remit is pretty broad! It will hopefully be a little more targeted when we are ready to move , depending on where kids are and parent’s health etc.

@PapardelleFitzgerald i think I am probably more drawn to the West , and it is cheaper. But it I need to explore more. I’ve never been to crewkerne or castle Cary. I love Dorset itself but I think the kids would prefer easier London access. Maybe it will be different then.

I do like Guildford and Winchester - but they are so pricey. But worth exploring the less beautiful towns like Basingstoke and Woking.

@WiltedLettuce thank you for taking me up the train line -really helpful. Will save me lots of pointless googling!

I think I want somewhere like Liverpool or Sheffield halfway between London and Sherborne! 😁 .

and I hadn’t thought to look at places around reading so am looking at that now. 😁

Basingstoke has some nice bits, it just keeps them well hidden. Some of the villages around are lovely. However, fast trains get to Waterloo in under an hour, so that affects the prices.

(Grew up in Dorchester, have lived in Bournemouth, Whitchurch and currently Basingstoke, among other places.)

Fast Reading trains are 25 minutes to Paddington, and the Elizabeth Line can mean you don't even need to change to the tube. The slow line to Waterloo goes through some of the most expensive bits of Berkshire and Surrey. Reading has good rail connections generally. There's a fair few private schools around and Reading itself has grammar schools, so it's not necessarily cheap. Mind you, it's got less affluent areas like Oxford Road.

Maybe come a bit further north and look at Marlborough or Hungerford?

Frome has a scruffy ageing hippy vibe, not much happening. Same with Crewkerne .
Castle Cary is very pleasant, Odiham is pretty but dull. Taunton is very unattractive. Romsey is nice.
Salisbury has a weird feel, very mixed with some grim parts.
Bradford on Avon is very beautiful but traffic is tricky in the summer.
Yetminster would be worth a look.

Salisbury and Winchester are both gorgeous. I don't know Southampton but it might be worth a look. I love Portsmouth but it's not for everyone - has some grubby areas but it's lively.

@CatherineCawoodsbestie . I don't think you're going to find anywhere like Liverpool/Sheffield in the West Country tbh - it's a different vibe! But if that's what you're after, I'd definitely be more inclined to look at Basingstoke and Woking rather than some of the other suggestions.

I'd also add Bristol and Southampton, although they're 90 minutes drive from Sherborne and don't have a direct train connection.

I'd say Portsmouth is better than Southampton. Neither would be thst great for getting to Sherborne.

Castle Cary is handy for London as it has the train to Paddington in under 2 hrs. DM lived there for about 25 years. I like ir as a town for young families or older people, but I imagine it’s pretty dull for teens and 20s. It always used to annoy DM that there was no supermarket apart from a tiny CoOp - she’d use Waitrose in Gillingham, Tesco in Shepton Mallet or Lidl in Wincanton, depending where she was passing through. I’m not sure CC has much buzz “after hours”, although dm was always pretty busy during the day. She use to go to the theatre/cinema etc in Street a lot (and the big Sainsbury’s there!). Occasionally something in Bath.

Whereabouts are you currently, @CatherineCawoodsbestie ."currently several hours away from them." probably covers most of the UK.
Woking is at least 2 hours away from Sherborne, so I wouldn't recommend it.
Bristol would be better, and although it is further from London, the train is fast. You'd be about 1.30 hrs away from Sherborne, which is too much.

@IbizaToTheNorfolkBroads , I used to love going to Street shopping village when I lived nearer, and the Mulberry shop in Shepton Mallet. Are they still there?