Moving to Wiltshire

[MummyMast]

We're a UK/NZ family of 4 who have been living aboard a sailboat for the past 3 years- travelling, working, homeschooling. Now looking to settle on land near inlaws in Kent. Kent, Sussex & Hampshire all seem a bit too expensive for us right now so we're looking at Wiltshire but know nothing about it. Can anyone give us a rundown of cities/towns etc, the good, the bad, the ugly?
Our kids will be 10 and 12. Not interested in grammar schools. Would ideally like to be semi rural, on the outskirts of a town with easy access to after-school activities. Looking to rent initially, budget of around 1500 pcm but less would be great! Will be moving in March. Any insights would be much appreciated

Wiltshire is pretty big and varied…if you don’t want grammar schools ( they are in the south of county - Salisbury) you are looking towards M4 corridor, around Chippenham/Malmesbury/Royal Wootton Bassett (lots of new houses, good schools, expensive but pretty villages around), then the area (Corsham/trowbridge/bradford-on-avon) is on the outskirts of Bath and thus there are benefits (schools, activities) but also drawbacks, more rural are small towns like Devizes which are cute but limited public transport, do you need train access? Motorway? For job??

You'd probably be looking at some of the cheaper, bigger towns - Swindon, Trowbridge.
Maybe Chippenham if your budget stretches - it's a bit nicer that Trowbridge/Swindon, good schools, good transport links.
Marlborough and Devizes are nicer but I think will be too expensive and probably not so good for transport.

Thought Kent was pretty cheap comparatively ?

How about the top part of Hampshire. Somewhere like Tadley (near Reading) or near Farnborough?

Wiltshire in general is lovely but it’s a big area, so as others have said, varied. Salisbury, Marlborough, Devizes are all really nice but probably more expensive than other parts. Warminster is another that hasn’t been mentioned yet, or you could look close to the Hampshire/Wiltshire border, Tidworth for example has some lovely countryside around it.

Melksham springs to mind... Good services and excellent transport links.

thanks! we won't need public transport i don't think. I'll be looking for work but will have a car. Ideally the south or west areas would be preferable as we'll need to drive to Kent frequently.

nope, not at all, sadly. Wiltshire is quite a bit cheaper for overall cost of living, especially property.

Swindon is urban. Not great if you want rural.
Salisbury is the county town and lovely. Good schools and in the south of the county.
Devizes, Trowbridge and Chippenham are market towns, lots of lovely countryside, pubs, basic shopping. Marlborough is ludicrously expensive because of Marlborough College.
I've lived in Pewsey which is small, rural but with train direct into London. Burbage and Collingbourne Kingston are both rural villages and lovely, and closer to the A303 and M3. Amesbury and Tidworth are garrison towns.

I think you mean South and East?

Swindon is very different to the rest of Wiltshire, it is a working industrial background town. It can be cheap, but not in the nice bits.

I am not convinced that you will find something at that price.

In terms of schools, Royal Wotton Bassett has an excellent school.
Malmsbury has an excellent school.

just to say, have you considered East Anglia and in particular Suffolk if you need to get to Kent? Whilst the dartford crossing is pretty awful, the stretch of the M25 from the M3 to Gatwick is dreadful too - constant accidents / road closures.

Have you looked at Andover/Stockbridge in Hampshire? £1500 is doable. Excellent access to the A303.

I just did a Right Move search for a 3 bedroom house to rent, max price 1,500 pcm, for the whole of Wiltshire including Swindon.

The result was zero!
Not a single house!

There were 2 in Hampshire - Southampton.

This may be simply because Right Move doesn't do many rentals. But it was a surprise to me

OK, I did the same search on Zoopla and there are plenty

My DD and her DH pay £1100 or £1200 for a 2 bed flat in Southampton. It is ridiculously expensive.

Your search parameters must be having a weird episode as I've found 22 3 bed,
<£1500pcm properties to rent within a 3 mile radius of Andover in Hants on RightMove...

I found 131 in Wiltshire...

Wiltshire is a big county - but so too is Kent. Whereabouts in Kent are your inlaws and how frequently do you think you will be driving there? It's about three hours to drive from Salisbury to Dover, for example. Like others suggested I would be tempted to look at Essex or Suffolk, or down towards Margate etc in Kent itself.

Swindon (remember we are directly onto the M4) to Tunbridge Wells is 2 hours and 5 minutes on empty roads on boxing day evening.
And 3.5 hours on a normal Friday, as long as there are no accidents or hold ups.
So it really depends on what you consider to be close enough and easy enough to drive.

Something was wrong with your search then, as there are 125 available!

Wiltshire is quite a drive from Kent.

Yes but it's much closer than Portugal where we are now! 😆

Really hate saying this as it contradicts another post I responded too…….. Bradford on Avon. Just outside Bath . Has a train station with direct trains to Bath , Bristol, Cardiff , Salisbury and can get to London , Swindon easily with a chance at Bath. Relatively good schools in the area with a couple of single sex states schools in Bath or private. Rental market is very competitive though as you would be looking at the top of your budget. Nice size with great walks/countryside on the doorstep . Corsham / Devizes both cheaper but no rail station . Melksham not so desirable. Has station but limited service. Trowbridge also less desirable but cheaper and has station. Bradford on Avon a good option for safety, transport links for work and growing kids independence. Downsides are traffic can be bad through the town centre and the secondary school, as a general comment not directed at anyone, isn’t great for ND kids. ( There are other schools with potentially better provision in the area but you’d have to drive or train it)

I've actually just seen a rental in Pewsey Village that looks pretty good! Can you please tell me more about Pewsey village? It's looks pretty ideal to me- a few pubs, a bakery, cafes, a co-op etc. The kids could walk to school in under 10 minutes! Do you know anything of Pewsey Vale Secondary School?

Pewsey's a lovely village, beautiful countryside and a great connection to London. The only thing I would say is there's not brilliant public transport to local towns for the kids.

The secondary school is fine I think, it had a bit of a mediocre inspection report a couple of years ago (not great but not bad) - it only goes up to age 16 though so students have to transfer then to another school or college.