Anyone live in Salisbury?

[luckywinner]

Does anyone live in Salisbury? What's it like to live there? Is commutable to London? Are there any parts I should/shouldn't avoid?

We are considering a move to Salisbury from London. DH has a job that is not really doable anywhere but London, but family are from the area and I really miss them. Plus we are having a nightmare with schools at the mo and a move out of London seemed an option to consider.

I am fed up of London schools and living in a titchy flat!

Thats all, would love any advice or tips!

We left a titchy flat in sw london July 2006.
DH commutes to london everyday from Salisbury. Love it, wouldn't move back but go back for proper shops!!

Yippee! That is brill to hear. What time does he leave/get back?

That's the bad bit! Leaves 6.40 am back 7.50pm on a very good day (1.50 door2door)but we do live very near the station, can be a pain if you add on an extra trip .I think he snoozes on the way up with the rest of the carriage. Many fathers at school on same commute! Costs a fortune but very rarely late cos of poor service.

We basically moved cos of space, school and wanted to live near some family. Mine are in North. Have one DS, great school(cheaper,smaller, kinder(?)) live in town........gradually making friends....and less than 10 min walk from M&S and Cafe Nero. Who needs Fulham broadway.....King's road is a different matter

Now you're really selling it to me! I def know I would want to move into the centre as I don't want to be car bound.
Could you bear to tell me the school your ds is at as am about to compile a list of ones to call.

Both our parents are wiltshire and dh office is waterloo so I think it would work quite well. Although we would be swapping huge mortgage for train fares and school fees!

Now be honest, how much do you miss London? I live W London, zone 2 and i really love the place but do not love the shit schools and the huge mortgage and how my children are growing up away from family.

I am under no illusions that moving out will be the answer to everything but at the mo i don't really see my dh in the week due to work so the commute won't make much difference!

Local indep schools........Chaffyn Grove, Cathedral School, Leehurst swan all co-ed. All based in town, could walk to each depend where live. Must visit as all very different, parents too........

We didn't look into state schools, sorry, no help there.

I do miss London, used to go back all the time, but now I find excuses not to go!

Likewise on dh's hours, wouldn't see any more of him if still in London, he'd just work longer hours.........So really left for similar reasons, have found it a struggle in terms of settling in but ds loves it and so i think do the grandparents. So i guess that's what it's about Bath time calls no dh to help

I have called two of the three today. Thanks for the tips. We are having a hideous time at ds's school at the mo so it's becoming more of a reality to move out.

My dh is never ever home for bath time so I know I wouldn't miss that nor would the dcs but I know I would miss him in the morning. Does he mind the commute?

Sorry, I am firing all these questions at you!

OK, something you need to be aware of is that Salisbury still has state grammar schools. Because of this your state options are either the excellent grammar or the secondary moderns. Some of these are honest enough to SAY they're SM, but some pretend they're comps but which comp has its entire upper academic tier removed?

Salisbury is bristling with private prep schools. Their sales point is their 11+ preparation thus the grammars are well subscribed with very middle class parents whose DCs are either bright enough to have passed anyway or have been rigorously tutored which MAY bring issues of struggling later bearing in mind these are state grammars, not hold-your-hand-extra-tuition privates.

You might, if you're not going down the state grammar route (but see below) find the preps in Salisbury are very heavily geared towards the 11+ anyway.

Post 11+, should your DC fail, it gets dodgy, esp if you have a DS. The girls' SM, St Edmunds is supposed to be very good but none of the others really shine. There's a very expensive girls' private, Godolphin, in town but no private secondaries for boys, as far as I'm aware. NO idea where the wealthy who despite much cash throwing haven't managed to get their DS into Bishops' send them!

We're not rich enough to go private, and I don't think our DS2 is grammar material so we decided to head over the border to Hampshire and the excellent state comps instead!

Sorry about omitting grammar school bit. Ds only 5 so haven't got that bit covered. In town Leehurst Swan is indep 3-18, near Devizes is Dauntseys 11-18, others not sure of. There are reportedly good secondarys at Fordingbridge(burgate 11-18) and Downton (trafalgar) (SW ofSalisbury)But as I say early days for us on this path.......so canvass other opinions.

DH seems to cope with commute ok, sleep and i-pod help. Also living within walking distance of station helps. Some commuters with similar family circumstances are v disillusioned w the commute. but i think this goes in phases

Thanks for the info about secondary schools. I am in such a state about the bloody primary ones I haven't even got to the second stage!

I know that the commute for my dh is going to be a big ask. We are in such a difficult situation. We are having a bad experience at a primary school here at the mo and we can't afford private school in london as well as our mortgage but we could afford salisbury and commute and if we had to private school but I am worried about the commute for my dh. I am also worried I would miss London but right now I would do anything to make my ds happy.

I hate this schools stress.

Had very similar concerns but we've pulled through! No more lonely here than I was in London, just have a house to spread out in!

DH now home and says commute to waterloo is 1 1/2 hours and do-able!

I think though that there will always be concerns re school and doing best for children. I have days here wondering if ds is in the right place.

Sorry, didn't realise Leehurst Swan even existed! When I was a youngster it was La Retraite, a Catholic convent school with a nasty brown and yellow uniform! I believe it merged with a boys' Catholic prep, the Swan, and has now become the above. Not sure if it's still Catholic or not.

I wouldn't go near Trafalgar, either. Used to be Downton Secondary Modern and whilst I know it is doing its best, its results aren't very good - bearing in mind, again, it's lost its top tier to the grammars! And it is a fair way from Salisbury, really.

Can't comment on Burgate, except once again, Fordingbridge is a fair distance off!

Devizes is 22 miles away from Salisbury.

Thanks gg, it's easy to forget about the next step. I am so fixated on the stress of primary I think I'm going to completely fall apart when it comes to secondary.

When we were looking at Salisbury, we were steered towards househunting in, I think, Bouverie Avenue? There were nice houses there and you could walk into town.

I've seen a couple of houses for rent/sale on that road and they looked nice. I think I need to book a couple of days in Salisbury and blitz schools and estate agents.

Did you end up moving there in the end Fircone?

(butting in to answer that!) nah, she's now near ME in Hampshire- she's IN catchment for my desired school and I'm movin' pdq to get there! Incidentally, I don't know fircone personally at all, we've just swapped some 'bon mots' re The School and Area.

Salisbury itself is a nice place. It's big enough to have a buzz but small enough to not feel impersonal. It's surrounded by wonderful countryside and whilst of course it has acres of sprawling samey council estate around it, the middle is lovely but not cutesy.

It also has dozens of pubs!

If you can swing the school thing, I'd seriously consider Salisbury. If your DC(s) are definitely grammar material you're laughing!

Have to type this quick as the internet man is coming to take my internet away till tomorrow.

We are having such a nightmare at ds's school that I am now absolutely considering this as, lets say, 99%.

I am going to look at rented houses to start with and schools in Feb. I know I am going to miss DH in the week but I suppose if we rent before we buy then we can suss it out more. I am also going to struggle to say goodbye to London but I will do it for my dc and their schools! Ooh that sounds dramatic.

But from this thread all the salisbury/hampshire people are lovely, so that's a good starting point!

Here's hoping my babies are grammar school material, although sadly if they take after me, and not their dear papa, that could be doubtful!

Salisbury is areally nice city with a nice feel to it, it's big enough that people come in to visit. Has a market 2 days a week.
There are lots of public prep schools and state primaries in town.
We live in the town centre as do many other families. We bought our house having moved down from London, but I know many families rented and then bought.I did wonder what we had done for the first year but now wouldn't moveback, couldn't afford to anyway. Miss the shopping experience
I think secondary education is an issue in the area but we'll just have to face that hurdle when we get to it! we can always move to Hampshire! It's along way off IMO DS 5.5!
salisbury journal comes out on a Thursday with local property buy/ rent details. Can they post you one?!
DH commutes to London everyday, don't see much of him as aresult but that would be the same even if we were still in London.
Where are your families in Wilthshire?
Good Luck

lucky, I like your realism! I do- well, smile really at that middle class thing you read in The Telegraph: 'private fees are crippling us so DS will be going to a state grammar' like it's a 'given' that any DC who goes to a private prep WILL almost of right get a state grammar place! In fact, if you've gone private at a prep that specialises in 11+ prep, you seriously know that your DC isn't destined for academic glory if they fail! And of course, if your DC only passes because they were prepped, prepped, prepped, state grammar could be a miserable experience.

Personally- and I'm NOT going to turn this into an anti-grammar thread, honest! I think grammars should either be abolished or an entry method that is truly fair devised. And I speak as an ex- Salisbury grammar school girl!

Salisbury IS nice, I'd live there again in a flash IF I knew both my DSs wouldn't suffer the "wanna-be, neither arthur nor martha" reality of a 'comprehensive' in a grammar school area!

So go Winchester, I say!!

And really sorry if I'm about to sound patronising here- but from experience, DO think about the next step academically! I can so understand your one-step-at-a-time approach, but you have to ask yourself whether you really WOULD up sticks at the appropriate moment and move 20 miles, minimum, to get away from the 'grammar influence' to better comprehensives.

We're about to move a minimum of 1 1/4 MILES to get DS into our chosen secondary school though the local one stacks up very well against the Salisbury non-grammars!

I never really thought about winchester, more because i assumed it would be more expensive than salisbury. And you are right gg, I should look at the bigger pic as primary is far more 'adaptable' and its easier to change things at that age, but secondary is a different thing altogether. So talk to me about Winchester!

Cat, you are right about the commute. It really bothers me, to the point where I would rather dh stay in london in the week than go up and down each day. Who knows what is going to happen at the mo, but I really appreciate all the help as it is so difficult to make such a big decision.

Has anyone bothered to check out the GCSE results for St Edmunds and Wyvern College before writing them off? When I was at South Wilts, St Edmunds did pretty well and loads of girls from there joined SWGS at sixth form, and loads of boys from Wyvern (or Highbury as it used to be known) went to Bishops.

Salisbury is a lovely place.

Right I've just checked.

www.salisburyjournal.co.uk/li/secondary_schools.in.Salisbury/ GCSE grades here]]

http://www.salisburyjournal.co.uk/li/secondary_schools.in.Salisbury/ bloody links I can never do them

Aaarghhhhhh!

here