Moving to New Forest....

[boodleboot]

Me and DH have made the decision to move to the New Forest and i was wondering if any MNers had tips for best secondary school areas....we want somewhere that is not too rural but still near enough to take advantage of the new forest surroundings.

We stay in South Gorley and loved it, nearest town Ringwood but Lyndhurst looks gorgeous too...any hints much appreciated....

thanks

probably best looking at council website and the school ratings. or where houses seem more expensive that other areas...

The New Forest is great- but I'm sure you don't need me to tell you summer traffic is an absolute nightmare. The road from the M27 motorway to Lyndhurst can be stationary for 8 miles, of a summer morning. The main traffic routes heave from May to late September, dawn til dusk. There are simply too many people and not enough space!

However, perhaps if you headed for the fringes you might be better off. You'd be aware that the Ringwood end of the forest is more open heathland, not majestic stands of oak, I'm sure. The same applies to a certain extent to the eastern fringes towards the Solent though it's a lot less crowded. Hounsdown School is considered highly desirable over that way.

thanks ampere

i have definitely experienced that traffic but only as a holiday maker so far so definitely need to take into consideration how annoying it would be to actually live there and be over run with holiday makers.

both DH and i work for local government up here in kent and would be looking to transfer down to same jobs/different council - should be ok but both jobs are out in the community ones and traffic would be a consideration for sure...

do you know about milton on sea? is that near the Solent? When you say the eastern fringes what names of areas does that cover? i'll look them up on right move then you see...

another consideration i guess could be winchester....near enough to enjoy the new forest but not as touristy perhaps?

Winchester is good- a bit pricey though! And all 3 comps are very good indeed, esp Kings and Westgate. Bear in mind, though, you'd have to tackle to M3/M27 to get to the Forest from there, bypassing Southampton to its north. The M27 bit from Eastleigh (where the M3 joins) to Southampton is a carpark on workday mornings, heading to So'ton! And of a summer's weekend, from there to Bournemouth is also jammed along the A road that crosses the forest (can't recall its name!).

Winchester has its OWN 'tourists on a summer's weekend' issues! It's also very much London Commuter Belt and the prices (and attitudes??) confirm that!

As for the other places, New Milton is OK, as is Lymington and Christchurch. The Solent 'towns' are Ashurst (still in the forest, really, and pricey), Eling, Marchwood, Dibden, Hythe and Fawley. The closer to the mouth of the Solent one went, the grottier it once was BUT now the oil refineries at Fawley are a lot less messy and smokey in these environmentally conscious times, the whole area is better. Personally I'd be looking Hythe (properly tarted up with a ferry link to central So'ton) and north but perhaps not as far as Totton, unless you're in the Hounsdown catchment part (I THINK Totton is partly 'in'!) Avoid Testwood School. The forest on this eastern side is more heathland, as well but I feel the roads into the forest 'proper' would be less congested that those around Lyndhurst/Brockenhurst.

Brockenhurst College (6th form) is considered excellent.

See this is exactly the sort of thing that makes me so pleased to be a MNer, information you just don't get from estate agents........thanks Ampere, you are a star....i am going to 'rightmove' those locations immediately...xx

You're welcome! Let us know how you get on.

Unless you're seriously minted Winchester is a problem. The house prices are equal to London ones. And the schools are all full.

Totton is uggggghhhhh. In fact the side of the New Forest nearest to Southampton is probably not what you have in mind.

Cadnam to the north of the Forest and West Wellow are nice, with easy access to Forest proper and Romsey, which is a nice town.

Brockenhurst looks nice, but the traffic is worse than horrendous. Likewise Lyndhurst.

Fircone is right!

I second Cadnam, Wellow and Romsey areas (which can be expensive but plenty of choice, good schools). Fordingbridge has a good secondary school (Burgate), Alderholt nearby was due for a big development of homes and at the moment is a good community, as is Downton on the edge of the New Forest. Downton has good primary and secondary provision, and is also close to Salisbury which has two excellent state grammar schools (11+ entry required).

Agree with avoiding Totton town centre, but areas nearby such as Winsor and Ashurst are lovely rural places to live.

what about lymington? i like the idea of a sailing club family membership....

Lymington is lovely, can be very yachty in the summer (obv) and it seems to be more lively with families now, after many years of being more of a 'retirement town'. Priestlands used to have a good reputation as a secondary school, check it out for the latest reports though as I'm not up to date. Bang on the edge of New Forest and right on the coast, also about 40 mins from Southampton and M27 but one of the two routes is via the Lyndhurst bottleneck. Lymington also has a train station, not sure about regularity of service. And quick trips to the Isle of Wight from the Lymington ferry!

I live in Ringwood

Secondary school is excellent .

Lyndhurst is lovely but has a constant traffic jam blocking the one way system which spoils it for me.

RIngwood school over subscribed ,6th form is excellent as well and you have the choice of going to Brockenhurst college if wanted .

If you need to travel to Lymington on Lyndhurst the back roads through Burley is a much better way to get there in rush hour.

Bransgore /Sopley / Bisterne nice areas all around Ringood area.

I love Lymington but have no idea about the schools there.

Milford-on-sea is a great village (green with maypole dancing etc),fishmongers,butchers etc.Lovely primary school (would need to check Ofsted but wuld be VERY surprised if not good).Not essentially IM the New Forest but within spitting distance,equi-distant from both Bournemouth and Southampton and close to Lymington which is fab.

milford-on-sea is GORGEOUS howver, really really pricey...

i think we are going to have to travel lodge it up down there for a couple of days and get out and about in the different areas...