Anyone live in/been to Yeovil? Would you reccomend it to family with toddlers...?

[sushistar]

We are thinking of moving from London to Somerset to be near my family. Yeovil seems like an option - affordable housing, and big enough that it has good facilities (couldn't face a village - too much of a culture shock after the big smoke!). But I'm suddenly getting cold feet - will there be good toddler groups to go to? Parks? Libraries and cafes that DS would enjoy? I have a 2 yr old and 2 month old ds at home full time and we really rely on toddler groups during the week. And I keep wondering if we'll make friends - we're lefty eco guardian reader types and i wonder if we will be the only ones like that as i keep reading how conservative (small c) and military-linked yeovil is...
do you live there? can you reassure me?
sorry typing 1 handed while bfeeding

PS Sorry if I sound like I'm on some sort of drive to bring people to Sherborne, I don't work for the council, honest!!
Yeovil is only 5 mins by car over the dual carriageway too.

I really like Sherborne. Haven't been there for ages.

Crewkerne is sleepy but got a nice small swimming pool, gym, Waitrose, Co-op, Lidl, small museum, library, WI market.

Yeovil - no way.
Sherborne is nice, but pricey and a little too schooly.
Crewkerne is great but still quite small and you have to go to Yeovil if you want big supermarket shopping.
Somerton is on the other side of the 303 and great for toddler action and community, still small though, but well placed for Yeovil and Street for shopping.

However it sounds really like Taunton is the place for you. We would certainly consider Taunton above all else should we move back.

Aren't facial piercings mandatory in Yeovil ?

Or is that Frome?

Thanks so much everyone - it's so much easier to get a 'feel' of places from people who actually know them, rather tha just reading random websites! All very interesting.

Back on rightmove to look at Taunton again...

One question - does it feel different from London living in a big town? I kind of imagine it would be different but sometimes I think maybe it would be just the same.

Hi Sushistar, I just found your discussion when googling Crewkerne. My OH and I are looking to relocate and he has seen a house he loves there. I'm not so keen as I'm scared of moving to somewhere I don't know. We live in Berkshire at the moment. Did you move in the end? Where did you go? Please could anyone tell me what it's like? I have a six year old daughter.

Crewkerne looks best vfm on rightmove or you could try over the border into Wiltshire which is a bit cheaper.

Yes, living in a town in the Westcountry does feel different from living in London. Very different.

Just out of interest - if you're moving to the SW to be near family - where do they live?

Yeovil is a complete shithole, by the way.

Is your heart really set on this OP?

I agree with the nay sayers i'm afraid, Yeovil really is a shithole and very well known for being the local Shithole!

Taunton is the place to be if you are moving down here. Dh moved here from london and has found the transition very hard so think carefully. It all looks very lovely on 'move to the Country' and 'location, location, location' but its not quite as idyllic as portrayed.

You really need to embrace life at a sleepy, frustrating 10 miles an hour pace especially if you get caught behind a bloody tractor which unfortunately happens a lot on the Yeovil road

This thread is two years old....I am on it under my old nickname....:)

Thanks all :)). Quite happy about a slower pace of life tbh. I'm a driving instructor so going slow is good!
OH family live in Portland, Dorset so it would only be 45 mins away but my Mum lives in Woking, Surrey.
I do like Taunton as an ex parents used to live there when I was much younger so used to go a lot.
Thoughts on Crewkerne v Taunton would be good! Not touching Yeovil now!! Going down for another visit Thursday and may stay in a b&b

Did you ever move to Crewkerne, or Taunton?? We are thinking of relocating from London to Somerset, have been down to Crewkerne to look at houses and think I like it there.... But would love to hear from anyone who lives there or has relocated there
Also looking at Frome, possibly Castle Cary
But Crewkerne seems to have the most affordable property for us

Moving to Yeovil in 3 months time from Southampton... are we nuts? Haven't read much of a positive vibe about the place but we have visited on a few occasions and we liked what we saw. Just interested in some up to date feed back.

I love yeovil. Lived here 10 years. Dc primary is "outstanding", ninesprings country park is lovely and Ham Hill is a short drive and just gorgeous. There are rough areas (like with any town) but to me its ideal with access to Bath and Exeter taking an hour by car and Lyme Regis beach is 45 minutes away so I can pick up dc from school and take them for fish and chips on the beach for a treat. Can also visit London in a day.
Advice would be to stick to the west of the town. The East side is a bit different. Find the comment re being car orientated odd. Lots of walk ways and cycle paths. The town has Westland (now called Leonardo's) helicopter airfield which is fun to see. They don't fly a lot and only daytime with a couple of night flights a year. People talk it down but I'm from the south east and honestly it's much friendlier here without being completely cut off in Cornwall or Devon.

Thank u for your response nice to hear some good feed back.. we have been looking at Penn mill .. Huish... and properties around the lark hill / Preston rd area are these ok? U mentioned the east side is not so good is it rough?

Those areas are generally fine - lark hill is long and one road is best avoided as they have a few difficult housing association families. I'll pm you

Thank u so much

i live in Yeovil and personally I can’t stand it. I still don’t know anyone here as my family live up in North Somerset and surprise surprise the council moved me here. My flats a mouldy dump, the opposite neighbour is Wierd and I lost count how many times random strangers (it was usually the same
ones) have harrased me or swore at me from their blacked out car and followed me sometimes at night or in the day for no reason just because they probably know of someone who don’t like in Somerset, could be anyone but I’m not a nasty person, just an easy target due to me being really shy and no confidence!

The only positive thing about Yeovil is the cheap rent, but if you don’t own a car or drive you’re pretty much stuck here as the public transport is a disaster!

i Don’t even think my kid likes it here but she’s only 5. She still doesn’t have any friends in her school and we’ve been here over a year now!

And before someone says it’s probably me, my brother in law used to live here and said it was a shit hole. I’ve lived in lots of places in the uk but Yeovil is far worse than some “rough” places I’ve been to.

This is from 2017 ffs

i can clearly see it’s an old forum. I’ve seen older forums with people commenting on there..

I can clearly see it’s an old forum. I’ve seen older forums with people commenting on there..

I hope the original lady posting moved somewhere nice. I live in Crewkerne and love it. V wide range of people - no trouble (apart from cars occasionally driven too fast by youths) and feels safe even late.
Schools are reportedly good - there is a library and Leisure centre, a Lidl and a Waitrose.
Half an hour from Lyme and Bridport.
Ilminster also really nice.
Personally I would avoid Yeovil - the High St is dead and there are a lot of disreputable folk hanging about. It does have a theatre and an excellent hospital though.