Moving to Hampshire Area

[Staceymcadie]

Hi there

We're considering moving from Glasgow to Hampshire area due to a career opportunity for myself.
I'll be working flexibly but will need to be in and around London area for meetings at least 3 times a week
I need full time childcare for 2 year old and a good school and gymnastics club for my 8 year old (I'm not so bothered about the gymnastics but it's a deal breaker for her )
We have been looking at the following

Hartley Wintney
South Wonston
Fleet
Hook
Andover

We'll be renting to start

Looking for rural/semi rural area for kids to be brought up in
Excellent primary schooling
Close to train stations with direct access to London way

Does anyone have any thoughts on location and schooling??
Looking for input as we really don't know the areas.....only going by google and Rightmove

x

I’m not clued up on any of your areas other than Andover. It’s a nice little town, they do have gymnastics clubs, and it’s surrounded by lots of lovely countryside.
I’d move there in a heartbeat if I could.
There are nice estates and not so nice estates, but even the not so nice estates are better than where I live at the minute.

Alton would be perfect for you.

+1 for Alton.
Fleet is mainline town but massively overpriced and you won't get to sit on a train if going to London at peak time.
Hartley Wintney has got good cycle links to Winchfield trainstation.

Not Andover, it’s not a nice town.
South Wonston lovely and gymnastics in Winchester.
A little further over Romsey lovely town has gymnastic club

Andover is alright- depends which estate you go for

Salto centre is good for gymnastics

Another vote for Alton and look down the road at Four Marks

Approx 1/3 of pupils at South Wonston School are from the local army base so there is a bit more 'churn' than other local schools - I think they manage it well but would be something to check on if you visit. Kings Worthy is another slightly cheaper village near Winchester with a good primary. Micheldever is a village with it's own station but possibly slower trains into London.

The best thing in Andover is the road out of it.

Fleet is overpriced and the train service is creaking.

Alton or Four Marks are nice, the train into Waterloo starts in Alton so you always get a seat. Also handy when you fall asleep on the last train.

75 minutes into Waterloo.

Andover is vile! Alton is lovely, as is four marks. I’d look at Petersfield and surrounding villages if train/road links to London are important. Excellent schooling and the train is only an hour.

Ladies

Thank you
Just got my contract through so can now properly choose. All very helpful much appreciated
Hope you all have a lovely Christmas and if anyone has any opinions on Bishops Waltham they would be appreciated too
Oldest daughter has ADHD (recently diagnosed last week) and I think small class sizes would be advantageous for her so thinking rural schools like Droxford Junior.
Thanks again for all your help, really means a lot x

Bishops Waltham area is lovely but would make the commute into London quite a bit longer. Will you be able to work from home the rest of the time?

Bishops Waltham and surroundings are indeed lovely - be sure to check schools aren’t full. Consider Southwick, Wickham too. Not cheap though

Andover is not great but it has some lovely areas around it, Grately, Stockbridge, Dunbridge, Wallops are all lovely and not to far to train stations, can't help with the schooling, Andover would be ok if it wasn't for the residents.

I’m just down the road from Bishops Waltham in Titchfield which I highly recommend . Really lovely village feel, great primary school with one class per year (23 kids max per year) , nice community. I’ve got friends with children in Droxford school who are really impressed by it too.

It's about a 20 min drive from BW into Winchester if you want to get the fast train to London (1hr direct nonstops)

I grew up in a village between Winchester and Stockbridge. It’s a lovely area.

I wouldn’t move to Andover.

Winchester is a large town (city to be precise) so you will get all the facilities there you could want.

If you want a village then Sparsholt, Crawley, Littleton etc are nice and not far from town.

Bear in mind that small class sizes means much reduced funding and potentially less support rather then more.

There are places in my LEA that share a Head between 3 schools and buy in a day a fortnight of SENCo time, because that's all they can afford.

Fab, all great!! Thank you
I'll have a chat with my hubby tonight over a glass (read:bottle) of Prosecco

Thanks again everyone, makes choosing an area easier x

Sparsholt.

What about romsey