[drramanjett]

I have recently been given a job offer (with an increase in pay) , but the work involves the following

1. Royal South Hants in Southampton for 2 days (saturday and Sunday)
2. Winchester (1 half day Monday)
3. John Pounds Medical Centre (Portsmouth) for 1.5 days (Monday and Friday)

I am currently living in Swindon, and have a young family so a house move is imminent.
I have a 1 yr old daughter and no desire to move again for next 5 yrs. (recently moved home about 2.5 yrs ago from dorset to Swindon)

If you were faced with this problem where would you put your base.

I would prefer to live in a chav free area (I know there is no such place), with good schools , public and private. Access to m3/m27 would be important.
Both me and my wife drive. I am a doctor by profession.

Somewhere rural, somewhere closer to sea would be great.

I am fascinated with Bournemouth but I have noted that it would be an hour's commute to any of these places from bournemouth.

I think fareham will tick the box ?? and many of my doc colleagues have bought there.

Any thoughts ?

[cartimandua51]

drramanjett, on 01 January 2012 - 01:43 PM, said:

I have recently been given a job offer (with an increase in pay) , but the work involves the following

1. Royal South Hants in Southampton for 2 days (saturday and Sunday)
2. Winchester (1 half day Monday)
3. John Pounds Medical Centre (Portsmouth) for 1.5 days (Monday and Friday)



If you were faced with this problem where would you put your base.

I would prefer to live in a chav free area (I know there is no such place), with good schools , public and private. Access to m3/m27 would be important.
Both me and my wife drive. I am a doctor by profession.

Somewhere rural, somewhere closer to sea would be great.

I am fascinated with Bournemouth but I have noted that it would be an hour's commute to any of these places from bournemouth.

I think fareham will tick the box ?? and many of my doc colleagues have bought there.

Any thoughts ?

Why? WHY?? WHY???
Bournemouth is a town created for the Edwardians to have one or two weeks by the sea. Unless you are a student and therefore with a ready-made social life I really can't see the attraction.
Winchester is expensive and has a certain town / gown type problem. Choose your area carefully.

What does your wife want? Beware the rural trap of having to get the car out whenever you need a newpaper or a pint of milk.

[drramanjett]

cartimandua51, on 01 January 2012 - 02:00 PM, said:

Why? WHY?? WHY???
Bournemouth is a town created for the Edwardians to have one or two weeks by the sea. Unless you are a student and therefore with a ready-made social life I really can't see the attraction.
Winchester is expensive and has a certain town / gown type problem. Choose your area carefully.

What does your wife want? Beware the rural trap of having to get the car out whenever you need a newpaper or a pint of milk.

Actually to tell you frankly, my wife loves Swindon. We live in a nice part of town, have a beautiful / spacious house in a great area. My wife loves the shopping , and I can get to anywhere I want within an hour of commuting. She is open about our next move. I am a GP by profession. I just wanted to move into an area which was slightly more laid back. Swindon has quite a bad reputation (but its not as bad as its made out to be... infact life and facilities here are better than many 'liked' towns I have previously lived in). I just want to grow career further and this job helps me to specialise further. Also not happy with current place of work. Thus the move.

[drramanjett]

bulltraderpt, on 01 January 2012 - 02:43 PM, said:

You can live anywhere you are a well paid NHS Doctor.

Manners maketh the man.

What is it with those in the NHS manners always appears lacking.

Yes , I too noted the 'lack of thank you/please' situation in my post. I am thankful for all your constructive comments and sorry for the lack of social niceties ! You are right manners maketh a man !

Any further thoughts deeply appreciated.

[24gray24]

bulltraderpt, on 01 January 2012 - 02:43 PM, said:

You can live anywhere you are a well paid NHS Doctor.

Manners maketh the man.

What is it with those in the NHS manners always appears lacking.

Aren't you the bloke who punched a teenager at the G20 riot, and then boasted about it at great length?

[24gray24]

bulltraderpt, on 01 January 2012 - 04:38 PM, said:

Er no, but you probably knew that already.

My apologies then, it must have been someone else.

[cartimandua51]

BTW, one of the problems with Bournemouth for commuting ( a lot of residents work in Southampton) is that the A338 dual carriageway can get appallingly clagged up in rush hours (or if there's an accident/breakdown) as there are virtually no turn-offs. Had you considered Ringwood?

My experience of living in Bournemouth is that unless you are very close to the sea (<10 mins walk, say) you tend not to bother & might just as well be 10 miles away. And, obviously, seafront properties are expensive & cost a lot to maintain. Bournemouth can get very windy in winter and salt water & wind play havoc with exterior decoration.

If your wife likes Swindon she might find Bournemouth terminally dull. It's not quite the Costa Geriatrica it was 15 years ago, but it's not that buzzy outside the student scene. Boscombe is chavvy and druggy (generalisation, but more so than the rest of B'mth); Christchurch is pretty (& pretty expensive) but has one of the highest proportions of pensioners in the UK, and I don't think there's anyone in New Milton under 80.

Had you considered Salisbury if you're prepared to spend an hour commuting?

This post has been edited by cartimandua51: 01 January 2012 - 06:39 PM

[Mr. Piddle]

How about Ringwood, Fordingbridge or New Forest areas, close access the M27, quite rural but close enough to Bournemouth if your in need of some chavtastic time out!

[Garf]

Romsey?

[spyguy]

I concur with Romsey. It's a nice, medium size town.
WInchester if you fancy a bigger town. Yes I know its technically a city.

B'mouth only has a few nice areas - and they're not Sandbanks.
Commuting hell for where you want to go. You need to stay the Soton side of the New Forest. A do-able commute in Winter becomes a multi-hour stuck-behind-a-doddering-old-fart-having-a-drive-in-the-forest in summer.

The majority of Soton is cr*p.

Pmouth is much worse.

I would not live further North of Winchester. No real towns; just chav-infested social dumping grounds.

[spyguy]

cartimandua51, on 01 January 2012 - 02:00 PM, said:

Winchester is expensive and has a certain town / gown type problem. Choose your area carefully.

Town-gown??? Eye brows raising. There are some schools in the place - posh bird/hockey sticks type. Nothing worthwhile after 18.

Nope. Winchester is about far West that the posher London commuters are wiling to travel.

I'd re-phrase that line to 'town-train'