Sherborne Dorset Best town to live in the South West.

Grumpyrocker

ThePrettyDamned said:

Love Dorset. Had our honeymoon in Bridport and went to Weymouth last year for holiday. Beautiful part of the world, and would love to live there one day. 

We moved here from London in 2009. Such a great decision. Brilliant place to raise kids. And the air quality means my wife has never had an asthma attack, unlike the several a year she had in London. 

BigBearKris

RobDavies said:

BigBearKris said:

I love Dorset - I live on the border with Hampshire - Christchurch, which I much prefer to Bournemouth. 
Agreed with Dominic - Purbeck area is lovely, Wool, Blue pool, Wareham, all the way to Swanage - some great walking routes around Corfe Castle.

Haven't been to Sherborne but we may stop there on our way to Cornwall in few weeks and check it out

Ringwood is nice…. I just wish it had a train station.  

Sadly it hasn't, nowhere near in fact.
It's quite small and gets so busy nowadays with traffic going through Southampton and Bournemouth, but yes, it's nice little town.

DrCornelius

Kebabkid said:

DrCornelius said:

I’ve been in Dorset since 2006 and love it . I miss Crystal Palace and family but thats it.

Coincidentally when we looked at moving here from Croydon way we were looking at Sherborne.

My neighbour was very stuck up and politely suggested that we weren’t really Sherborne people and we should look at Dorchester and that’s where we ended up.

Sherborne on reflection is a bit quiet for me , dare I say a tiny bit twee so our neighbour did us a favour really . 

I’m used to living in cities but I reckon if you want small town life it’s perfect 

You did well to move away Dr.C. Ok, Crystal Palace has become gentrified and has some nice eateries but Croydon on the whole as a district? Nah. If they had to give London an enema, they'd stick the pipe in Croydon.

Dorset is a nice part of the world and well done  Sherborne.

Cheers mate , I’ve still got friends in Bromley / Croydon and it does sound pretty grim especially for young people . The big issue with Dorset is the house prices in comparison to average wage so unless you are bringing a nice deposit down with you it’s really tough.

Dorchester for example - an average 2 bed flat near town will rent for around £1150 pm and cost around £240k to buy.

I’d say the average full time wage around here is £28k ish. Unfortunately the maths don’t add up especially for first time buyers 

Dominic

DrCornelius said:

Kebabkid said:

DrCornelius said:

I’ve been in Dorset since 2006 and love it . I miss Crystal Palace and family but thats it.

Coincidentally when we looked at moving here from Croydon way we were looking at Sherborne.

My neighbour was very stuck up and politely suggested that we weren’t really Sherborne people and we should look at Dorchester and that’s where we ended up.

Sherborne on reflection is a bit quiet for me , dare I say a tiny bit twee so our neighbour did us a favour really . 

I’m used to living in cities but I reckon if you want small town life it’s perfect 

You did well to move away Dr.C. Ok, Crystal Palace has become gentrified and has some nice eateries but Croydon on the whole as a district? Nah. If they had to give London an enema, they'd stick the pipe in Croydon.

Dorset is a nice part of the world and well done  Sherborne.

Cheers mate , I’ve still got friends in Bromley / Croydon and it does sound pretty grim especially for young people . The big issue with Dorset is the house prices in comparison to average wage so unless you are bringing a nice deposit down with you it’s really tough.

Dorchester for example - an average 2 bed flat near town will rent for around £1150 pm and cost around £240k to buy.

I’d say the average full time wage around here is £28k ish. Unfortunately the maths don’t add up especially for first time buyers 

Still better value for money than a Beach Hut in Muddiford !

thecolourbox

EricTheWeary said:

Just watching a bit about this on the local news, Stirchley named best place to live in the Midlands. I’m sure Sherborne is lovely but I’ve been to Stirchley and can only imagine that the judges haven’t. 

National winner is North Berwick, one of my favourite places on Earth so I can’t argue with that. A place I only knew of because @ICBM suggested it to me on here. 

Anyway, I’m sure I’m overdue a trip to Dorset and it will need to take in the splendour that is Sherborne. 

I live by Stirchley (in Bournville which sometimes gets included with Stirch-Vegas in these "best places"  things) and it is a great place to live. Stirchley isn't listed for its scenery of course, it's a suburb of the shit hole that is Birmingham. But it's a really vibrant cultural place with loads of really good eateries and drinkeries, decent affordable terraced housing stock, and a great history of Co-op businesses which is still thriving today. A nice community feel without the pretentions of places like Moesley or Harborne (oh yahhhh Tabitha). Compared to most towns in brum with a high street, it's got a lot more of quite traditional but thriving local shops and not a single chain shop on the High Street itself. You can get fresh proper (non supermarket processed) breads, get your bike serviced, get your vacuum refurbished, pick up some guitar strings, some random antiques or furniture, then chill with a selection of cafes covering Chinese, Indian, Korean, Persian, Italian, loads of micro breweries and creative cocktail places

Edit: forgot to add it also has the best named shop that sells ex catalogue beds:

EricTheWeary

thecolourbox said:

EricTheWeary said:

Just watching a bit about this on the local news, Stirchley named best place to live in the Midlands. I’m sure Sherborne is lovely but I’ve been to Stirchley and can only imagine that the judges haven’t. 

National winner is North Berwick, one of my favourite places on Earth so I can’t argue with that. A place I only knew of because @ICBM suggested it to me on here. 

Anyway, I’m sure I’m overdue a trip to Dorset and it will need to take in the splendour that is Sherborne. 

I live by Stirchley (in Bournville which sometimes gets included with Stirch-Vegas in these "best places"  things) and it is a great place to live. Stirchley isn't listed for its scenery of course, it's a suburb of the shit hole that is Birmingham. But it's a really vibrant cultural place with loads of really good eateries and drinkeries, decent affordable terraced housing stock, and a great history of Co-op businesses which is still thriving today. A nice community feel without the pretentions of places like Moesley or Harborne (oh yahhhh Tabitha). Compared to most towns in brum with a high street, it's got a lot more of quite traditional but thriving local shops and not a single chain shop on the High Street itself. You can get fresh proper (non supermarket processed) breads, get your bike serviced, get your vacuum refurbished, pick up some guitar strings, some random antiques or furniture, then chill with a selection of cafes covering Chinese, Indian, Korean, Persian, Italian, loads of micro breweries and creative cocktail places

Edit: forgot to add it also has the best named shop that sells ex catalogue beds:

I think the argument was that it does have all these little businesses and a 'village' feel. I think they were struggling to convey much of a sense of it as on camera it just looks like any other bit of Birmingham. I suppose Best Place To Live doesn't necessarily correlate with Best or Prettiest or Most Interesting Place To Visit. 

guitargeek62

koneguitarist said:

https://www.dorsetecho.co.uk/news/24184737.sherborne-named-best-place-live-south-west/

Love it, lived here over 33 years now. Yes we have problems so does most towns, but as President of the Chamber of Trade a lot of work goes into keeping the town vibrant. 

Hi neighbour -  checking in from 10mins away in sunny Yeovil!  Sherborne’s v.nice, but this whole area is pretty lovely really - a decent enough approximation of The Shire in many ways! 

koneguitarist

I work in Yeovil everyday, do you play in a local band as I’m organising the Sherborne Summer Festival in July? 

guitargeek62

koneguitarist said:

I work in Yeovil everyday, do you play in a local band as I’m organising the Sherborne Summer Festival in July? 

Oh neat - I’ll PM you. I do not unfortunately, though I’d like to again at some point!

Rickyd

We retired 3 years ago and after a move to Italy went pear shaped looked at Dorset as my wife had holidayed in Sandbanks since she was a kid and knew the area quite well. We bought an apartment in a converted Regency house in a little hamlet called Winkton. 5 minutes from Christchurch, 7 minutes from the beach at Mudeford, 10 minutes from Bournemouth Airport and 5 minutes from the New Forest.
We moved from Purley, just outside Croydon, and whenever we go back to visit see the area is changing rapidly. Lovely old houses being pulled down and square box flats replacing them. 
Dorset is a great place to live, wish we had brought the kids up here they would have had a better lifestyle for sure.
Wimborne is a nice little town not too far away that homes the Tivoli Theatre, an annual gigging venue for my old favs Wishbone Ash. 

FastEddie

Great boarding school. We're looking at it for our son.
Loads of recommendations from parents at our son's school.

It really has a vibe we are told. We have visited and it does look lovely. 

DrCornelius

FastEddie said:

Great boarding school. We're looking at it for our son.
Loads of recommendations from parents at our son's school.

It really has a vibe we are told. We have visited and it does look lovely. 

£15,000 per term for boarders means your son will be spending his formative years surrounded exclusively by the sons of the rich and privileged . I’m not so sure that’s always a good thing unless he plans to be a Tory MP :-)

fretfinder

DrCornelius said:

FastEddie said:

Great boarding school. We're looking at it for our son.
Loads of recommendations from parents at our son's school.

It really has a vibe we are told. We have visited and it does look lovely. 

£15,000 per term for boarders means your son will be spending his formative years surrounded exclusively by the sons of the rich and privileged . I’m not so sure that’s always a good thing unless he plans to be a Tory MP :-)

Christ, allowing for tax that means that you have set aside over £70k of your annual salary to pay just the fees, for only one child! (My maths is dodgy but it’s there or there abouts.) Even more if you’re earning over £150k a year, which is probably most of the parents of Sherborne students. 

Dominic

DrCornelius said:

FastEddie said:

Great boarding school. We're looking at it for our son.
Loads of recommendations from parents at our son's school.

It really has a vibe we are told. We have visited and it does look lovely. 

£15,000 per term for boarders means your son will be spending his formative years surrounded exclusively by the sons of the rich and privileged . I’m not so sure that’s always a good thing unless he plans to be a Tory MP :-)

Actually No.......for most Public Schools these days it means your son will be surrounded by Chinese and Russian /Khazak  kids .
They make up a huge portion of the intake especially at the best schools like Oundle ,Marlborough,Eton etc.
Even if the Labour party put VAT on fees none of these will be paying it as they are not UK resident.

DrCornelius

Dominic said:

DrCornelius said:

FastEddie said:

Great boarding school. We're looking at it for our son.
Loads of recommendations from parents at our son's school.

It really has a vibe we are told. We have visited and it does look lovely. 

£15,000 per term for boarders means your son will be spending his formative years surrounded exclusively by the sons of the rich and privileged . I’m not so sure that’s always a good thing unless he plans to be a Tory MP :-)

Actually No.......for most Public Schools these days it means your son will be surrounded by Chinese and Russian /Khazak  kids .
They make up a huge portion of the intake especially at the best schools like Oundle ,Marlborough,Eton etc.
Even if the Labour party put VAT on fees none of these will be paying it as they are not UK resident.

Dominic, are you telling me these Chinese and Russian kids aren’t rich and privileged? :-)

octatonic

This is like homeless people fighting over a which tent has the least amount of piss in it.

I grew up here:

DrCornelius

octatonic said:

This is like homeless people fighting over a which tent has the least amount of piss in it.

I grew up here:

Grimsby ?

FastEddie

fretfinder said:

DrCornelius said:

FastEddie said:

Great boarding school. We're looking at it for our son.
Loads of recommendations from parents at our son's school.

It really has a vibe we are told. We have visited and it does look lovely. 

£15,000 per term for boarders means your son will be spending his formative years surrounded exclusively by the sons of the rich and privileged . I’m not so sure that’s always a good thing unless he plans to be a Tory MP :-)

Christ, allowing for tax that means that you have set aside over £70k of your annual salary to pay just the fees, for only one child! (My maths is dodgy but it’s there or there abouts.) Even more if you’re earning over £150k a year, which is probably most of the parents of Sherborne students. 

A Good school brings a real charm to a town. We live in Marlborough and the college is a huge part of the charm.
Cost? I know. Normal people sacrifice loads for their children.

Back to Sherborne.
Many will worry that this type of PR will bring higher house prices etc but I think the opposite. 
Enjoy the town.

Dominic

DrCornelius said:

Dominic said:

DrCornelius said:

FastEddie said:

Great boarding school. We're looking at it for our son.
Loads of recommendations from parents at our son's school.

It really has a vibe we are told. We have visited and it does look lovely. 

£15,000 per term for boarders means your son will be spending his formative years surrounded exclusively by the sons of the rich and privileged . I’m not so sure that’s always a good thing unless he plans to be a Tory MP :-)

Actually No.......for most Public Schools these days it means your son will be surrounded by Chinese and Russian /Khazak  kids .
They make up a huge portion of the intake especially at the best schools like Oundle ,Marlborough,Eton etc.
Even if the Labour party put VAT on fees none of these will be paying it as they are not UK resident.

Dominic, are you telling me these Chinese and Russian kids aren’t rich and privileged? :-)

Not at all ......of course they are .......just that they'll not be Conservative MPs (they can buy them ,they don't need to BE  them)
Interestingly ,with the huge amount of Chinese there are quite a few who are not rich and privileged ......apparently quite a few of them are sent and paid for by the Chinese Government .A porter at St Johns ,Oxford, was telling me that when chatting to them that they are devoted to getting back to China as soon as they graduate 'to serve my country ' .Obviously they are identified as beneficial genius from a young age and sponsored by the government for the future.

DrCornelius

Not at all ......of course they are .......just that they'll not be Conservative MPs (they can buy them ,they don't need to BE  them)
Interestingly ,with the huge amount of Chinese there are quite a few who are not rich and privileged ......apparently quite a few of them are sent and paid for by the Chinese Government .A porter at St Johns ,Oxford, was telling me that when chatting to them that they are devoted to getting back to China as soon as they graduate 'to serve my country ' .Obviously they are identified as beneficial genius from a young age and sponsored by the government for the future.

Interesting - cheers Dominic

i wonder how many of these bright young things return to China to then come back here for further study - as in further study of UK govt / politicians etc for the folks back home