[Closed] Villages within easy commute of Bristol

Nailsea?

My Uncle lives there, and my grandparents lived there for many years before that. Probably more of a town than a village these days, but seems to have decent facilities, including a new school only a couple of years old.

Look around the Nailsea area.
Train takes about 10 minutes to temple meads or sustrans route all the way into town.
Couple of good nurseries around.

Yatton is quite a pleasant little village.

It has the sustrans that takes you to Cheddar on to the Mendips.

Another vote for Nailsea/Backwell. Sustrans route to city, train station, right side of the city for Ashton Court/Leigh Woods or Mendips, 10 mins from the M5, good schools/nurseries, reasonable choice of pubs of varying taste/style. Small town rarther than village, so does have selection of shops, post office, couple of supermarkets, but still small enough you walk in to 'town' on a saturday morning and bump in to people you know (once you have a circle of friends, which young children in nursery/school helps facilitate). I'm happy here 🙂

Corston, Newton St Loe, Kelston, all between Bath and Bristol, with easy access to the Sustrans Bath-Bristol Cycle Path.

I lived in Clevedon for a few years, lovely place. Wish I could go back there. No train station but loads of really good cheeky woodland singletrack trails 3 mins ride from the doorstep and a good bunch of local riders to guide you round them 🙂

Thank you all for the tips. I will have a look online.

I need to spend a day driving round the area and we may well rent before buying.

What do you find so attractive about villages?
The right suburb could be your answer. Some parts of Bristol are quite villagey in feel in spite of being very urban. You meet the same people, get known in the local shope, take kids to the local school. Places to investigate include W-o-T and Southville / Ashton.

Thanks. Don't have anything particular against the burbs, but do like being out in the wilds. Mostly because I have some unrealistic vision of country living and think that it will give me an excuse to buy a wax jacket. In all honesty I just like a country pub and readily admit villages can be stifling in terms of privacy within a community.

By brother in law and family have just moved to W-O-T and it looks like a really nice area.

Being in the burbs is not out of the question, just don't know many areas and ideally would like to be able to get to local riding without always taking the car. I live in a small town where I can be on the bridle ways in circa 3 minutes, so I am very spoilt.

I will probably be commuting by car outside of Bristol, so M5/4 access needs to be ok too.

M4/m5 access, it's hard to beat portishead, pill, Easton in gordano, portbury or anywhere in the gordano valley...

I live in Bristol but we're looking at exactly the same.

I know south of Bristol so I'm limiting my comments to that area though no doubt there are other nice areas.

Nailsea, Backwell, Yatton, Chew valley area, are all good. they are reasonably expensive but that's because there are good secondary schools, specifically backwell and chew valley.

portishead is pretty shocking for schools at the moment...

Count zero's suggestions are good, you may also want to have a look at compton Dando, burnett, woollard, Chewton keynsham, stanton prior, Farmborough.

Hi Gribble
I'm biased, but there are plenty of folk who live in Wotton-under-Edge who work in Bristol, which is about 30-40 mins on a good day. Primary schools are good, secondary school is good and there are some fantastic trails and riding on the Cotswold escapment.
My email is in my profile if you want to know more

For access to M4/M5 Coalpit Heath, Frampton Cotterell and Winterbourne might all fit the bill. Not as far out as Wotton-Under-Edge (and a bit less remote) but might tick the majority of boxes for you. Good pubs, schools and not too big a population (although not a small village).

I live in that area so happy to tell you more if required.

Whereabouts in Bristol will you be working? For me, this would have a huge bearing on which side of the city I live on.

Wallop +1 this is a v good question.... Bristol is supposed to be the 2nd worst city in the uk for traffic.....

+ parking might become more challenging went the mayor extends the residents parking to cover most of the core of the city

Its worth considering rail, cycle commute or p&r for your journey.....

It likely that the nr of spaces for bikes on fgw trains will reduce when the new rolling stock is introduced over the next few years

Nailsea, Chew Magna, Backwell etc couldn't have less of a village feel about them tbh. Too small to be interesting sized towns. Too big to be a friendly village.

But good schools tbf. And that sways a lot of folk into thinking they're ok places to live.

Chew Magna was one big millionaires' traffic jam when I cycled through it yesterday 😆

Definitely get somewhere with good train access into town.

Have a flat near the Uni and a house out past the airport. After rush hour it's a leisurely 30 minute into the Uni area, during rush hour it's horrible.

Check out the areas along the railway line towards weston - ie backwell and nailsea (share a station), yatton (also just to the north towards clevedon and congresbury/cleeve/wrington if you don't mind using the car/bike to get to the train).

One advantage of the area to the SW of Bristol is you can escape to the coast very quickly and you have the M5 within 10 minutes. It is a good 20/25 minutes round to the top of Bristol on the M5 though if trying to head out of the area on the motorways.

Ig I had to head back up to Bristol I would look to the Stoke Bishop/WoT areas. Some fantastic old houses in Henleaze by Blaise but sadly it's a bit rough 🙁 and back around the city is not going to happen for us as we need the space we have now.

We did the same move three years ago. Ended up in Chewton Mendip. 1 hour on the bike into Bristol, 17 miles on the back lanes. If you are looking to move to the sticks, you need to steer clear of the Nailsea area and head further south and east, close to Wells and Priddy. Chew Valley area is not my cup of tea either as it is fake village / commuter spot. Good luck!

Hands up for the Chew Valley, stay away from the main honey pot villages if you want value. Lovely countryside, straight into the Mendips although better for the road bike than the villages further west (blagdon etc). Great schools, we chose Bishop Sutton

Commute into Bristol will get you fit too!

Ps: not sure what a fake village is?

Fake for me means not authentic. In this context it means a snobby bourgeois commenter village with little social or cultural diversity.

All those damn bourgeoisie comments eh! 😉

Regarding travel into Bristol, just to clarify it is likely only one of us will be doing this with any regularity. Train would almost certainly be the preferred method, so as long as there was a station available, and the train went into Temple Meads, that would be one problem partly sorted. Obviously the shorter the train journey, the better. Part of our current predicament is that child care will likely not be compatible with a 1 hr 40 commute into London for my other half. Unfortunately my work does not mean I can always plan to assist with a child care pick up/ drop off, as I am often leaving/arriving too early/late, or staying away.

I would likely be heading further afield, likely on the M4.

I have heard traffic is an absolute nightmare round Bristol, so was thinking it would be best to only attempt commuting by car if you we're going against the flow, I.e. away from Bristol. Trains unfortunately would be rammed, but my wife has commuted ( as have I ) into London for a few years and after a while you just accept the trains will be packed if you get one much after 7am.

If you're heading onto the M4, then you need to be either on an M5 junction or North of Bristol. Do not attempt to drive through in a regular basis, you'll end up wanting to shoot yourself!

A lot of the 'fake' (wtf!) villages South west of Bristol are very, very nice. Granted, people tend not to sleep with their sisters (who are also their mums) on regular basis like in some more secluded areas, but they are nice. Im a little confused as to where these traditional villages that everyone still works within the parish boundaries are, everyone I've ever been in has a mixture of lived there all their life and newcomers..

Sounds like Bath might be a better option. Fast trains to London and Temple Meads(11 minutes), quick trip up the A46 to the M4.

IMHO you're thinking like a commuter, assuming the only ways to travel are car or train. If you lived in a suburb your wife could cycle or bus into the centre (traffic is bad, but buses have bus lanes and cycling isn't hard).
Some incomers I know are very happy in Southville, 15 mins walk from Temple Meads, 10 mins to Ashton Court for the trails, 15mins drive to the M5.
Older terraces, acceptable gardens, sense of belonging.
WoT has Blaise Estate on its doorstep, leafy surrounds, and was a village, once.

Fake for me means not authentic. In this context
it means a snobby bourgeois commenter village
with little social or cultural diversity.

That sounds like a very snobby middle class comment to me 😉

undoubtedly that does exist of course but to write off whole areas with those comments just doesn't reflect the real situation ime.

For M4 corridor commuting I'd be probably be looking NW of Bristol, eg Winterborne, or maybe Bath as Wallop suggested.

SW of Bristol is a bit further round to M4, although not too bad if you're early morning commuter. A mate in Nailsea works in Swindon, though he's often at his desk before I'm out of bed.

Cycling into Bristol is an option for the wife. Not really considering driving as an option for her, although to be honest I had not considered the bus network at all. Only disadvantage to the wife cycling is that she will get fitter than me again, meaning every climb she gets to the top first...

I am usually a fairly early morning commuter, leaving home around 6 am to avoid the M25.

Appreciate all the tips and suggestions so far, I am looking online and will try and organise a day or two looking at areas t get a good feel of how the places look. We found where we live now after stopping for a coffee half way through a ride - much better feel of a place when not in the car and or in a rush. Unfortunately not so easy now we have a kid...

We considered moving out of Bristol, and looked at many of the surrounding villages. We then realised that we were far, far better off staying where we are. Having all the amenities of a big city, no stupid commuting and easy access to the countryside is win/ win as far as we're concerned.

I'd recommend spending a lot of time looking at the schools particulary if you are looking at the Bristol catchment...

Bristol has some great schools ..... but many which are not so...
There's intense competition for good primary school places and the authority has a shortfall of 3,000 spaces predicted over the next year (they have a massive building programme underway at the moment)...

lots of folks move out of Bristol because of the schools.... or use the independent sector...)

Not a leafy village but it may be worth looking at Saltford. Smack bang between Bristol and Bath, good bus service, talk of opening a railway station, right on the bristol to bath cycle path. Good primary school and closest secondary school is one of the most sought after in the area (wellsway).

quick trip up the A46 to the M4.

Being in the burbs is not out of the question, just don't know many areas and ideally would like to be able to get to local riding without always taking the car. I live in a small town where I can be on the bridle ways in circa 3 minutes, so I am very spoilt.

As above I wouldn't discount Bristol itself without checking it out in detail - it is, in essence a lot of small villages and one of its big draws is ease of access to the countryside on a bike.

There are some stunning spots in the Mendips etc, but IME some of the more commutable villages are a little bland and soulless with no real life of their own - basically dormitories for Bath and Bristol.

It's a pretty "green" city anyway and you'd arguably get more of a village feel in some of the inner suburbs than you would in the commuter belt with the advantage of not having to contend with the vagaries of traffic and public transport.

I've lived in loads of areas close to the city centre - Southville, Totterdown, Montpelier, Easton and Cotham. All had really good community spirit and good local pubs. For biking, it's hard to beat Southville - nice area, close to dockside, easy access on the bike into town and out to Ashton Court, Avon Cycleway & Leigh Woods. Also not too bad (for Bristol!) for getting out in the car to M5/M4 for weekends away.

I live in a village on Dartmoor now, so understand the need to be out in the wilds, but all I'm saying is check it out for yourself.

For biking, it's hard to beat Southville

A BS3/Bedminster-inclusive amen to that.

I would look at North of Bristol at Winterbourne, Frampton Cotteral, Iron Acton, basically the villages surrounding the town of Yate. Location for motorways is pretty damn good and for public transport too!

And another BS3 Southville big-up. 10 min walk to centre, 15 mins to temple meads, 10 mins bike to AC/LW, North Street shops and supermarkets all within easy reach

Personally if schools and pubs are high priorities I would look at Wrington and Backwell. Wrington is good for riding on the Mendips, but not so great for motorway access. Both villages have strong communities, and lots going on (I live in Cleeve, which does have a decent community but no decent pub).

My sister lives in Winterbourne and hates it, as it has very little community (that she has found), and is essentially a commuter village. Houses are good values though.

Houses are good values though.

^^ That pic is Bemmy, hardly Southville. I could show you a photo of Yate as a nice suburb and tell you it's Winterbourne. The op would run screaming.

Hardly comparable. Southville is half a mile from bedminster, Winterbourne is 5 miles from yate.
Southville to hartcliffe or knowle west would be more accurate (although they're only 2.3 miles away).
Nothing against BS2 or wherever just that the OP has clearly stated a semi-rural village location, not city centre urban.

The Op wants semi rural not;

Ah, East St. I bought a whole wild rabbit there last week for £4 and punnets of English strawberries for 80p. Anyway, your picture is less than 5 minutes' walk from

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And

[img] [/img]

BS3 rules.

Depending on where you will have to commute to, Taunton or Gloucester might be as close as some of the other suggestions. Might not offer want you want, but also worth considering IMHO.

Yep. That certainly beats anything in winterbourne.....
[img] [/img]

Yep. That certainly beats anything in winterbourne.....

Agreed:

[img] [/img]

Yeah, that was pretty bad. All in all an isolated case though. If you want to talk about crime......
BS36

Criminal activity BS36 Stats National
Vehicle/car crime 0.0476 0.153 Better than average crime rate Better than average
Violent crime 0.1667 0.2989 Better than average crime rate Better than average
Burglary 0.119 0.1976 Better than average crime rate Better than average
Robbery 0 0.0297 Better than average crime rate Better than average
Antisocial behaviour 0.5476 1.0531 Better than average crime rate Better than average
Other crime 0.4286 0.7553 Better than average crime rate Better than average
Total crime 1.3095 2.4876 Better than average crime rate Better than average

Criminal activity BS2 Stats National
Vehicle/car crime 0.3125 0.153 Worse than average crime rate Worse than average
Violent crime 0.3333 0.2989 Worse than average crime rate Worse than average
Burglary 0.2708 0.1976 Worse than average crime rate Worse than average
Robbery 0.0833 0.0297 Worse than average crime rate Worse than average
Antisocial behaviour 1.0938 1.0531 Worse than average crime rate Worse than average
Other crime 0.8438 0.7553 Worse than average crime rate Worse than average
Total crime 2.9375 2.4876 Worse than average crime rate Worse than average

How about schools?
http://dashboard.ofsted.gov.uk/dash.php?urn=135944

In 2012, 74% of all pupils attained five GCSEs grade A* to C including English and mathematics.

In 2012, 40% of all pupils attained five GCSEs grade A* to C including English and mathematics.

Gribble, have a look at the Frampton Cotterell/Winterbourne/Iron Acton area. I grew up in Frampton Cotterell. The schools in the area were (and probably still are) good. This is very close to where I [url= https://maps.google.co.uk/?ll=51.535103,-2.485716&spn=0.000831,0.003613&t=h&z=19&layer=c&cbll=51.534996,-2.486283&panoid=iwf2r5gBlHmi2r_QYcq7Vg&cbp=12,168.83,,0,0 ]lived[/url] The blue railings are for a good infant/junior school. Not to far a way is the Ridings High School (former students being Wayne Hussey, Becky Bondage and almost J.K. Rowling)

It used to take me about 35 minutes to cycle into the centre of Bristol using the roads. There are easy links to the Bristol/Bath cycle path.

NHS dentist as well if that floats your boat.

Wrecker, where was that Winterbourne picture taken?

The roman camp I think.

Yeah, that was pretty bad. All in all an isolated case though. If you want to talk about crime......
BS36

Oh get a grip, it was a joke in reference to your cherry picking...

Those of us extolling the virtues of BS3 are making a very simple point: we have all the amenities and attractions of a city, plus exceptionally easy access to top-notch mtb and road riding.

Of course, if you prefer to commute in a 4x4 and vote UKIP, that's up to you...

it was a joke in reference to your cherry picking...

Of course, if you prefer to commute in a 4x4 and vote UKIP, that's up to you...

How about Long Ashton - has a villagey feel in parts and is very handy for the countryside, AC/LW trails and for commuting into Bristol. Otherwise would suggest Wrington or Backwell.

I don’t think it’s been mentioned yet, so I’ll vote for Wickwar. No rail links into Bristol, but there’s a fairly direct rat run in. Maybe up to Charfield or possibly Tytherington?

Seems a lot of it going around.....
The point is really not which is betterer/bestest, it's that the OP has stated a clear preference. BS2/3 must be brilliant for a young/care free person with all that's going on. I wish I'd lived there when I was younger. The OP wants a quiet village/rural area to raise his kids. I'm not saying that winterbourne or the surrounding area is perfect for him, but it's a fair sight more suitable than the city centre.

Well, I'm raising my kid in BS3, and we're finding it just great. Why would you think that a city is unsuitable for raising a family?

I don't think it's unsuitable, just less suitable for the OP given his preferences (and the ofsted report of course 😉 )

All of the OP's preferences are well served where I live, including the good school. Except the train of course - he/ she won't need one of those.

I'm speaking as someone who went through this process pretty recently, and came to realise that I was better off staying put. Rather than have to jump in the car for everything, I can walk to a good range of independent shops, swimming lessons, nice parks, the city farm, @Bristol, toddler play groups, and a range of child-friendly cafes and bars. The nursery is a 20 minute bike ride along mostly traffic free paths and my cycle commute is less than 15 minutes.

Admittedly, secondary schools may be a problem, but that's a few years off yet.

Thank you for the advice so far.

In terms of travelling into Bristol, the wife's work place would likely be bottom of the Whiteladies Road, (so what I would simplistically call west of the city centre). Looking at it, Temple Meads is really not that close - google says 30 mins walk. As the idea is to cut commute time, perhaps an alternative transport method would be preferable (especially since the bike costs virtually £0 in annual cost).

Looking at the map, Wraxall does look a good choice (easy bike ride into the city centre, close to a train station if required). It is also close to the M5 for me. I think Pill may have also been mentioned above. Abbots Leigh looks expensive.

The Battleaxes in Wraxall does a very good sunday roast 😀
Good real ales too.

The worst thing about BS3 is Ashton Gate football ground ! Bedminster itself is a much improved place from the 70s when I remember shopping there as a kid and although its in the city it does have easy access to Ashton Court and countyrside to the South .The villages to the South of Bristol in the Chew valley area are nice with access to Bristol and The Mendips but they are expensive

Abbots Leigh looks expensive

It is.

Wraxall is nice, not much other than the Battleaxes pub (nice food oriented pub recently done up) and a good infant/primary school.

Not that much housing in Wraxall itself, so limited choice. Although [url= http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-24840960.html ]Gable Farm[/url] is for sale if you have the budget. A lot of houses listed as Wraxall are actually on the Trendlewood end of Nailsea, it's a parish/postcode boundary thing. Ideally placed for access to the sustrans route in to Bristol.

Long Ashton is also worth a look in that area.

There are buses from any of the above, plus a P&R at Long Ashton that is worth considering as an option. http://www.parkandride.net/bristol/ A short walk up Jacob Wells road will get you to the botton of Whiteladies road from Hotwells/Anchor road which is on the P&R route.

Bottom of Whiteladies?
Some of the commuter trains from Weston & Nailsea pass BTM to stop at Clifton Down, 5 mins from the BBC.
What#s your budget for a house? That will have some bearing on where you end up, I guess, unless you like the look of that £1.75M farm. £300k will get you somewhere in Horfield close to the common & the Gloucester Road (cool), 20mins ride from the Bridge, 5 mins drive from the M32, 35 mins walk from Whiteladies, good schools nearby.

Gable Farm looks to be ever so slightly over budget. I also only have a push along lawn mower, so the gardening might take a while.

Will keep searching google maps...

At the moment Gable farm and Belmont estate are the only two for sale in the village, not sure whats on the top road that calls itself Wraxall too.
Mark90 is right about plastic Wraxall too on the edge of Nailsea, bloody interlopers pretending they have money. Pffft.

A mate lives just off that high street in Bemmy, in his words 'worst place, I've ever lived'.

He much preferred Easton, as he had less grief and never had his car broken into, compared to Bedminster where he is on 4 broken windows in 3 years, and last time his steering wheel was nicked from his Corsa!

Houses in Backwell aren't too bad if you can live with an 80's house (~ 180K), close access to the train and cyclepath plus the schools are very very good.

Chew Valley is a gamble, as that's directly over the proposed new flight paths for Bristol airport.

Well, I'm raising my kid in BS3, and we're finding it just great. Why would you think that a city is unsuitable for raising a family?

I'm guessing shit schools, high levels of air pollution and significantly higher crime rates might be a couple of reasons. Mind you it would be much easier to score drugs off your kid when their older 🙂

Not Yate. Our Estate was OK but the town centre reminded me of Cannock. Chipping Sodbury seemed Ok, but then again I'm originally from Cannock.

At the moment Gable farm and Belmont estate are the only two for sale in the village

There is a [url= http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-39371083.html ]third property in Wraxall for sale[/url]. Been on the market for a good while now. It's actually up with 5 different agents.

I did see another sign in The Grove for sale. I think its with Hunter Leahy.
And I've just seen they have one for Tower House Lane.

hmm, that Gable Farm looks interesting...

I had forgotten about Wraxall, I was looking there a few years back when I was studying but ended up buying a flat in Cotham. Been thinking about moving up a bit closer to Bristol but we are looking for a nice farm to set up my business from.

that £745k one is horrible. How is that worth that much?

It's not. That's why it's been on the market for so long. Over a year, maybe two. I wasn't really paying much attention to the local housing market prior to that.

A mate lives just off that high street in Bemmy, in his words 'worst place, I've ever lived'.

He much preferred Easton,

Jesus - if there was ever a reason not to live somewhere it would be when someone says they would prefer to live in Easton!

I'd look north of Bristol personally, Olveston, Tockington, Winterbourne, Charfield, Thornbury, that sort of area. Good schools and enough shops and things to never have to worry about going near the city centre. There is plenty of countryside within walking distance, loads of bus routes south into the city.

Bedminster and Southville are horrific places, Bedminster because its full of chav scum from Hartcliffe looking for stuff to steal and people with no teeth arguing with sign posts. Southville because tehy all have a chip on their shoulder that they cant afford a place on the other side of the river and pretend that they actually prefer it there and not Hotwells or Clifton!....

Where about's do you live Mark if you don't mind me asking?

I live in Nailsea. Can only dream of living in Gable Farm, although I have been in the pool 🙂

I guess you are Wraxall?

Near the Battleaxes

How about Almondsbury, close to m4/5 interchange, the bowl is a good pub, should be easy to get to whiteladies. Don't know about schools, road riding is good in the lanes albeit flat and cwmcarn short drive away. Doubt there's any mtb on the door though?

I'm guessing shit schools, high levels of air pollution and significantly higher crime rates might be a couple of reasons. Mind you it would be much easier to score drugs off your kid when their older

That's three reasons. Did you go to school in Bristol?

Anyway, air pollution is a direct result of car traffic, so if you're commuting in, you're part of the problem. Bristol education is hampered by parents who take their kids out of the city. Again, if you commute in, you're part of the problem.

Bedminster and Southville are horrific places, Bedminster because its full of chav scum from Hartcliffe looking for stuff to steal and people with no teeth arguing with sign posts. Southville because tehy all have a chip on their shoulder that they cant afford a place on the other side of the river and pretend that they actually prefer it there and not Hotwells or Clifton!....

Sheesh, I take the mick out of Southvillians (in the nicest possible way) but just in case anyone not from Bristol is reading that, be assured it's utter bollocks.