General Best place to live in Oxfordshire?

[Foley]

A local developer has just built a lot of houses on a field containing at least 6 natural springs, they raised the level of the ground by at least 8ft, compacted it and built the houses on top. They added "balancing ponds" and new drainage, all up to the necessary requirements/surveys/advice.
Fast forward 12 months and 3 of the unsold units have sufficient subsidence to be demolished.

Where was that?

 

[Essexyellows]

Where was that?

Leicestershire......

 

[dickwalton1964]

I currently live in a West Oxfordshire village but will look to down size in a couple of years. Witney is a great town but becoming over developed, same with a lot of the surrounding villages. We will be looking within the Witney/Buford/Lechlade/Faringdon/Wantage areas. Villages like Bampton, Clanfield, Buckland appeal and there’s some lovely villages in the Wantage area. The Hanney’s and places out towards White Horse Hill are nice and not over developed.

 

[Peterdev]

Anywhere with "Meadows" in the name will get wet/flood.
Surprisingly many places near rivers will get wet/flood.
The builders can put in as much mitigation as they like, it just pushes the problem somewhere else.
A local developer has just built a lot of houses on a field containing at least 6 natural springs, they raised the level of the ground by at least 8ft, compacted it and built the houses on top. They added "balancing ponds" and new drainage, all up to the necessary requirements/surveys/advice.
Fast forward 12 months and 3 of the unsold units have sufficient subsidence to be demolished.

That sounds dreadful. I know when I lived in Chelmsford, an area called Chelmer Village in Springfield was built with infrastructure. The area regularly flooded during the eighties and to my knowledge still does

 

[Peterdev]

This is the home that we are hoping to reserve, on the Carterton development. I was also really impressed with the Bloor homes in Witney but for 50k less, you get more house for your money in Carterton. Crazy what moving a few miles up the road does to the cost of a house:

https://bloorhomes.com/developments/western/brize-meadow/the-heywood/plot-66

And of course you’ve got the nice Italian restaurant that’s moved from Witney.
ive heard Carterton is quite friendly too

 

[Peterdev]

‘Hill’ in the name should mean you’re safe from flooding. Rose Hill isn’t so bad!

Or of course Headington Hill

 

[Peterdev]

I currently live in a West Oxfordshire village but will look to down size in a couple of years. Witney is a great town but becoming over developed, same with a lot of the surrounding villages. We will be looking within the Witney/Buford/Lechlade/Faringdon/Wantage areas. Villages like Bampton, Clanfield, Buckland appeal and there’s some lovely villages in the Wantage area. The Hanney’s and places out towards White Horse Hill are nice and not over developed.

Useful information on where to look.
We have stayed in Witney quite a few times and you are right. It is overdeveloped. People I know who live there say they’d never move to Carterton although you get a lot more for your money.
Bampton is nice. What surprises me is although it is cheaper, and a bit out of the way, the council tax is quite a lot more.

 

[OX14]

Carterton has some rough areas and no character, it might be a hell of a lot cheaper than Witney but it's like comparing Berinsfield and Abingdon except Carterton has more shops. Bampton is a nice village, so is Standlake. Witney is being over developed the same as Abingdon, Didcot, Wantage and Bicester. I will be looking to relocate in the next few years and I'm also thinking of moving to a village rather than another town.

 

[Peterdev]

Bradwell Village is the area just outside Witney, and there is a maintenance charge of £720.00ph on freehold properties.
I’ve not come across charges like this before

 

[OX14]

Bradwell Village is the area just outside Witney, and there is a maintenance charge of £720.00ph on freehold properties.
I’ve not come across charges like this before

It's quite common now on prestige estates like Bradwell. I've visited that village (estate) a few times over the years and it's well kept. There is also a lot more rules with these estates as what you can do to your house and garden etc (covenants). I wouldn't be against paying this yearly maintenance cost if the estate was kept like Bradwell is. I would have a problem paying it though if it was on great western park (didcot) where its half finished, litter everywhere and crack heads living in the council houses (housing associations).

That's touched on another subject. If you do buy new make sure you find out how many housing association houses /flats are in the developmet. I'm not sure on the number but after so many dwellings then 20% have to be social rent. You may not think this is a bad thing but put this in to perspective, social rent on a new build is about £150 a month more expensive than the equivalent sized older property with the same council. So normally the people on full benefits end up in the new builds rather than the working class that you will find in the older council estates.

 

[Manorlounger]

Going to take a little look at Drayton this morning on our way up to the game. Bloor Homes have an estate in progress so we thought it worth a look. Something that has come up is the annoying practice of changing the prices of property to suit the position on the estate. The same house in two locations (same estate) differs in price by £45k !
We also want to investigate whether a developer is willing to alter the interior to suit our desires. Just means putting a stud wall in where currently a door would be found and taking another stud wall out. The idea being to turn a small bedroom into a large dressing room. *waits for a sucking of air through teeth*

 

[Peterdev]

Going to take a little look at Drayton this morning on our way up to the game. Bloor Homes have an estate in progress so we thought it worth a look. Something that has come up is the annoying practice of changing the prices of property to suit the position on the estate. The same house in two locations (same estate) differs in price by £45k !
We also want to investigate whether a developer is willing to alter the interior to suit our desires. Just means putting a stud wall in where currently a door would be found and taking another stud wall out. The idea being to turn a small bedroom into a large dressing room. *waits for a sucking of air through teeth*

Good luck. Will be happy to hear what you think. We’re thinking of £300K spend so we can take out some equity

 

[Big Ronaldo]

Only one problem with Drayton as I see it and it is only if you plan to be regularly travelling back into Abingdon.
The Drayton Road (Abingdon end) is a terrible bottleneck.
At peak times it is best avoided unless you fancy adding 25 minutes to your journey time.

 

[Manorlounger]

Only one problem with Drayton as I see it and it is only if you plan to be regularly travelling back into Abingdon.
The Drayton Road (Abingdon end) is a terrible bottleneck.
At peak times it is best avoided unless you fancy adding 25 minutes to your journey time.

Ah! The bliss that is not commuting anymore! My present, soon to be past, commute took up to an hour cross country dodging hold ups and the like.

 

[Manorlounger]

Good luck. Will be happy to hear what you think. We’re thinking of £300K spend so we can take out some equity

We are facing a bigger spend to get what we really want but, fortunately, we think we can cover the extra. Bloody stamp duty is a killer though!

 

[OX14]

Going to take a little look at Drayton this morning on our way up to the game. Bloor Homes have an estate in progress so we thought it worth a look. Something that has come up is the annoying practice of changing the prices of property to suit the position on the estate. The same house in two locations (same estate) differs in price by £45k !
We also want to investigate whether a developer is willing to alter the interior to suit our desires. Just means putting a stud wall in where currently a door would be found and taking another stud wall out. The idea being to turn a small bedroom into a large dressing room. *waits for a sucking of air through teeth*

If its the estate going up of the high street then they look really nice houses and not crammed in like a lot of new builds. Mind I wouldn't pay upwards of £450k to live in Drayton. Drayton will soon be attached to Sutton Courtenay and Didcot making it a suburb rather than a semi rural village it use to be 10 years ago.

 

[bazzer9461]

Going to take a little look at Drayton this morning on our way up to the game. Bloor Homes have an estate in progress so we thought it worth a look. Something that has come up is the annoying practice of changing the prices of property to suit the position on the estate. The same house in two locations (same estate) differs in price by £45k !
We also want to investigate whether a developer is willing to alter the interior to suit our desires. Just means putting a stud wall in where currently a door would be found and taking another stud wall out. The idea being to turn a small bedroom into a large dressing room. *waits for a sucking of air through teeth*

A bit small manor my nephew is buying there and the rooms are a bit small

 

[AbbeyOx]

grew up in Drayton in the 70's and had a real community feel, but is a lot bigger now.
2 miles from Abingdon and about 10 to the kassam but as mentioned by @Big Ronaldo traffic can be an issue especially if the A34 has a problem (which seems to be most days)

 

[bazzer9461]

grew up in Drayton in the 70's and had a real community feel, but is a lot bigger now.
2 miles from Abingdon and about 10 to the kassam but as mentioned by @Big Ronaldo traffic can be an issue especially if the A34 has a problem (which seems to be most days)

There was a crash multi vehicle on the A34 and the Hanney road was in chocka and all the way to Abingdon via Drayton. It’s a pain in the a**e

 

[AbbeyOx]

I work 6 miles from Abingdon @bazzer9461 and should take no more than 20 minutes.
when the A34 has crashes like that, it can take up to 1 1/2 hours!!!
doesn't matter which way I go, the whole area goes into chaos.
if I didn't have to lug my gardening tools around with me I'd get a bike