Family with 3 young children buying in Bottesford!!

[Kerryb]

Hi Everyone!

Well as the title says, we are looking at buying a property in the village and have made a offer on one! We currently live in a nice suburb of Nottingham but we have thought about moving out of the city for a number of years, my partner spent his childhood living in Kinoulton. He remembers how safe it was and happy he was until he got stir crazy bored at 15.

Is it a friendly place to live? Are new people encouraged in to the village, Will my girls make friends, with it being a village how clicky is it? Looking at other posts just to reasurre people, we are responsible dog/child owners and are hoping the pubs are friendly and welcoming!

Anyone moved from the city and are loving it! Keep talking myself out of it probably because we won't know a sole

All views welcome good or bad!

Thanks everyone ! K

[thefunkygibbon]

You will all be fine. We only moved here 4 years ago (from a suburb of Nottingham) and have found it to be very friendly. No idea if locals look down or discourage non- "local people" (a'la League of Gentlemen ) are but we've not seen any evidence of it.
I think that mainly that Bottesford is a larger village which means that new people tend not to be as obvious like they are when its a very small village.

Everything you will need is here.. 2 mums and tots sessions.. little un's ballet, dads and tots once a month and a few other kids things will give you plenty of opportunity to meet similar mums/families (my wife/child included probably)

i hope your house purchase goes smoothly. where abouts in bottesford is it?

[TotallyTracy]

Hi Kerryb

We too moved here about 4 years ago and have 2 young children. I moved from a town down south where I had everything on my doorstep and like you wondered if I was doing the right thing. Moving to a village and more specifically Bottesford was a great choice.

I've been impressed with just how much goes on, and how much you can actually get in the village itself.

People are genuinely friendly too, say hello and chat. And the kids have settled into local schools and playgroups well. I've not found it clicky. There are families who've been here for generations, and know everyone and everything, and then there's others that have moved into the village for all the reasons you've said, so there's a good mixture. My youngest was born here, so I guess she'll never feel like a newcomer!

If your move goes ahead, get in touch again, and I'd be happy to share what I've found since I've been here, there's so much going on in the village to explain in one e-mail. Playgroups, schools, day care nursery, activities for kids - rainbows, brownies, ballet, sing a rainbow singing for pre-schoolers, library with story time for kids, community centre, adult education classes, creche, hairdressers - yes good ones!, beautician, deli, co-op (where you can get almost anything!), spar, post-office, play parks, health visitors clinics, doctors and chemist I could go on. Tesco and Waitrose deliver. There's a good Indian in another village that delivers. A chinese and a fish and chip shop in the village as well as good eateries and cafes in the village.

Look at Village Voice and the Village Guide for loads more info. And then enjoy!

You'll have no problem finding and making friends for you and your girls and getting to find your way around.

T

[Seven P's]

My family and I have been in the village for just over 2 years now and I 100% concur with both posts above. However, if I was to be picky (and I am) I would say that the Red Lion pub, although serves a cracking pint of "Old Speckled Hen", the owners are a little grumpy towards children and my kids are VERY well behaved but always get evil eyes or comments made to them if they dare to venture anywhere near the bar. I had an unfortunate 1st visit to the Bull Inn as well when the landlady would not allow me to play pool with my 13 & 14 year old sons even if I was playing with them and supervising. It upset them both.

Apart from that the schools are fantastic and you will get to know many other parents through them. The train service is very handy for shopping in Nottingham on a weekend and saves all the hassle of driving and parking and cost around £15 return for a family of 5. Reliability has improved in the past year. You have very good convenience stores but also have ASDA just up the road. All the restaurants, chippy & Chinese are top notch. Not much more you could ask for.

[freddyg]

Hi Kerryb,

We too were in a similar situation to you.

We moved to Bottesford from Wollaton, Nottingham almost six years ago..... We wish we'd done it years ago!

It's a lovely place for all the reasons previously mentioned.

We haven't had any issues with any of the pubs and have taken our two (aged 3 and 4) into the Red Lion and Rutland a few times for food. Never an issue.


Seven-P,
As for your experiences with your young teenagers in the pub - unfortunately, I believe the Law isn't on your side. I think it is at the Landlord's discretion as to whether those under the age of 14 are allowed anywhere on the premises when not there to dine.