Winchester vs London

Exploring the pros and cons of moving to Winchester, Hampshire

Winnall Nature Reserve in Winchester

When moving out of London, it is easy to find the facts and figures of some of the places we might be considering going to. Sometimes we might just want to find a personal moving story from someone in a similar position to ourselves.

After my husband and I decided we wanted to move, I spent ages googling things like ‘What is it like living in Winchester’ and ‘where is the best place to raise children’. Looking beyond the articles written by local estate agents who were biased and looking in forums instead.

So if you want facts and figures, this article won’t help. But If it is my personal experience of moving to Winchester you want to read about, read on my friend …

Public Transport

As a non car owning family, dealing with public transport has been the biggest change for us. If you are too living without a car for whatever reason, I’d really consider if Winchester, Hampshire is for you. And I’d totally advise against moving to the outlying villages like Kings Worthy, Hursley and Otterbourne, unless you are a homebody.

People love to complain about public transport in London, but I think ultimately the travel in London is bloody good compared to out these parts.

Waiting for the bus isn’t too bad, bus stops have a digital display (but not as many as would in London), if they don’t - they might have a QR code which you scan and then open a webpage to tell you the bus times or have a code which you can text to the Bus Times 84268, or you download the Stage Coach app and keep updated there.

Buses are not as frequent in Winchester, so if one develops an issue, you will be waiting a while for the next one. I stopped taking buses so much in Winchester when I tried to visit a friend in Highcliffe (I had a buggy and a walking child and needed a break) the bus came and terminated in the city as it was running late. I had to wait another 30 mins and not even know if that one would do the journey. This was not a one off event! The problem is that not as many people use the busses (because they can be reliable and too expensive with kids) and so they don’t have as many on, and so the circle continues. I do think we will end up getting a car at some point!

Public transport outside Winchester is even harder and as much as I like to visit places like Hillier Gardens in Romsey, I’ve had some journeys where the bus didn’t turn up and I have had to wait for the next, standing by a busy road, with two young children. It didn’t feel very safe and also annoying having to pay £7 for an adult and £5 for kids over 5 just to be delayed. That will be £24 for us to visit as a family from the summer, no thanks!

In London you can have a travel card to cover the entire area AND overground trains, this is not possible in Hampshire due to the different bus companies so if you need to go to different areas on different days - it will add up. It is possible to live without a car here, but it definitely means you can’t enjoy all Hampshire has to offer.

Shops / The High Street

When in London, I was never far from a newsagent for that emergency bottle of milk and even getting to the big supermarkets was not that difficult. Where we are in Abbott’s Barton, we are 10 mins walk from the nearest newsagent which is pretty tiny. Maybe 15 mins walk from the Tescos garage and similar from the High street shops.

There are enough shops in town for basic needs but it is not particularly great if you are living on a budget, the cheaper shop options are out towards Eastleigh, there are big shopping malls in Southampton and Basingstoke.

As London has more shops and better public transport, they are obviously easier to get to and provide more choice

But something Winchester, Hampshire has which London doesn’t.. is only one High Street, it is quite special to go in to town and always see a familiar friendly face to chat to. When I go out in Winchester I feel so much more connected to the world and it is a lovely feeling - I always found going out in London a bit lonely, it was highly unlikely I’d ever run in to anyone I knew on a quick trip to the shops.

So for number of shops and variety of shops, London is better. But for community and experience, I much prefer Winchester. It suits those who like the quiet life. Quality over quantity.

To deal with not having as much choice, we would do our big shops in Basingstoke and Southampton (they are both near a station) or do it online. There is a big Tescos in Winnall and big Sainsburys in Badgers Farm / Olivers Battery, as well as some other shops.

Community

I have never lived in a house where we knew our neighbours beyond to say hello to. My schools were not close to my house and we didn’t play with local kids when we were growing up.

Here in Winchester, we chat to the neighbours on both sides of our house. We have similar aged kids with one of them, so the girls love to go and play together outside. We live near the local playground, so it has been fantastic for getting to know other families. Winchester, Hampshire for us is the perfect place to raise children.

Before Covid, I used to do the rounds of the local toddler groups with my girls and made some great friends that way and as Winchester is small, we will see people in town - as I mentioned above. If you prefer a more anonymous existence, I am not sure Winchester would be the place for you, however if you love community and connecting with others - Winchester, Hampshire is the perfect place to do that.

It obviously takes some time to get out and meet people, but if you are prepared to put the effort in, chat to new people, join groups, frequent one of the local independent shops - you will surely find people that you connect with.

Our walk in to town is along a beautiful part of the river, I will never get tired of it.

The other lovely thing you will note about Winchester compared to London, is the people you know will on the whole stick around to London. As I grew up in London, it seemed a lot of people I knew would eventually move out eventually. We made friends knowing they would not be around for that long - it got rather depressing eventually living in such a transient population.

I feel a greater peace here knowing that now all the kids are settled in schools, my children won’t have to say goodbye to so many people as we did in London and that they might even still know the same people in 40 years as Winchester is a smaller community.

Arts & Culture Scene

This is a question people ask me about quite a lot, but I wonder what your idea of an arts and culture scene would be?

Winchester is pretty small for a city, and that is reflected of the variety of shops and entertainment venues on offer. There are interesting events on various weekends over the year, such as the Hat Fair and even Winchester Fashion Week. There is the Theatre Royal putting on all sorts of lovely performances and shows, and as this is Winchester and not the West End, you will probably run in to at least one friend. This great page has a bit more info. One of our annual highlights is the famous Winchester Christmas Market, before Covid it did mean that from the end of November, the high street was heaving and all the coffee shops packed, we looked forward to getting our high street back after Christmas. However now, I want the crowds back, it is better for the businesses.

What I love about Winchester is the History. I honestly can’t get enough of it. On a cold winter’s day in 1642, a group of Roundhead soliders came to Winchester Cathedral, they opened the caskets of the bishops and kings - hoping to find treasure. When they only found skeletons, they threw them through the windows, destroying them.

I wonder what went through the mind of the townspeople as they gathered the bones and glass, as they stored them in boxes beneath their beds. The glass and bones were kept safe until more peaceful times when they were once again restored. Such was the damage, that the windows were not able to put back exactly the way they were, but they were restored. So as you sit and enjoy a coffee from an local Winchester Cafe, you can marvel on all that the beautiful Cathedral has seen in its 900 years of life. Find out more about this story here: Winchester Cathedral and The Roundheads.

We all know London’s amazing culture, arts and history scene. It is very hard to beat but I think Winchester has a lot to offer. When we were choosing where to move to, I picked Winchester pretty much on the basis of the pretty high street. It does not have that urban look of London, with street art around though and that will definitely be off putting to some people.

Due to Winchester’s size, it is better to appreciate it as a place that will provide you a nice home and community to base yourself from but from which you will likely want to travel out of to get your fill or arts and culture.

Playgrounds

As you know, playgrounds are most definitely my thing and I think they have a huge role to play for all areas of life. By benefitting children, they benefit us all and there is nothing like more than to see a playground full of happy children, having fun.

My childhood in London gave me two playgrounds which I played at regularly, and they were lovely playgrounds. One was in Islington and one in Hackney and both about 15 mins walk from my house, I wouldn’t have hoped to meet friends there unless it was arranged in advance but they were nice enough playgrounds. There are a lot more playgrounds that I know of now if I took my kids to London but they are dotted about.

Winchester, as small as it is, has 24 playgrounds - and that’s just the ones run by the council - there are more which are run by the local parish councils such as Oliver’s Battery Rec and Harestock and there are even more in driving distance in the surrounding villages to Hampshire.

Whichever playground we go to, we seem to run into the kids friends and I really think it is giving them such a magical childhood and allowing them to feel connected. It helps to make Winchester such a family friendly place and the ideal place to raise young children.

Reviews of some of Winchesters favourite children’s playgrounds.

As well as the actually playgrounds, you also have beautiful places to visit in Winchester and great walks. Less than a minute from our house we have a river the kids like to paddle in, there are two nature reserves and numerous green areas. Find out more here on Beautiful Nature Walks in Winchester.

Access to Hampshire Countryside

If I walked from my flat for 15 minutes, I’d not even have reached the nearest large park - Wandsworth Common, never mind a more country-ish atmosphere. 15 minutes from my house in Winchester, gets me to Barton Meadows which is the start of a walk through fields / a nature reserve to Kings Worthy, you can get on to the South Downs really easily from Winchester at Highcliffe. If you have a car - Hampshire is your Oyster.

There are so many beautiful parks and walks in the area I don’t know where to start. So I’ll leave you with this article I wrote about local walks. Bear in mind, this ONLY covers the ones I know about in Winchester and is a mere glimpse of what really is on offer. If you love the countryside but don’t want to be too remote, you will love Winchester.

Rough guide to local nature walks in Winchester

Dog Ownership

I am not a dog owner myself, but if you are looking for a dog friendly place - I think you could do worse than Winchester. We see many many dogs when we are out and about, and with the countryside on your doorstep - there are plenty of lovely places to go for a walk. This page has some great ideas Dog Walks in Hampshire. Some of the cafes in town allow dogs in (in non pandemic times!)

Independent Businesses

Have you had enough of corporate culture and you want to live the good life and put your money towards supporting small independents? Winchester would be ideal to support you on this journey, we have many fabulous independent shops and cafes, from shops such as Open House Deli, which is a cafe and eco friendly retail store, to the Flat Whites van on Market Street with it’s fabulous Insta page showing off their gorgeous cookies to the markets that gather on Fridays and the weekend. The markets are currently close due to covid but check out this page to find out when they are reopening… Winchester Market, the Farmers Market itself does seem to be still running and there are other stalls on the other weeks.

And of course, I should plug my own business which is as a professional Family Lifestyle Photographer, find out more at Evie Winter Photography, and if you are looking some beautiful family photographs taken in the Historic and natural surroundings of Winchester, do get in touch!

Childcare and Schools

Due to the number of kids in the area, you can imagine we are well served for nurseries and schools around here and they all seem to pretty good. As a former childcare professional, I always say - don’t put much stock in to the Ofsted report, visit the establishments and think about how they would suit your own kids.

For more information on local Winchester schools, have a read of this article Rough guide to schools in Winchester, Hampshire

There are many many activities for preschool children, to get a better idea, do go and check out the local Facebook groups (see below) to see what is on.

Having so many families here already has really made Winchester an ideal city to live with my family, and improved my experience of motherhood. I suspect we will stay here much longer than I ever originally anticipated.

Home Education

If you are a home educating family, I would warn you to think carefully about Winchester. As a small and expensive city, there are not so many home educators in Winchester itself. Most home educators that I know, live down in Totton / Southampton and other smaller towns. This means there are not many meet ups in Winchester either, and a lot of meet ups will involve a bit of a journey to get to and many are in places which don’t have public transport.

We have really struggled with the travelling and finally have made the decision to put the girls in school for a bit as it is just too hard to get to the classes and meet ups we would have liked to go to. If you want to home educate in Winchester and make the most of the wonderful things Hampshire has to offer, you will definitely need a car.

However, if you do have a car and are willing to travel about, Hampshire has loads to offer and the home educating community are just lovely. I helped to set up an Exploring Nature with Children group which meets at Hillier Gardens and met some fab people through it.

Local Facebook Groups

Obviously in London, everything is bigger and that includes Facebook groups for parents with almost 18k people in them, covering just one postcode(!)
However there is plenty to keep you going in Winchester, if online groups are your thing.

Moving to Hampshire: My group for people looking to move or who have moved and want to meet others. Mainly a Winchester focus but hopefully will add more about other areas.
Winchester Parents Group: It is what it says, meet other parents, ask questions, find out about activities
Winchester Pics: A lovely page to see photos of Winchester and get ideas of places to visit if you are new to the area.
We Are Winchester: This one is actually a page, but a very useful one!
I Need A Whisk Winchester: A really fab group where you can give away old stuff and find new to you stuff and save it from the landfill.
Wild Winchester: Good to get a better idea of local nature happenings and meet likeminded people.

Diversity

This is another question I get asked a lot about and so I have spoken to some friends with multiracial families about it, as I obviously don’t feel I am qualified myself.

When visiting Winchester from somewhere like London, the lack of diversity is quite notable. There are a few non white families here and more multiracial and multicultural families, but it is no where near as diverse as London. It is quite a difference.

I asked a couple of my friends who have are part of multiracial families, they both said they found Winchester to be inclusive and were happy to recommend living here. There are a lot of people who have moved here from places like London and also people from abroad so I feel like it is a more open minded kind of place to be and really hope to see the diversity improve.

Politics

Mark Twain said ‘Never talk about religion or politics in polite company’, so I shall just give you the facts and keep my personal opinions to myself on this one! Winchester’s MP is currently a conservative by the name of Steve Brine and the council is under Liberal Democrat control. So as you can probably surmise from that, the population of Winchester are a rather mixed lot politically. I think you will find your people here whatever political affiliation you have.

Commuting to London

As I wrote about in a previous blog, commuting can work, but it depends where in London you are heading to. We do know a lot of people who commute (in non covid times) to London, the most successful of these commutes are people who work near Waterloo Station.

For us, when we moved, commuting was a nightmare. My husband was working in Teddington and so having to get the train in and then out again - the times were as such that it was at least 1 hr 30 mins without delays (rare), and sometimes up to three hrs if there were train delays (!) It was a happy day when he finally got a job in Southampton and the commute was 40 minutes. Incidentally I do have a friend that was driving to Teddington a few days a week and was fine with that journey.

Sports and Leisure

Sports enthusiasts are well served in Winchester, there is football and a rugby club where you can watch the games and which run classes for kids, there are also tennis courts. Within the next few months, a brand new leisure centre will be opening in Bar End Area with a 50 meter pool. Check out the council website for further details: Bar End Leisure Centre. There are Park Runs at the weekend and a strong cycling community culture. There are opportunities in the area for wild swimming and kyaking and of course, walking and hiking.

Anyway. This is pretty comprehensive and I hope it gives you some good food for thought. I’m afraid I can’t promise to answer individual emails as I have received too many but if you would like to chat more to local Winchester folk, please come find me in my facebook group Moving To Hampshire.