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We're thinking of moving area and one option is the Cotswolds.
I like that this would put me ~1 hour from the Forest of Dean and loads of riding in Wales, but does anyone know what it's like closer to Malmesbury? I'm guessing there will be plenty to do nearby to the west but does anyone have any specific recommendations?
Road and gravel stuff near Malmesbury. Mountain bike stuff north to Nailsworth/Stroud/Cheltenham and NW to Nibley, further SW to Bath. Off road can be horrific in winter due to mud/slop. Nice balance of local stuff, and easy for FoD, BPW, Quantock and summer Mendip action. 👍 plenty of STW folk round here (I’m Stroud) so am sure others will chime in
Road - absolutely buckets of beautiful country lanes, and a good selection of decent climbs too if you head towards Stroud/Nailsworth to the north or Marlborough Downs to the South. Having recently moved from Cirenester, I'll miss the roadie stuff available in that part of the world.
Gravel/Old-Skool XC bimbling - again, a reasonable amount from the door, a fair bit more if you're happy to drive for an hour or so into the Cotswolds/Marlborough Downs.
More Gnaar - Fair bit around Nailsworth/Stroud, Flyup419 is about 45mins away
The Vertebrate Publishing Cotswolds guidebook is a decent place to start for the latter two.
I'm looking for more trail/enduro style riding if possible. Nailsworth, Stroud and Nibley all seem like they'd be close enough to the area we're looking at so that's great to hear.
I'm happy to travel a bit when I have time and really love the idea of having great riding within an hour but having something fun to ride within 20 or 30 minutes from home is a huge plus. Thanks for the advice!
Why Malmesbury?
Sounds like you would be much better off in Stroud, Nailsworth, Chalford or Dursley.
Slightly biased as I live in Stroud
Actually, I forgot the obvious riding mecca you're within half an hour of:
The woods behind Nationwide in Swindon 🙂
The woods behind Nationwide in Swindon 🙂
which is where
trail/enduro style riding
was born 👍 gnarr-tastic and a view of the M4
I live in Dursley, local riding around stinchcombe golf course is all that style of riding but only short trails. Fun though. Nibley is a short ride as well as the stuff between Stroud and Dursley make it a bigger loop. Does sound like one of the towns like Dursley/Stroud would suit as that would mean no driving to ride.
Fod is around 45 minutes for me, risca around an hour. I really like this area. What do you do for work?
Why Malmesbury?
Sounds like you would be much better off in Stroud, Nailsworth, Chalford or Dursley.
Slightly biased as I live in Stroud
No other reason than we saw a nice looking house nearby! I think somewhere near Stroud would be perfect too.
Actually, I forgot the obvious riding mecca you’re within half an hour of:
The woods behind Nationwide in Swindon 🙂
Surely this is worth making a special trip for regardless of where we end up living. Save up all year, look forward to it, take the time to do it properly.
Does sound like one of the towns like Dursley/Stroud would suit as that would mean no driving to ride.
Fod is around 45 minutes for me, risca around an hour. I really like this area. What do you do for work?
I work remotely as a software developer so the only restrictions on where we can live are whether it'll be a nice place for the kids and whether myself and my wife like the area.
Unfortunately trail proximity doesn't rank as highly on the wish list for her as it does for me but I'm sure somewhere like Stroud would satisfy both of us!
You're not far from Nibley/Dursley stuff (15 minutes in the car i'd guess), i go there a lot and can do a circular taking in Stinchcombe, Nibley and around and put in a good shift, or can just session the Nibley stuff, Stinchcombe is nice, but the runs at the back are pretty short and sweet, the practice stuff near the old quarry is nice to mess about on as well.
There is stuff further up to Stroud as stated, but i tend to visit this stuff less, preferring to hit FoD as there's more stuff and it's quieter if you know where to go, the Painswick/Cranham stuff past Stroud always seems to be pretty busy with bikers, walkers, families, etc.
If you do move then join up some of the local groups on facebook or the likes, always stuff going on each weekend and midweek evening rides.
PM me if you want more info on Stroud and what’s on offer.
Malmesbury is no where near as nice and has much less to offer on all fronts.
I know I worked there for 20 years !!
Best place to live in the UK according to the Sunday Times #stroudnproud
Well the house we saw near Malmesbury is under offer already so that frees us up to look at Stroud I suppose!
Thanks for the offer @peteimpreza, we’re planning a trip in a few weeks to scope out some areas so I’ll give you a shout if we have any specific questions after that.
No worries mate, just been made redundant so plenty of free time on my hands.
Happy to give you a tour or take you for a ride.
If you come on a Saturday make sure you take in the farmers market
If you want to MTB from the door anywhere within the five Stroud valleys would be perfect.
How old are your kids? Stroud's a great place to raise them.
There's a fair few spots where you can feel like your living really quite rurally, but be a 15mim cycle or drive to Waitrose.
Where would you be moving from?
qwerty
There’s a fair few spots where you can feel like your living really quite rurally, but be a 15mim cycle or drive to Waitrose.
Quite possibly the most Cotswold thing i've read on here ever!
No worries mate, just been made redundant so plenty of free time on my hands.
Happy to give you a tour or take you for a ride.
If you come on a Saturday make sure you take in the farmers market
I’m sorry to hear that, I’ve been there myself and I know it can be rough. The offer is much appreciated and I think it will be a Saturday so we’ll be sure to check it out!
How old are your kids? Stroud’s a great place to raise them.
6, nearly 4 and a third and final one on the way in August.
Where would you be moving from?
We’re in Cookham in Berkshire which is nice but very expensive mostly because it’s easily commutable to London. We figure that there’s more beautiful places to live and we’d get more space for our money so why not do it? It’d be so nice to give the kids some space to grow up in rather than the perfectly nice but small back yard we have now.
There’s a fair few spots where you can feel like your living really quite rurally, but be a 15mim cycle or drive to Waitrose.
I make fun of my wife sometimes because she once proclaimed that “my favourite kind of rural is semi-rural” so this sounds perfect 😂
6, nearly 4 and a third and final one on the way in August.
Secondary schools in Gloucestershire are great with excellent selective entry grammars and private schools in Stroud, Gloucester and Cheltenham, and great comprehensives in Stroud and Cirencester.
Primary schools in most villages are really good.
We also have cows who have right of way on roads and in a local town. Moo
You can't go wrong with Stroud, lovely looking place in its location, has enough decent shops to keep you going (Aldi, Waitrose, McD's!, etc), as well as decent enough links to the motorway, if you're hitting the farmer's market on a Saturday with the kids in tow then hunt out Pippin's doughnuts, best in the west, the cinnamon and brown sugar is the nice one for me, but many to try, and proper Cotswold pricing for a doughnut!
I really don't get the love for Stroud - and that's as someone who spent their younger years growing up in the area and going to school there - it was a bit of a dump then, town centre wise, and last time I wandered round there after the comments from my folks about how lovely it's become, it still seemed to be a bit of a dump - if anything the crusty/hippy contingent are a bit more noticeable and the faint smell of weed slightly stronger...
I much prefer Malmesbury as a town - comparing to where you are currently, Malmesbury is closer to somewhere like Marlow (although with slightly weird Cornish fishing village vibes), Stroud is more Maidenhead town centre, or possibly Slough old town if I was being really mean ;).
Nailsworth is nicer than Stroud, as are places like Tetbury - but prices have gone up massively as a lot of people have moved west from the City, and it's all going a bit 'artisan'. There's some nice places around Cirencester which is a nice town in itself as well.
Back on topic - riding would be better round Stroud, you have the 5 Valleys and a multitude of rides around there. Malmesbury isn't great for riding, there seems to be a lack of bridleways, but there's a few places a drive away - east towards Swindon for the Ridgeway or west towards Stroud/Minchinhampton or Dursley or further on to the FoD or Cheltenham, but it's certainly not great from your doorstep. Malmesbury would be easier to get to the M4 if you need to go back towards London. Train prices either from Stroud / Kemble / Swindon are ludicrous if you have to get to the centre of London - think it was about £70 day return peak last time I checked.
Most of the small villages are being provisioned with fibre to the premises (up to gig speeds) in both South Glos and Wiltshire, so if you are checking out places look to see if that's happened as without it the connectivity can be pretty poor without.
Thanks so much for the really detailed reply @jon_n. We're looking for a town to live near rather than in so I'll plan out a route to take in Malmesbury, Nailsworth, Stroud, Tetbury and some others nearby and see how we do.
prices have gone up massively as a lot of people have moved west from the City
Hello, I'm here becoming part of the problem 🙈
Most of the small villages are being provisioned with fibre to the premises (up to gig speeds) in both South Glos and Wiltshire, so if you are checking out places look to see if that’s happened as without it the connectivity can be pretty poor without.
This is a great callout and something that's important for my work 👍
To be a little fairer on Stroud, it's not that bad, and I am probably slightly biased against it based on going to school there 🙂
I'd also have a jaunt round Ciren as well - that's a nice little place and reasonably well connected to civilisation with plenty of activities around it (the water parks etc) and a good road network and close-ish to rail. I'd also drive across the common at Minchinhampton towards Rodborough between Nailsworth and Stroud, stop at the Winstones Ice Cream factory shop and have an ice cream looking out across the valley.
Another reasonable reference for local rides is:
https://mtbfoodie.com/category/bikes/mountain-biking/routes/cotswolds/
Not sure if the author of the site is on here, but there's some nice looking rides with pictures 🙂
Oh this is fantastic, thanks again! I'll add all of those areas to the loop.
Well I do not know where they got Stroud being so great to live in from nothing wrong with the place but its just a small town hardly got much character.
I would say Stroud has changed massively over the last couple years, like anywhere else it’s not without problems. 2 mates own businesses there and they have seen a massive change too. It seems way more bohemian/artisanal, I hate those words! Basically seems less druggy and more clean I would argue!
Either way there is loads to ride around the area
We happily lived in Cirencester for the best part of ten years, it's a decent town, good restaurants/pubs/shops (although it'l be interesting to see what happens post Covid, already a few shops closing down, especially the House of Fraser on the market square).
Saying that, we'd also have happily lived in Stroud, and I like Malmesbury too. Tetbury not quite so much, but dunno why really, nothing particularly wrong with it, just a personal taste thing.
ON the other side of the M4 you've got Marlborough, that's a nice place.
Marlborough is a nice town nearly sold up in Cheltenham to buy a place there back in 2007 glad I did not relationship went pair shaped would off been costly all round now a place to Live would be on top off Minchinhampton common you might need to win the lottery first cracking spot.
I think you have to own Hunter wellies, a Ranger Rover Evoke and shop exclusively in Waitrose if you are considering Marlborough. Cannot for the life of me see the attraction. A town centre rammed almost every day with 4x4s dropping little lord Fauntleroy off at The Polly Tea rooms. It has the quietest Gregg’s in the UK as an upside.
Another +1 for Stroud here - I live/work in Miserden just outside Stroud and love it....
Great riding just out my front door too...
I would also add Wootton-under-Edge to the list which is the other side of the Cotswolds escarpment to Dursley and close to Nibley. It's also closer to Bristol and Bath if you need to hit the big city.