Right after my previous Yeovil manhole house thread I’ve found 2 other houses, one in shepton one in midsomer.

I don’t live in Somerset and am back up in the north again now so can’t look at any others. Need to pick one of these 2 areas so can anyone give me opinions on these towns? Shepton seemed to have more shops and the estate I looked at (tadley acres ) had lots of nice green spaces.

Got 2 kids at primary school so need stuff like parks / pools / bike rides / walks

I can work from home so commuting somewhere isn’t an issue.

Thanks!

Used to work in Shepton and lived about a mile outside Midsomer Norton.

I’d say they are similar, Tadley acres is a bit of an island in Shepton, lots of not so nice bits around, Norton similarly has good bits and bad bits.

Depending on your job, Norton may offer better prospects as bath and Bristol are not too bad a commute from there.

Norton has dockys, possibly the best sandwich shop in the world

Shepton looks pretty good for road riding access to both Mendips and hills around Maiden Bradley (~5/12 miles respectively to closest hill of note I’ve ridden). Just seen there’s a ~440 foot climb from Shepton itself! 😆

Midsomer has an off-the-scale murder with esoteric methods problem. You’ll want the house price reduced accordingly.

My mate lives in Midsomer Norton and I’ve visited a few times. The “bad” bits there are like the good bits around here!

He moved down there with his now wife and they had a kid etc. Every time he comes back to Leigh (which is rarely), he can’t believe how much it has gone down hill.

Something that did make me laugh was the Chinese chippy called “Jackie Chan” 🙂

I went for a walk one morning and was delighted that whenever I saw a stranger they actually replied to my friendly greetings lol.

Shelton mallet has a open air swimming pool heated by the cider factory and an amazing pump track.

Mid summer Norton has neither.

We’ve been thinking of moving to Somerset and visited Shepton Mallet a couple of months ago for a look-around. Having debated whether the free one hour parking would be enough, we were driving away within 10 minutes. What a depressing/depressed place.

I don’t know Shepton Mallet so I’ve not got anything specific to say, other than well done for judging an entire town in 10 minutes…

With kids that age I would be looking at the Schools on offer at both places as a first step.
Midsummer Norton easier access to M4 & 5. Shepton bigger has more Industry & Jobs, variety of sports teams etc. Just because you are in the countryside doesn’t mean you can use much of it, have a look at OS maps as access may be quite limiting in both.

It’s all relative to what you’re after, both have their pros and cons, Midsomer is closer to Bath and Bristol and easier to get to the M4 corridor, Shepton is closer to the likes of Wells, Street and Glastonbury, plus easier to get south to Devon/Cornwall. They are both probably as bad to get to the M5/M4 to be fair, that area below Bath/Bristol is just a nightmare for commuting and getting through at times, it’s why i moved north of the M4 after a decade being south of it.

It’s probably down to just viewing the areas and picking the schools and so on that suit you best, they’re pretty close to each other, and getting to the Mendips, Frome, etc is pretty relative, for mountain biking you’re kind of having to travel a little to get anywhere though, road riding, there’s loads of lanes and routes around both to work out, and of course avoid the A roads either side, which are both horrible!

Shepton MSN Radstock and Peasdown are places in that area I would probably not look to buy a house.
I would check out Warminster if that is an option for you. Decent place, Longleat over the road, has a regular train service and easy access to most travel routes.

if you want to be nearer to bath and briz for schools,college. uni. maybe Keynsham.

Hmm well Shepton Mallets got that Rapha outlet,I did ride down from Brizzle then due to navigation issues came back on the dreaded A road 🙁

Not sure I’d want to live in either but I suppose it depends what your looking for.

if you want to be nearer to bath and briz for schools,college. uni. maybe Keynsham.

I think your right,way more going for it, good local riding from the door and plenty of other accessible stuff and there’s the train straight into Bristol if you want to do more city type stuff.

Temple Cloud – if for no other reason than the name.

Neither, seriously. Frome, Warminster, Westbury, even Trowbridge are all better options.

The Rapha shop closed. The skate park in Midsomer Norton is amazing, but as others have said, as Frome resident neither would be on my list of options. As someone else said, Warminster would get my vote.

They’re both dismal. Sorry.

Neither, seriously. Frome, Warminster, Westbury, even Trowbridge are all better options.

Viva Trowvegas 😁

Have you had a look at Wells?
Been here three years got a cinema, theatre, decent pubs, good range of chain and independant shops

Not much to say for Midsomer/Radstock. It’s small.
Slightly more going for Shepton, it is a bit bigger and you have the showground and that thing up the road in Pilton
I’d look at Frome or Wells
Trowvegas is not in Somerset

Just out of curiosity, why specifically Somerset? If your WFH. why not Devon? Cornwall? South Wales? Wiltshire? Or anywhere really? It seems like you have limited local knowledge and small opportunity to get to know an area, but why Somerset,?

Maybe get a cheap caravan or trailer tent and pitch/stire it somewhere for the summer, and spend a few weekends in the area?

As above I’d be looking at Frame or Wells. I live in Street which is ok. Glastonbury (the town) is like going to Narnia! In my job I’ve heard horror stories about all of then though 🙂

Suspect the op has vanished as they haven’t been back. Frome and Wells as recent suggestions I’m intrigued by having lived in both. Frome was characterful in a poverty ridden kind of way, lacking local employment and I recall the train and road links to Bath or Bristol as being awful. That said I have a mate who commutes to Bristol by train from frome so maybe its improved.

Wells is a charming place and having the levels on its doorstep meant ego boosting 20mph average solo road rides were possible, but the transport links were awful

Warminster is somewhere I’d happily consider, it has a small town feel, but it has decent train links with trains every ~30mins passing through between Newport and Portsmouth. You can be in Southampton in 50mins, or South Wales in ~90mins. Local road riding is good if you like hills. Only real downside I saw was it does get a bit colder in winter, but then it’s a small town and the town centre is at a higher elevation than SO18. Before the pandemic, you got more house for your money there than here in Southampton, but my better half wasn’t interested in the idea at all.

Yeah I’m back up North now so not easy to look at other areas! Our house is sold and need to find somewhere fast. We both like Somerset and the houses in shepton and midsomer we saw were nice, seem better value than the other areas mentioned but that’s probably for the reasons mentioned above!

As long as there’s something like a swimming pool near, and some easy riding for the kids it’ll be fine. Middsomer looked good as there’s some old railway line sustrans thing on the map which would be good for them, and it’s only 20 mins or so to bath and not too far to Bristol of we want proper shops. Pubs etc don’t really bother us and schools seemed ok. Just wondered if there were some real no no reasons for avoiding these towns.

Depends what you want from where you live, both Shepton and Midsomer are fine, but won’t exactly get the pulse racing!  I’m just down the road in Frome, houses here are more expensive for a reason  . Lots of stuff going on, I was out at a PiL gig last night, that’s after a weekend of being out every night at different events. Selection of pubs, restaurants, venues, cinema, theatres and loads of underground gigs and parties.  This does come hand in hand with money pouring in pushing up house prices, think lots of ex-Ibiza DJ’s, London types and rock stars divorced wife’s, but it’s still a small Somerset town so plenty of normal people to stop the place disappearing up its own arse!  Also a healthy cycling scene, home to btr, bicycle academy, sturdy cycles, regular club rides.