OH & myself are seriously thinking of selling our house & moving to Ashbourne, Derbys.  It would be a much shorter commute for OH & it's on the edge of the Peak District yet still close enough to Derby/Nottingham, plus it's got good links with M1 for going back to see the family.  We've had a walk round the town centre & have now started looking at possible houses, however as this is likely to be a house we live in for many years & intend to start a family in we have to make a good, informed decision.  So instead of looking at cosmetic stuff like we did when we bought our current house we need to look at the local schools, nurserys, mother & baby groups, crime rates etc etc - this is where I need the help of the good members of CD! WHERE DO WE START???  This is likely to be the single, most important decision we've ever made so we have to get it right , I'm scared at the thought of it but excited too.

Look at www.upmystreet.com.   Put in a postcode, and you can find out about housing, shops, schools, etc.   Its a useful tool!   www.rightmove.co.uk is a good start for looking at properties and prices as well.

And when you do eventually buy/sell, there are lots of useful sites for that as well - www.moveme.co.uk is one.

Good luck - hope you find what you want.

Thanks upmystreet is fab - ashbourne looks even more promising!

Glad to be of help!

ooooh gembo thats exciting! best of luck finding your family home :)

See if you can stop in a local b n b and walk around the area you want to live in. You will be the best person to judge it for yourself, go around the town centre on a sat and ask the locals. pop into a few shops and ask the staff what the area is like, you wont feel too nosey as they have to make small talk to customers on a regular basis, local pubs, parks etc. Go around in the late evening on your walks so you can see the local youths and where they tend to gather, noone will know the area better than a local. Maybe stop a bobby or a cso. Best of luck

When we lived over the hills from Ashbourne it was always known as quite a classy place to live.  It has a lovely 'old fashioned' - in a good way - department store.  Bennetts I think it was called and it was one of the first places to stock Farrow & Ball paint I recall (it was the 1980's).  There are a number of antique shops selling high price items and a few very good art galleries and jewellers.  There used to be a great bookshop and two pet shops which are probably still there.  There are also a number of hiking and outdoor shops selling expensive brands.  These used to be the things a town was measured by !!

We moved away about 4 years ago and haven't been back but I would imagine it's not been hit too badly by the change in economy.  The charity shops all stocked designer brands back then and I'll bet that hasn't changed.  There also used to be both butchers and fishmongers so that'll be handy if you feed raw...

It has a big catchment area but I imagine there is probably a good mums and toddlers network.  Many schools have websites nowadays so you'll see what they are like.  You can also access ofsted reports and view league tables.  There are parenting forums you could join to get a feel for the place from a parents perspective. I suspect teenagers don't find much to do but you don't need to worry about that yet :)

There is a strong 2nd home market in the Peak District so you may benefit from the shift in house prices PLUS you'll know that it will recover well in years to come.  Good luck - I LOVE moving

And try zoopla.co.uk too, gives current house prices averages in the area's you're either selling or buying in.

Thank you so much, very useful information.  I can't stop myself for looking at the house, it's lovely, overlooking a gold course too! Think we're going to arrange a viewing when we get back from wales <squeal> exciting!