family move

I am considering moving our family from the southwest back to New England. I am not familiar with the small towns/cities of Southern Vermont or New Hampshire, having grown up in southern Connecticut, so I%26#39;m looking for feedback on good places to raise a family--great schools, lots of outdoor rec., amenities--and a place that has an old New England ';feel'; to it. Any suggestions?

We love mountains and beaches equally, but need to stay in affordable housing (up to 300,000).

any help would be great.

drew

family move

I moved to NH over 10 years ago from NYC. It is a great

place to raise kids. The towns in the seacoast offers a close proximity tobeaches and the mountains are 40 minutes to 1 hour away. Maine is only 15-20 minutes away.

Lisa

family move

I grew up in Wolfboro NH and I just loved it there. A great place to raise the kids. Mountains and lakes, alot to do there. Great schools, recreation and many job opportunities.. Good luck with your move..

I%26#39;am very familiar with the Sea Coast area (all the way up to Wolfeboro%26amp;Osssipee). If you would like more information I would be more then happy to give you my email address.

Annette

I am from Derry, NH which is about 20 minutes over the border from MA. I would have to say you pretty much can%26#39;t pick a bad place to live in NH. Friendly people, low crime, clean air and water, good schools. We also get a full 4 seasons in all their glory-- lovely spring, warm summer, vibrant colors in fall, and snow, snow, and more snow in the winter.

The bigger cities (Manchester, Nashua, Keene, Concord) can offer you plenty of shopping, good hospitals and plenty of other amenities. You could definitely find a decent home for $300K. BUT, the more remote an area you are willing to move to can offer you an even better home for your $$.

Portsmouth, Stratham and Plaistow are lovely cities if you%26#39;re looking for coastal, but you will pay more for housing along the coast.

Bristol, Meredith and Wolfeboro are all nice if you like lakes (Winnipesaukee.) (And, if you%26#39;re into motorcycles as well as lakes, you%26#39;ll love THE attraction of the year - the Bike Week in Laconia.)

We%26#39;ve been living in (East) Derry for 6 years, the former home of poet Robert Frost and astronaut Alan Shepard because it%26#39;s very close to the action but remote enough to feel like you%26#39;re out in the woods.

Southwestern NH (Keene, Peterborough, Walpole) are very nice communities (although Keene is on the way to becoming) overly developed with numerous malls and box stores popping up in the last ten years...

My family and I escaped the development that%26#39;s occurring in the Southern parts of the state (aka crowded conditions) and moved to the North Country (North of the White Mts.) where life is more laid back and relaxed (we settled in the village of Franconia...)

You really need to pause and ask yourself what are you looking for...ready access to malls, shopping, entertainment, then the Nashua/Manchester/Concord corridor or the Seacoast is where you want to be looking...

Peace, quiet, slower pace of life....Monadnock region (Keene), Upper Valley (Hanover) or North of the White Mountains...

$300,000 can buy you a lot of house in the ';Quieter'; regions of the state that remain ';undiscovered'; not as much where everyone is building and the real estate market is over-heated.

Good luck....NH is a great state to raise a family....

Kevin

Gale River Motel

Franconia, NH

Dear Drew,

Kevin from Gale River has an excellent handle on life and considerations for living in northern NH. Also, Littleton NH was just named by Outdoor Magazine as one of the 20 or 25 best places to raise a family in the US (similiar honors have been bestowed on this area year after year). The only ';liability'; is that there is no culture or nightlife in the urban sense. But then, major metropolitan areas such as as Boston, Burlington, Manchester or Portland range from 2 to 3 hours away.

The other problem in this area is finding work that pays well. I think the lower cost of living, the quality of living more than makes up for a salary cut, but fortunately, most people aren%26#39;t of the same mind.

Finally, if you don%26#39;t like winter, this isn%26#39;t the area for you.

Lon Henderson

Innkeeper

Sunset Hill House--A Grand Inn

Sugar Hill, NH

I moved to New Hampshire from Los Angeles almost three years ago. It%26#39;s still a novelty for me to see rain and green foliage in the summer... and of course I still think snow is beautiful. However, for every one of my three years here, the weather has been making or meeting records. My first winter, neighbors assured me that the first snowfall was much earlier than normal and was unusually deep and longer lasting. My second winter we broke the record for continuous below zero days. This 2005 spring was one of the wettest on record, and everyone has assured me that the thunderstorms and high humidity of this summer has been ';very unlike New Hampshire summers.'; Since it all began within days after my arrival, I%26#39;m beginning to wonder if townsfolk bearing torches will be walking up my driveway, soon. (Just kidding.) On the other hand... ';The Club'; on my steering wheel, for the first couple of weeks here, drew lots of puzzled looks in the grocery store parking lot. I%26#39;m still getting comfortable with feeling there%26#39;s a high probability that my car will be right where I left it before going into the store. Also... you%26#39;re allowed to make eye contact with strangers here! Trusting air I can%26#39;t see is another adjustment I%26#39;ve had to make. My water comes out of the ground! Can you imagine? It%26#39;s also been a giant step forward for me to put things on high shelves without worrying about what it will fall on during a quake. Yep, I still love it here, and don%26#39;t miss Hollywood Boulevard for an instant. I drive 25 minutes for groceries, hardware, restaurants and the doctor. Anything else I need is within an hour%26#39;s drive. Well worth it to be out of the city.

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