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Shepton Mallet - could it really be that bad?!!

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Fifibee

New Member
Hi all,

I'm contemplating a move to Shepton Mallet and wanted some honest opinions. I'm from Australia and so sick of the heat and need green open spaces and gentle seasons for a change (I grew up in Bedfordshire so life in England won't be a shock). It looks lovely from what I see on google maps and seems to have everything I'd need but I've read some negative comments about the place being full of chavs, boring etc. I live a quiet life and don't need nightlife, fine dining or fancy shops. I have a 9 year old son so just outdoor adventures, country walks, farm fun, steam trains etc and a safe community.

I'd be looking for part-time work in Shepton and have my eye on a good priced property. What's employment like there? Are people friendly (I would hate to live anywhere snooty) and does it have a good sense of community? (this is really important to me). What are medical services and the hospital like? I couldn't see a cricket club in Shepton, is there one close by? What's the next main town for a good shop (ie. furniture, M&S etc), Wells?

Lastly what are the areas/estates to stay away from if any?

Any help and information would be greatly appreciated :)
 
I'm sure there are plenty or urbs with way more knowledge of than me along shortly. Out of interest, why the specific interest in Shepton Mallet?

I'd take comments online with a pinch of salt. 'Chavs' isn't a well regarded term here either. It's probably only 'boring' if what you crave is nightlife, copious leisure facilities, and a big multicultural community like in Bristol or London. If it's anything like where I grew up in neighbouring Wiltshire, it'll be a standard South West town, with strong rural connections, plenty of history and rural walks, often dark wet and miserable in the Winter. But also beautiful when the sun comes out and in the long Summer evenings. Definitely seasonal.

Your 9 year old. Has he much experience of England? Do you think he'd appreciate the move too? It's important obviously that you both get the best of of this. Might you have any opportunity to sample it for a week or two before committing to the move?

And welcome to Urban :)
 
I live a few miles from there at the moment. The high street is dying on its arse, but that could be said for plenty of towns. There's a couple of retail parks if that's your thing. I find the people friendly. Nearest cricket club is probably Midsomer Norton. Nearest town for shopping will be Bristol or Bath, 45 mins drive. Wells is nice to visit, bustling high street but don't expect too much choice for shopping there either. I've not registered for the doctors yet, there's a well-reviewed NHS dentist I keep meaning to transfer to.

If you like green spaces and rural walks you're laughing, you're on the edge of the Mendips and there's endless other areas. Frome and Glastonbury are nearby if you can tolerate hippies and liberals.

I'm pretty happy here, most of my friends and family are in and around Bristol but I like to be somewhere quieter and cheaper.
 
There's no station, which for me would be a real negative. For one weekend a year you may have several thousand people passing through too.
 
I think it'd be a shit place to live if you were young and looking for nightlife, a lot of the stuff you're going to find online about it being boring is going to have been written by people that want to be entertained, it's certainly no Bristol.

But if you're a bit older and looking to settle and have your own transport I can't see that it would be too bad.

I read something fairly recently about things improving there but that might have been written by the Shepton Mallet Chamber of Commerce.

I'll see if I can find it.
 
Thanks so much for the posts, love this site! Yes I read that too Lizzieloo which made me hopeful there'd be a sense of enthusiasm about the town and not 'dying on its arse' like keybored says. I can tolerate hippies as I'm a bit of one myself but you'd never know, well I guess my definition is vegetarian diet, healthy lifestyle etc (minus the drugs). Skyscraper the reason for the possible move there is basically I'm in need of a quality furnished rental as this might just be for a year or two to see how I feel living back in England. I just need to be somewhere away from the cities in a quiet area but close enough to them as well and not too far north....so I'm googling rentals and if the perfect rental comes up then I consider the area. We've had plenty of trips to UK (but never SM) so son knows what to expect and would love the adventure. It might just be different living there than visiting... but the colder climate is a MAJOR pull for me and a cold Christmas, Spring flowers, a gentle Summer where you don't get fried alive (apart from this year!), Autumn colors etc.

Are there any areas/estates to stay away from when renting?
Are there good parks with good equipment for the bigger kids (ie, flying fox, bigger rope frames etc)?
Any primary schools to steer clear of?
 
I'd definitely go for Frome over Shepton, it's got more interesting people living in it and doing interesting things.
 
Choosing Shepton Mallet over any others of the numerous small towns in the SW does seem a bit random. It'll be worth looking at other places too.

Shepton itself is nothing particularly special, nice though it is. Have you considered living near the sea? There are loads of small towns and villages dotted along the coast of eg Devon and Dorset.

Coastal SW England is really beautiful, it'd be worth your while to look at places other than Shepton.

SW England is a great choice though, all the best people live there :thumbs:

Good luck in your search :)
 
I'd go Frome over Shepton, more of a small town and I prefer the surrounding countryside too. Possibly more expensive, but not much.
 
Somerset is a lovely part of the country, I miss it so much, but I've only visited SM, never spent much time there, so no real comment, but I'll page High Voltage & izz for their feedback, as they live there.
 
lizzieloo said:
Fifibee "chav" is a shitty word to use but I'm guessing if you've been looking around the Internet at small market town reviews and haven't lived in the UK since childhood you'd get the impression that it was fine.

It isn't.
Click to expand...
I edited my post cus initially the op got my back up with assumptions regarding ' estates' and using terminology such as 'chav' . However I had a coffee and wound my neck in. Then posted it by mistake:oops::D
 
I've been doing a lot of reading recently about Shepton Mallet on its Wikipedia page. It looks nice. Kilver Court Gardens looks especially good. I'd like to visit that.

There's some cool facts about Shepton Mallet too. They used the prison to store a lot of national archives during WW2, including the Magna Carter, and the scrap of paper signed by Hitler and Chamberlain.

They also used to make Babycham there :cool:
 
skyscraper101 said:
I've been doing a lot of reading recently about Shepton Mallet on its Wikipedia page. It looks nice. Kilver Court Gardens looks especially good. I'd like to visit that.

There's some cool facts about Shepton Mallet too. They used the prison to store a lot of national archives during WW2, including the Magna Carter, and the scrap of paper signed by Hitler and Chamberlain.

They also used to make Babycham there :cool:
Click to expand...
Ah yes have often driven past the baby cham factory - now sadly closed .
I don't know anything about Shepton Mallet apart from got a few old mates ( lost touch) living out there and a few of the midwives I worked with live round the Wells area.
 
I had an adventure in Shepton when I was 3. It was Easter, I was shopping with my nan, she went into the grocer's shop that had an Easter display in the window, loads of little yellow chicks, I was transfixed by them so didn't follow her into the shop, then realised I was alone so I set off back to her house on my own.

Screenshot_20181113-122142.png

Part of my toddle was crossing the A471, I'd had it drummed into me that it was a DANGEROUS crossing and actually remember that bit, I also had to cross over the main road just after that junction too.

My mum nearly died when I arrived home on my own, I can't even imagine my nan's panic.

Intrepid little shit :D :cool:
 
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Just re-reading that post it seems utterly mad that nobody stopped me, this was the 70s when, it seems, it was perfectly normal for a tiny kid to be wandering about on her own.
 
Shepton is ok but I'd choose Frome over it. Love Frome - my second job is working with their rugby club (I live about 15 mins away)
 
SpookyFrank said:
Not necessarily. Anything within spitting distance of the M4 and you've got commuters pushing the prices up.
Click to expand...
Not everywhere in Wiltshire is though. eg. Warminster is no closer to the M4 than Frome or Shepton (and there are plenty of places in Wiltshire even further South than that).
 
SpookyFrank said:
Not necessarily. Anything within spitting distance of the M4 and you've got commuters pushing the prices up.
Click to expand...

OK then. West/South Wiltshire. You could say "not necessarily cheap" about pretty much anywhere.

Wiltshire_AQMAs.JPG

If you only ever see Wiltshire from the M4 you're missing most of it.
 
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