Bedford: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly (Manchester, Londonderry: transplants, new house)
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My husband and I are moving our family to NH from CT this spring. My husband is working in Londonderry and we've been shopping for homes in Bedford. Can someone please give me an honest assessment of life in Bedford? The good, the bad, AND the ugly?
We have three preschool-aged kids, so schools, safety, and family life are of keen interest.
You and I are in the same boat. I, too have been looking there. I have two kids, one in 7th and one in 2nd. Schools are very important. The high school is brand new and the principal was hired away from the Bow district, which was a very good school. There are (I think) at least two or three elementary schools. I don't know much about them. I'd like to hear more as well.
I have visited Bedford a few times and I like it. It's really close to Manchester, and shopping is right there in the north end of town. It really has two main roads (101 and 3) and both are different in terms of shopping. Rt 3 is the busiest in terms of bigger stores like Lowes, etc. 101 is more like some smaller strip stores and gets more rural as you go south. There are lots of homes in between and west of 101. Go to google maps to help you get a better idea how the town is laid out. I like the overall feel of the town; it fits in perfectly with my conservative nature.
I can't offer too much, but there's some preliminaries. Honestly, it just seems to fit the bill for me. It's close to jobs and shopping, but offers some solitude on the outer areas. Historical section is very nice.
I live a couple towns away from Bedford (Londonderrry) and it looks like casualobserver, bryfry and katlakat pretty much covered it.
I'll just add that Bedford DOES have public kindergarden at all 3 elementary schools (not all towns in NH have kindergarden) and an Early Education Program (BEEP) that is held at Memorial. The other 2 elem. are Riddle Brook, Peter Woodbury). Grades 5 and 6 go to McKelvie, and Grades 7 and 8 go to Lurgio Middle. The brand new high school is open for 9th and 10th graders. Manchester West is where the 11th and 12th graders will graduate from, so they will graduate with the kids they've been with for the past few years (which I think is great for sports teams, school band, etc.) I think it was a great decision to "grow" the school from 9th grade on, and eliminated the need to offer EVERYTHING the first few years.
Casual Observer is right--the police logs are pretty dull (which is actually a good thing, right?) Bryfry suggested google maps, a good idea to tell you what is where in town. Lots of great neighborhoods on the side roads off of Rte 101, and the nice thing is that you feel very much out in the country, while really being just a short drive from lots of conveniences.
I liked Bedford too when I was looking around. High on the list of pluses for me was that in Milford - the next town West - is a DRIVE-IN movie theater! Where can you find one of those these days?!?
We are moving to the area and checked out Bedford.
I think it totally depends on your taste. Bedford has more of a suburban feel than other nice towns around there. If you like upscale subdivisions, you will like Bedford. It's super convenient to the Manchester Airport and I believe there is a branch of Dartmouth Hitchcock there, which I would think = access to great pediatricians. The new high school looks great. Some of the houses even have views of the mountains. The Bedford Village Inn has a wonderful restaurant with delicious food and wine.
The reason Bedford is not for me is that it is, basically, a modern suburb. There are a few (a very few) old houses left, but for the most part people seem to live in new houses and get on a busy road to drive wherever they're going. Nothing wrong with that if you like the suburban lifestyle, but it's definitely not a charming, Norman Rockwell town like Amherst. I kept driving around trying to find a downtown, and I couldn't - there didn't really seem to be a center. The flip side of that is that it does have all the amenities and conveniences of a typical suburb.
THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! to all of you that have responded. The information you've shared has not only validated some of the things I've observed, but added some insight and information, as well.
I'm glad to hear about the family lifestyle and that the schools are great--top on our list of priorities. Just curious, CASUALOBSERVER, you say "schools are consistently in top 3 performing state school districts"....what are the other districts that rank in the top 3 in the state?
Also, another interesting comment by CASUALOBSERVER regarding "snoots." I've heard this once before when referring to Bedford. Can you expand on that? I'm not excited about living among neighbors that are not too "neighborly." Being from CT, I'm all too familiar with the "snoots" from Westport and Greenwich and I'm not interested in that culture for my family. All things being relative, can you help me get a better sense of how snooty we are talking about???
Also, another interesting comment by CASUALOBSERVER regarding "snoots." I've heard this once before when referring to Bedford. Can you expand on that?....
Well....my guess, if you don't mind.....is that some people have a perception of upper middle class, which is a good portion of Bedford. Lots of really nice homes, etc will create some perceived notions to the established NH residents. Humble lives usually don't mix with those who have more. Seems to be a universal trait wherever you live. Here on Cape Cod it's quite common, especially in my town of Barnstable, where you have real poor to disgustingly rich. Without hijacking this thread, it's just another case of the separation between classes. No ill will towards people of lesser means (I'm one of them!), but it's not surprising to hear those perceptions about people from Bedford.
what are the other districts that rank in the top 3 in the state? Amherst (Souhegan) and Bow.
"snoots." I've heard this once before when referring to Bedford. Can you expand on that? I'm not excited about living among neighbors that are not too "neighborly." The last income per capita list I saw actually put Amherst on the top of the list, however, because the population density is lower in Amherst, the more affluent area of Amherst (just south/west of Joppa Hill Road) pushes their overall average up. Nonetheless, Bedford has far more affluence in total number of households. If the Vision Appraisal site is still accessible, you can compare the number of $1M homes by either town or zip code. My guess is that Bedford is now well over 50 entries on that list.
"Snoot" and "neighborly" has slightly different connotation to me. Since my roots are Midwestern, I would say that the "ostensible reservedness" of New Englanders transcends levels of affluence. I think that just comes with the geography moreso than the tax return. If you want a higher guaranty of gregarious neighbors, I would suggest anywhere in NE is a risk. Moving to South Weare, NH is no guaranty of neighborliness either.
I lived in Bedford for 6 years and actually I think the true "snoot" factor was rather low compared to Darien or Greenwich. Nonetheless, as Bedford became more and more the place around Manchester for more affluent transplants to come to, their ability to build bigger homes, want better schools, not be blown away by an increase in property taxes year over year, started to p/o the existing base of "tax control minded" residents. That led to some statewide press over the infighting for annual budgets, town councilmen seats, etc. Thus, the "perceived snoot" rep has more to do with affluence and the expansion of the town budget than actual attitude.
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