[ChristineL]

I am looking at houses in Watertown/Oakville. My children are grown so schools are not an issue for me. I will be commuting to Route 7 on the Redding/Ridgefield line. I will be living alone so I am interested in the safety of the area, are there nice areas to walk my dogs, shopping info, etc. and what kind of commute can I expect.

Thanks in advance for any help.

[JunieBJones]

I think overall Watertown/Oakville is pretty safe. There are probably some areas of Oakville that are less desirable but not bad. Living up near Buckingham Street (on the Watertown side) would put you near Veteran's Park which would be good for dog-walking and it's close to Route 8 which would give you easy access to Waterbury. If you're commuting to Ridgefield you'd probably want to live more towards the other side of town. The Neill Drive area is nice (I don't know what your budget is - some of those houses may be too much for one person). There are good neighborhoods in the Bunker Hill area (even the Bunker Hill area of Waterbury isn't bad)/Lake Winnemaug area where you may find something a little more affordable. For shopping, you have your basics (grocery stores, KMart, etc). The commute would probably be about 45 minutes.