[reslinal]

Some of you may remember from my last post as our family is considering a move from Westport to Avon/Weha area as we need a huge house for our now large family. Since this is a big decision, we are constantly having second thoughts and I just want to list out our perceived pros and cons and get your feedbacks to see if we missed or misperceived anything. Thank you for helping.

Housing: Biggest pro, we would be able to get a bigger house with stunning views that only cost less than 50% of the price in Westport

Education: Avon/WeHa has worse schools than Westport, but the savings from the housing cost (and the investment return from that) should allow us to send kids to private schools for at least high school, which should provide better education quality compared to public high school in Westport.

Outdoor activities/Sceneries: We will miss the beach in Westport, but it seems we are trading beaches for mountains/rivers in Avon. Avon area seems to have more easily accessible active outdoor activities (e.g. biking, hiking, tubing/kayaking, skiing) compared to Westport, is it a right assessment and decent a trade for family with many young kids? Anyone familiar with the Hartford area can recommend a nice lake beach area (with small crowds or even private) for young kids to play and adults to relax in summer?

Access to major city: We will lose easy access to NYC. Can day trips to Boston be an adequate replacement if we move to Avon/Weha? Is less than 2 hour drive to Boston a good assessment of the travel time we will get if we only go there on weekends? Right now we only visit NYC once or twice per month, and mostly for museums/zoos/shows for kids and walking the neighborhoods since we are not into culture (e.g. art, Broadway, comedies) and trendy shopping stuff.

Access to convenience/vibrancy/restaurants in the immediate area: It seems West Hartford/Simsbury/Avon together provide a decent alternative to Westport (again we are not into trendy shopping that is available in Westport), especially if we live in Weha or East Avon area?

Commuting: Would be an easier commute for me if we move (though I only need to commute twice per week) and my wife works remote for now. Westport to NYC is still too far for my wife to commute 3 or 4 days a week if her job nature ever changes to requiring more frequent office time, so she will need to get a place in NYC if that happens regardless if we live in Westport or Avon.

Are we missing any other factors in our assessment? Are we having a too optimistic view of living in Avon/Weha compared to Westport in any areas? Thank you for your feedbacks!

[Stylo]

“Worse” schools is funny. Those schools are excellent. And maybe not quite as much of a pressure cooker as Staples.

I don’t know about more hiking/biking/kayaking. There’s tons of that near Westport. Maybe you haven’t looked enough.

There are no mountains, it’s hills, not that much different from the area north of Westport. But yes, significantly closer to skiing.

Food is great in WH. Probably a bit better than Westport honestly. But there’s more volume of food options on the coast.

You could look at Madison and Guilford if you think you’d miss the coast. They are amazing towns.

Or Woodbridge/Orange to split the difference for job location.

[CTartist]

Originally Posted by reslinal

Some of you may remember from my last post as our family is considering a move from Westport to Avon/Weha area as we need a huge house for our now large family. Since this is a big decision, we are constantly having second thoughts and I just want to list out our perceived pros and cons and get your feedbacks to see if we missed or misperceived anything. Thank you for helping.

Housing: Biggest pro, we would be able to get a bigger house with stunning views that only cost less than 50% of the price in Westport

Education: Avon/WeHa has worse schools than Westport, but the savings from the housing cost (and the investment return from that) should allow us to send kids to private schools for at least high school, which should provide better education quality compared to public high school in Westport.

Outdoor activities/Sceneries: We will miss the beach in Westport, but it seems we are trading beaches for mountains/rivers in Avon. Avon area seems to have more easily accessible active outdoor activities (e.g. biking, hiking, tubing/kayaking, skiing) compared to Westport, is it a right assessment and decent a trade for family with many young kids? Anyone familiar with the Hartford area can recommend a nice lake beach area (with small crowds or even private) for young kids to play and adults to relax in summer?

Access to major city: We will lose easy access to NYC. Can day trips to Boston be an adequate replacement if we move to Avon/Weha? Is less than 2 hour drive to Boston a good assessment of the travel time we will get if we only go there on weekends? Right now we only visit NYC once or twice per month, and mostly for museums/zoos/shows for kids and walking the neighborhoods since we are not into culture (e.g. art, Broadway, comedies) and trendy shopping stuff.

Access to convenienc
e/vibrancy/restaurants in the immediate area: It seems West Hartford/Simsbury/Avon together provide a decent alternative to Westport (again we are not into trendy shopping that is available in Westport), especially if we live in Weha or East Avon area?

Commuting: Would be an easier commute for me if we move (though I only need to commute twice per week) and my wife works remote for now. Westport to NYC is still too far for my wife to commute 3 or 4 days a week if her job nature ever changes to requiring more frequent office time, so she will need to get a place in NYC if that happens regardless if we live in Westport or Avon.

Are we missing any other factors in our assessment? Are we having a too optimistic view of living in Avon/Weha compared to Westport in any areas? Thank you for your feedbacks!

Stylo gave good suggestions and I agree with them.

I was born and raised in Stamford and now live in Trumbull. I love Westport and have worked there also.

The schools in Westport are probably the best in the state but that doesn't mean that the schools you are mentioning are not excellent too. They are just a little bit less excellent than Westport. I go to the shoreline towns east of New Haven a lot and hope to retire there. My husband and I miss living in a shoreline town/city. We also want to still have good access to NYC by train.

I also think that Guilford and Madison would be good for you to consider. Madison reminds me of a less hectic and slower paced Westport. It has a state beach too. The schools are excellent too. Both have good access to Metro North in New Haven. I have talked to realtors that have told me (before Covid) there are quite a few people living east of New Haven who commute to NYC a few days a week. One realtor even told me her husband worked in NYC a few days a week.

Here is Niche and Westport is #1.
https://www.niche.com/k12/search/bes.../s/connecticut


#1 Westport
#8 Madison
#10 Avon
#13 West Hartford
#19 Guilford

I would say the top 20/25 are all excellent and there would be no need to send your kids to private schools.

[reslinal]

Originally Posted by Stylo

“Worse” schools is funny. Those schools are excellent. And maybe not quite as much of a pressure cooker as Staples.

I don’t know about more hiking/biking/kayaking. There’s tons of that near Westport. Maybe you haven’t looked enough.

There are no mountains, it’s hills, not that much different from the area north of Westport. But yes, significantly closer to skiing.

Food is great in WH. Probably a bit better than Westport honestly. But there’s more volume of food options on the coast.

You could look at Madison and Guilford if you think you’d miss the coast. They are amazing towns.

Or Woodbridge/Orange to split the difference for job location.

Thanks for the feedbacks. Regarding your second/third points, I always feel Westport doesn't have a good place for us to bike unless we want to bike on the busy road (which felt unsafe), while Avon seems to have more bike trails/reservoirs. When I visited simsbury/avon, I feel like I am surrounded by hills which I don't feel even in Western. For some decent mountain/hill hiking, I usually need go to new Haven area while Avon seems to have it in its backyard. Water activities on farmington river also seems to be different compared to ones we get in Westport. I never heard tubing in westport and sea kayaking is a little bit difficult for kids compared to a river. For some reason not many kayak in Saugatuck river, more row boats.

Madison feels a little bit slow paced compared to Avon/Weha when I visited and I assume we have to go to New haven to find similar things to do as in West Hartford/Westport?

[SteveM85]

Why are Wesport publics so much better? are they on the leading cutting edge of interdisciplinary studies of Neurosciences and Human Genome research?

[Johnho771]

Maybe the schools are worse and the Doors have never played at them, but they are not that bad. Being from Boston area, I still maje trips up from Avon to Boston in sub two hours and dont find the rides that bad. But also keep in mind proximity to smaller/mid size cities like Hartford and Springfield that offer a lot.

[reslinal]

Sorry, it’s not my intention to talk bad about Avon/Weha schools or compare schools, they are all great schools or we would not have considered moving to them in the first place. The point was just to say that with the saving on housing, we will be able to get a better house and better education than staying at Westport since the saving is so large we can comfortably afford the private school option, which we have always considered even while living in Westport.

[SteveM85]

Originally Posted by reslinal

Sorry, it’s not my intention to talk bad about Avon/Weha schools or compare schools, they are all great schools or we would not have considered moving to them in the first place. The point was just to say that with the saving on housing, we will be able to get a better house and better education than staying at Westport since the saving is so large we can comfortably afford the private school option, which we have always considered even while living in Westport.

I wouldn't split hairs over CT public or private school districts. The large majority of grads will enjoy a fine career navigating themselves in and out of Microsoft Office products in a cube farm somewhere. Motivated Bridgeport extroverts will climb the corp ladder faster than Westport or Avon introverts. Very few if any will become NASA engineers or Nobel prize winners.

Best of luck in the move

[in_newengland]

There's really no difference in schools when you're choosing among the top schools in the state and anyway the type of family they come from probably has more influence than the actual school.

If you don't mind giving up the beach and other seaside attractions, then West Htfd or Simsbury would be okay. Lots of restaurants and shops. Hills all over the place and the Farmington River had bike trails. Hiking too. I guess Avon would be the same minus the downtown. It's sort of boring other than the hills and it's a long ride to Boston or NYC. If it's hills and woods you want, this area does offer that, river too.

[Stylo]

Originally Posted by reslinal

Thanks for the feedbacks. Regarding your second/third points, I always feel Westport doesn't have a good place for us to bike unless we want to bike on the busy road (which felt unsafe), while Avon seems to have more bike trails/reservoirs. When I visited simsbury/avon, I feel like I am surrounded by hills which I don't feel even in Western. For some decent mountain/hill hiking, I usually need go to new Haven area while Avon seems to have it in its backyard. Water activities on farmington river also seems to be different compared to ones we get in Westport. I never heard tubing in westport and sea kayaking is a little bit difficult for kids compared to a river. For some reason not many kayak in Saugatuck river, more row boats.

Madison feels a little bit slow paced compared to Avon/Weha when I visited and I assume we have to go to New haven to find similar things to do as in West Hartford/Westport?

Madison is quieter than WH (god please don’t say WeHa), but yes New Haven is right down the street and tons of food/culture. More than WH and Westport combined.

Also there’s plenty in the area, Branford, Old Saybrook, etc.

If you want easy paved trails out of traffic near Westport, you can go to Pequonnack in Trumbull.