[khj610]

My husband is interviewing for a job in Norwich and if he gets the job (fingers crossed!) we will be moving from MA to CT. Any recommendations on nice towns with good school systems within about half hour of Norwich? We'd like to be as close to the shoreline as possible, west of Norwich. We love Madison but it is too far. Old Saybrook? Essex?

Thanks for your help!

[JayCT]

East Lyme have very good schools and are located on the coast. Also Old Lyme and Lyme (Regional School District 18) have very good schools. The link below will give you information about the school district and the individual schools. Jay

Strategic School Profiles by District

Strategic School Profiles by School

[corncountrytoct]

It would help to know your ballpark budget and housing requirements as that would make a big difference. We're in Ledyard but if we could have afforded $100K more we would be in Mystic or Pawcatuck most likely.

[love2driveinct]

Originally Posted by corncountrytoct

It would help to know your ballpark budget and housing requirements as that would make a big difference. We're in Ledyard but if we could have afforded $100K more we would be in Mystic or Pawcatuck most likely.

LOL same here...

But the other reason we are here is that we not only did we get more house for the money, we got more land... everything we looked at in Mystic was on 1/3 acre or less.

To the OP: most of the towns with the better schools will be south, west, and southwest of Norwich. You'd have to try the commute yourself, but we have friends who work in Norwich and live in Glastonbury. They commute against the regular traffic and say it's only a half hour. Glastonbury is right outside Hartford, and has excellent schools, but it is pricey. For something comparable (school-wise) down by the shore, you'd be looking at East Lyme like the other poster said.

I don't know if I can post websites here... (Jay?) but I found three good websites for looking at school & neighborhood info: schooldigger.com, greatschools.net, and Moderator cut: linking to competitors sites is not allowed, link removed (not free, but quite comprehensive).

Good luck and hope your hubby gets the job. It's fun living here, there's so much to do, especially during the summer.

[ctcoldplay11]

Look into Colchester, about 15 minutes west of Norwich on busy Route 2 (4-lane expressway). Town population around 15,000, good bang for your buck, rapidly growing (32.5% growth rate over the past 20 years), great schools!

It's not right ON the beach, but its only a 20 minute drive to the Connecticut shoreline, 15 minutes to the Connecticut River and 20 minutes to Hartford. Great location! Good luck...