Where to live south of Boston? (Lexington, Franklin: real estate, apartment, rentals)

[MarsMary]

My husband is going to be working in the Walpole area. We have 2 kids aged 5 and 7 so are looking for good elementary schools. We are not sure whether to go closer to Boston, remain near Walpole or try and move to the coast - not sure what the commute is like! We are really looking for a town with a sense of community and amenities close by. We are currently in Virginia near DC and would consider both small town and suburbs. Any ideas? We have to move quite quickly and so any advice is very welcome!

Thanks everyone!!!

[CaseyB]

The commute would be bad from the coastal areas, I'm afraid.

Besides Walpole, other nearby towns to look in would be Westwood, Canton, Medfield, Norfolk, Wrentham, Foxborough. Possibly Dover or Sherborn if you want to spend $$$. Walpole itself has decent elementary schools and a strong sense of community. It really depends on what amenities you are looking for, and your price range.

[MarsMary]

Thanks for those ideas! We've also been recommended Sharon - any thoughts on this? Regarding amenities, things like a rec center, grocery stores, sports/dance activities for the kids etc are whta I like about our current location. We have about $3000 per month for a rental as our move is not a permanent one. Looks like we may have to save trips to the coast for the weekend! Thanks!

[CaseyB]

Let's see, Walpole, Foxborough and Franklin all have YMCA's and those towns are where you would find the most rentals among the ones that I listed previously. You should have no problem finding dance programs in the area, Franklin has a school for the performing arts: Franklin School for the Performing Arts.

Sports are really big here, and most towns have so many recreational programs for kids.
Walpole is a great sports town, their little league team was one game away from the world series last summer, www.walpolelittleleague.com
Lastly, Foxborough is the home of the New England Patriots.

You shouldn't have any problems finding grocery stores, although Norfolk and Wrentham don't have any. There is a large designer outlet mall on the outskirts of Wrentham and a small mall in Walpole. No big deal to travel from one town to another for something.

Sharon does have good schools. I think there is a community center there, but I'm not sure what it has.

Did you want to rent a house, condo, or apartment?

[MarsMary]

Hi ,

we would be looking for a 3/4 bed house with 2 bathrooms and ideally located in a family orientated neighborhood. Walpole sounds more attractive than I first thought..I was a little concerned about the prison located there. Do you think that the area is welocming to newcomers? As well as moving from Virginia we are actually English and are hoping to be made as welcome in MA as in VA! I really like to get involved with volunteering in the schools etc so Walpole and the area sounds like it has good community spirit. We're hoping to travel up for a pre-move visit so its great to get some inkling of towns to look at.

Thanks for your help!

[haberstroh]

We just moved to Walpole from NJ and have two children (7 and 3). The (public) elementary school my daughter goes to impresses me very much. Of course I wanted to live in towns like Lexington and Hingham, Lincoln and Wellesley (with top rated schools). And I looked at a lot of houses there. But the same house there would have cost easily a quarter to double the price from what we found here. Walpole did not have the highest ratings and rankings and I was worried at first but then I looked at the schools, the programs (lots of sports and art), the parents and their involvement and made my peace (not to mention the prison though----there is always a compromise I guess, ha ha) So you are luckily in the regard that you don't have a commute and should use that. It will increase your/your husbands quality of life and time you can spend together.
And yes we have some very nice neighboring towns with very good schools as well, Medfield and Westwood. I am not so sure about a good rental there, seems like Walpole would have more choices. And yes there is Sharon. I once got in trouble for saying on this board that it is considered Jewish (there are several threads on here confirming the same). I don't know your family situation so you maybe want to take a look. We also looked at Canton for schools but could just not find a house that suited us. There might be more rental opportunities there as well. But I have to say that between Canton and Walpole I think we found a better house in Walpole and are happier here. Let me know if you have more questions. Check my screen name or search for Walpole, there is plenty of posts on here about the town.
There is a lot do here and we have 2 grocery stores, I see a lot of families with kids and have not even had time to sigh up at the library. I am very happy we choose Walpole.

[MarsMary]

That's great to hear that Walpole has alot to offer - we'll definitely take a serious look at rentals there, along with looking at your other threads. I have to say how fantastic it is that people are being so generous with their time and responses!

Thanks

[beachlady58]

I live in Duxbury and when my boys were young I used to drive from here to Walpole Pediatrics - Dr Frieberger - they were great and so worth the 1 hour trip. Walople is nice, I have to live near the water so I don't live there, but you can buy a beach sticker for the Duxbury beach drive on beach...5 miles of bliss...good luck. Walpole is a nice community.

[CaseyB]

This site has a virtual tour that shows a little of what Walpole looks like:
Walpole, Massachusetts, MA, real estate

That's good you'll be visiting. Don't worry about the prison though, it's in South Walpole in pretty much an industrial area - not a big deal, really.

[MarsMary]

Thanks for the virtual tour! Can any of you recommend any Montessori/private kindergarten schools in the Walpole/surrounding areas? My 5 year old son is slightly too young to go to public kindergarten and we're trying to keep him on a par with the English education system where children start at 4/5 (we'll probably return to the uk in 2 years). He's currently in private kindegarten here, so I'm looking for something similar. I know its going to be a struggle to find a place at this stage but I'm hoping to get on some waitlists at least. I've got a list of some schools from the web but any advice would be warmly received!