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For cheeses you want Whole Foods on Rte 9 in Hadley...superb Vermont cheddars, domestic and imported brie and camembert, many very fine domestic and imported cow and goat cheeses. Try Humbolt Fog with the burnt vegetable ash on the edge from northern California, or the local Hillman Farms chevres from Colrain, Mass. Trust the advice of their cheese dept staff.
you can get good coffee, wine and local brewed or British beer/ale anywhere.
Your 5 year old will be ready to go into first grade probably. I think UMass still has a pre-school/daycare for the little one. There's the private Cushman pre-school in the Cushman section of Amherst across the road where sharon Rosenbaum has the Chinese medicine dispensary in her barn, also in some of the public elementary schools as a privately run separate program.
Amherst is a very welcoming open town but don't come in all like 'oh, I'm a big shot at the university.' Everybody has a masters or two, or a PhD, and is a big shot at the university for 25 years already.
The traffic on Rte 9 nearest Noho isn't nearly as bad now. They finished widening the Coolidge Bridge. When you're coming over the bridge back from Northampton, after the I-91 ramps, you take the sharp right fork where the sign for the old Aqua Vitae restaurant is, then a snag to the right at the end, and take the back way to Amherst, you know, behind Goulet's dairy farm.
You'll know Goulet's, you can smell it a half a mile a way even in winter and he has a bunch of Mercedes lined up in the yard. You can cut up to the left and get to the mall without the traffic that way too.
I moved to Hadley, just a few minutes from UMass, about 5 years ago, and have enjoyed the area very much. Is it cosmopolitan? Depends on what you mean. Something like 20% of Amherst's families speak another language than English. The schools support ESL for something like 2 dozen languages. (There are even some who speak Brit!!) Many writers and artists work in the area, and there is a wealth of music, plays, book readings etc around. That fits my idea of cosmopolitan.
One thing I like about Hadley is that taxes are much lower than most towns, since much of the commercial area is along rte 9 which runs through the town.
My 9 year old grandson attends an Amherst public school and I am very impressed with the quality of instruction he gets. (I am a former teacher)
I think you will find folks friendly. I would join some sort of community organization. There are lots of places you can volunteer.
I used to live in that area, The backwaters are 100 miles up river, I would never move there. Cold in the winter,if the taxes don't get you the winter heating bills will, it's 12* there tonight.... I moved out of the area to sunny Florida and much better school (colleges) . I'd look for another place...
unless you like getting up in the cold and cleaning off you car and driving in snow and spending 1/2 your pay check on heating oil. slipping falling, high insurance rates, and did I say taxes, they have more kinds of tax in mass then anywhere else.
As for cold, yes, it gets cold in winter, and some people, like me, enjoy wintry cold weather and snow: skiing, skating, sledding, hot cocoa and pretty landscapes blanketed with white. The only time of year I find truly depressing in Mass is late winter/early spring (March and April), when I just wish warm weather and greenery would hurry the heck up and get here.
You can check the walkability of any house you're looking at on the web. Just plug in an address and this site will list all the stores, by type, that are within walking distance:
If you love cheese, you're in luck! There's the Whole Foods for a wide selection, and you can also always drive to the next state north, Vermont, which may be THE center of US artisanal cheesemaking. The best cheddar-style cheese in the US comes from Vermont.
From what you've written on this thread, I believe W. Mass is an ideal fit for you. Best of luck.
Hope you still will come. Amherst is a college town very clean, nice people and safe. Do not care about your race or culture. Very close to other cities and towns especially Boston. If you can live in England you will enjoy here. Good Luck.
I'm moving from NYC to Amherst, MA and I have to choose between Hawkins Meadow and Rolling Green. Which is the quieter place? I'll be teaching at UMass and finishing up a PhD so I need somewhere with few students and lots of quiet. Please help!
I'm moving from NYC to Amherst, MA and I have to choose between Hawkins Meadow and Rolling Green. Which is the quieter place? I'll be teaching at UMass and finishing up a PhD so I need somewhere with few students and lots of quiet. Please help!
Someone commented that Rolling Green is family-oriented rather than students. It is also further away from campus. Of course, I can't say it is quieter unless I visited, but I would be inclined toward this one.
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Amherst is below the backwaters
