the Brookfields? (Worcester, Springfield, Southbridge: roughest, preschool, living)

[naport]

How are the Brookfields in terms of raising kids? Are there sports and music lessons and other community/cultural activities? How are the outdoor activities, like bicycling/hiking/canoeing, etc? Are there any good restaurants? How are the elementary schools and preschool options? How would you differentiate among them (west vs. east, etc.) ?

Finally, does anyone know if there is a commuter rail system that goes from West of Worcester into Worcester, and if so, how long that takes?

[CaseyB]

There is no commuter rail beyond Worcester.

Eric H wrote a great descriptive post about West Brookfield: http://www.city-data.com/forum/massa...idden-gem.html

I think if you do a forum search you can find other posts.

[blehman]

East Brookfield: Has the distinction of being one of the most recently incorporated towns in the Commonwealth. Dominated by Lashaway Lake it serves as bridge between Worcester and west. It also shares a school system with Spencer

Brookfield: Nice town, minimal shopping and restaurants. Nothing of great note. Probably the best access south into Sturbridge(shopping, restaurants, turnpike access).

North Brookfield: Probably the roughest of the Brookfields. Has it's own high school. The one thing it does have the others don't is a supermarket(Hannafords)

West Brookfield: Beautiful town common. One would almost describe it as bucolic. More community oriented than the others. Equal access to either Worcester or the Springfield area. More shopping and restaurants along with a hospital are available in adjacent Ware

[Jeremy01506]

There isn't a commuter rail in the area, but the WRTA does send a bus down Route 9 to Brookfield center and back to Worcester a few times a day (mainly for commuters).

There are the usual school sports and town sports as you'd expect in most New England towns (soccer, softball, baseball) including a pretty big Men's softball league in North Brookfield.

There is a music store in East Brookfield that provides music lessons, called "Ed's Fiddle Shop". They main area of expertise is acoustic instruments (obviously) but they do offer some electric guitars and horns along with lessons. They also have a very cool Thursday night "Open Jam" in their store after hours, but no amplification is allowed!

There are a couple of decent restaurants in the Brookfields (Carmella's, EB Flatt's), but with the abundance of good eats in Sturbridge only 10-15 minutes away I don't find it an issue.

Personally, in the last 10 years I have lived in 3 out of 4 of the Brookfields and they all have a small-town New England charm that my wife and I love! It's quieter out here, and sure, there's not as many things to do. But the lower cost of living and the relative nearness to Sturbridge/Worcester makes it a non-issue for me. I currently reside in East Brookfield (partially due to it's being 5 minutes closer to Worcester/Southbridge for work), but I always preferred North Brookfield. To me, NB seemed more of a close-knit town than the other Brookfields and as a parent I've found more younger families residing in that town. As for being "rougher", I don't see it, but then again my wife works in Southbridge and I spent a number of years in a rough section of Worcester.

[naport]

Jeremy, how do/did you find the public schools (elementary)? And are there decent preschool options, do you know?

I will be working in and around Worcester, and my husband may work in Ware--the Brookfields seemed like a way to split the difference.

[Jeremy01506]

My experience is with the North Brookfield school system, and we had no issues with the elementary school system there. The only downside to the Junior/Senior high school there is the smaller size, as they are the only town in that area that is not "regional" and sharing with other towns, so there it can be limited in it's offerings (classes, sports, activities, etc).

As for pre-school, we used a place in Spencer that we were delighted with (but the name escapes me). I'm sure there are good and not-so-good options out there, but I can't speak to most of them.