nice towns in Middlesex county

[annitta]

Students don't bother me,I like them!I simply thought that living in Boston would be much more expensive than living in the surrounding towns. We are still young and like urban living, we don't mind the noise...I guess the schools are not that good

[GBM]

I live in Newton and it is a great place to live, great schools and nice people, lots of places to go never far away at all, however it can be a very rich place, especially in the South side. I do recommend it, but I think you should wait until you are ready to buy a house to check it out. Those are expensive too of course, but I don't think you could find much to rent in Newton on your budget, especially in the southern part. But, it's worth a shot if you can land something.

[DreamworksSKG]

Why Not Winchester? We have a great community with a beautiful quaint downtown center, two train stations into Boston - a 20 min ride .--- we border Woburn - are close to services, and shopping areas...- we have a beautiful forest right in town (Middlesex Fells Reservation and others within a 10-20 minute drive) - we're only a 20 minute ride into Boston without traffic -in non-peak traffic conditions and even peak traffic its only around 30 min
there's a lot of volunteer organizations in town and lots of activities to do. and events throughout the year such as the ENKA Fair , Town Day, the thanksgiving football game, and the tree lighting where santa rides around on the fire-truck. We have a cool independent book store called Bookends as well, and our public library is great. you can get a lot of DVDS--etc audio books etc among other things we have summer concerts on the common and movies on the common as well. We have a great school system and activities for youth-kids. etc.

If not Winchester I'd suggest Arlington Heights area, Medford, Stoneham, or Wakefield

[justNancy]

Originally Posted by annitta

From older posta I see Framingham maybe a bit suburban and I could find some apartments there in our budget.Is this a nice place at all?

Long commute to Woburn. I don't recommend it. Why not Woburn?

Originally Posted by annitta

Close to work (Woburn)-about 10 miles, max 15 miles, we suggest Middlesex county, Newton was also recommended to me

Unless they've moved it Newton isn't only 10 miles from Woburn, but it's not too far. It's also very expensive.

Closest town to Woburn is Lexington. Beautiful town, but terribly expensive. I worked in Lexington and lived in Woburn.

I can't think of any really bad suburbs and I lived in most of them. Burlington is a nice town and also borders Woburn.

I agree with Dreamworks that Winchester is a very nice community. Highly recommended. Arlington is a great place too. However, I still don't think you'll find a 2 bedroom for $1,100.

If you want to stay within 10-15 miles of Woburn, then you might want to check out Reading and Stoneham, although you're traveling further north from Boston. I have some suggestions, but the areas I'm thinking about will be 20-30 miles from Woburn. I've lived in FL for many years, but I grew up in MA and worked there most of my life. I've probably lived in most of the cities mentioned on this thread. In fact I lived in Woburn too. Good luck!

[DreamworksSKG]

Winchester is a great town - I have lived here most of my life and love it.
other possibilities might be Dunstable, Concord, Lexington, Lincoln, Carlisle, Bedford, Andover, or Medford. Wakefield, Reading, North Reading, and North Andover also come to mind.

But I am biased to Winchester its a great place to live

Winchester, Massachusetts Home Page

[annitta]

Ok, as I see it, Newton, belmont, Arlington and lexington would be too expensive for us. We will probably try Winchester, Woburn, Watertown, Waltham and maybe Melrose and Medford. Thank you all for the help!

[annitta]

Actually, which of the cities in Middlesex that we discussed have good schools?And if the schools in a town are not good does it mean they are really bad or they are simply not as good as the best ones?

[DreamworksSKG]

Arlington, Medford or Wakefield

Try Arlington Medford or Wakefield

I think they'd have apartments in your price range

check at the local town real estate offices.

all have good access to the city via commuter rail and or bus/or subway

I think you'd really like Wakefield. Nice quaint town center with a large lake people walk and bike around - also a nice State forest reservation

Take a walk through the center of the town and check out the trails at the breakheart reservation , take in a movie at the Jordans Imax theater (Harry potter maybe?)

and have a meal at Brothers' Restaurant or Nonnos pizza and/or have an ice cream at Cravings ice cream

Wakefield is great

[DreamworksSKG]

Arlington, Wakefield, Winchester all have the best schools in my opinion

[DreamworksSKG]

I think you guys should def. come visit Wakefield I think you'll really like the community and I think you can find a place that fits your budget