living between Worcester and Framingham/Natick (Holliston, Bolton: rent, neighborhoods, preschool)

[naport]

I will be working in and around Worcester, and my husband has found a job with sites in Framingham and Natick. I'm looking for suggestions about towns that split the commute (roughly) for us. Not yet sure if we'll rent or buy. If we buy, would like a nice 3 bedroom for around 450k or less.

Top priorities are a very good public elementary school and a family-oriented town (whatever that means...I guess I'm thinking safe, quiet neighborhoods, rec activities for the kids, good library, good preschool options, and so on.) We have a 7 year old and a 4 year old.

Also like the idea of a bit of a small-town/semi-rural feel...have this notion that we'd like maybe an acre or so but would also like to be able to walk some places (eg: school, library, etc?) I realize these two features may be hard to find together.

Thanks in advance for any ideas of towns to investigate further between the above cities!!

[scarletfire]

I'd say Southboro would be a good place to start. It has a nice small town feel, reputable schools, lots of community activities, a great little library, easy highway and train access and would make for a pretty reasonable commuter to either Worcester or Framingham/Natick. Others that might be worth investigating if you want more rural would be Berlin/Bolton or perhaps Holliston.