Thinking of moving to Exeter / Portsmouth (Dover, Hampton: new house, employment, to buy)

[PriyaQuinn]

My family and I are thinking of moving to the area and had a few questions;

What are the local public schools like? (kids 3,6 yo). Interested in quality of education, liberality, etc.

What is the dining environment like? My wife and I like everything - kosher to halal, vegan to beef ribs, American staple cuisine to Vietnamese Pho - what can't you find in the area?

For a person who grew up in western PA (Pittsburgh) - how bad are the winters there? Im used to cold (single digits to teens) from Nov to Mar with around 5 real snowstorms a year (6+ inches)

Oh, and we are travelling to Portsmouth in 2 weeks - where are the best down-home lobster rolls?

[frozintime]

Well.....Schools here along the seacoast are very good to excellent from what I understand. Oyster River(Durham,Lee,Madbury) is supposed to be great as are Portsmouth and North Hampton/Rye. Exeter is good too I hear.

You can just about find any kind of dining....except maybe Indian...but that could be just because I havent looked closer. Good dining out here in general.

Winters are actually fairly moderate right against the coast(considering)....go inland or up to the mountains and the snows get deeper and it gets somewhat colder. Not to say we dont get our share of snow, but it usually starts as snow and finishes as rain it seems.

Im vegetarian(got a chuckle at the vegan to beef ribs comment) and cant say about the lobster rolls.......

Enjoy your trip.

Regards
Matt

[mommat3164]

As a Realtor in Exeter, I can tell you about this area. This website can help you in seeing scores around the area, NH School District Profile (http://www.measuredprogress.org/nhprofile - broken link), and what the previous poster said is correct. There are more restaurants in the Portsmouth area and you can find most types of food. Our winters vary as this past one we didn't have many snow storms but it was very frigid. We tend to get 12" at a time though. If you want more information on the area, there are plenty of other sites to look at as well.

[PriyaQuinn]

Thanks for the reply. The information regarding the school districts will be very helpful for us. I will probably have a lot more questions, after our visit to the area. We have always wanted to live in New England, but never had the opportunity, before.

[kim1959]

Hi,
Maybe I'm just really warm blooded, but I've lived in Portsmouth, NH all my life and I don't think it's that bad in the winter! Maybe low teens if it's REALLY cold, but the usual "dead of winter" is 20's, 30's. So nothing to freak out over. I'd just say have long pants, a coat and some layering things. Layers are key because it gets warmer during the afternoon. Snow-wise, we only get a couple of big storms a year, usually. The rest of the time it's smaller squalls and such.
Up north---now that's a different story!
We are just north of Boston, so it's not so cold~
Kim

[GNH]

Hello!
I grew up in Greenland, and I wouldn't change that for anything. I attended elementary and middle school in Greenland and HS in Portsmouth. The good thing about Greenland schools is they are not too big, not too small. The average class size is about 20 students, with around 50-60 students in each grade. Portsmouth High School has about 1,200 students, and in my opinion has great academics. Though I have heard good things about Exeter High School and Winnacunnet HS (Hampton) as well.

Winters are not as bad as you think here on the seacoast. Of course there are a few night when it gets below zero, most days are in the 30s. Many times you will hear about a winter storm coming and there will be tons of snow inland and plain rain on the seacoast.

Portsmouth is the main hub of the region and about 5 minutes from towns like Greenland, Rye, New Castle, and Newington... and 10-20 minutes from Exeter, Stratham, Hampton, Dover, Seabrook, Newmarket, Durham etc. All the towns I mentioned are great places to move to, except that it is very expensive. The farther away from Portsmouth and the seacoast you get, the cheaper it is. Prices of homes in towns like Rye, North Hampton, Greenland, and New Castle can often be nothing short of ridiculous, especially if you're trying to buy a new house. There are pretty much NO new houses under $600,000 or 500,000.

But overall I LOVE the seacoast, and want to raise my children here.

[skytrekker]

Climate wise the Pittsburgh area (my parents home town) will be about the same as Southern New Hampshire as far as wintertime temperatures, especially locations near the coast. Snowfall about the same, with a slight advantage to NH, due to coastal storms.

The major exceptions will be; More sunny days and less fog then western PA. Also less drizzle and gloomy weather.
Less summertime humidity. Less summertime heat. Also far less stagnant / unhealthy air problems in southern NH.

[CityGirl52]

You probably came and went by now to the seacoast region! In any case, yes it's very expensive living on the seacoast as the previous posters advised you. I would still try to live here just the same if I were you. It gets pretty cold in the winter months. It gets down to the 20's and 30's and then even below that after the Christmas season for several weeks; then it's OVER and before we know it around New England the flowers are all blooming and the grass needs to be cut. Now we're in the middle of our summer and before we know it? It'll be autumn and the leaves will need to be all cleaned up and the lawn furniture will have to be put away for the season! It changes around here and for the most part? Most of us really like it that way.

If you want a really wonderful Lobster Roll, then head to Brown's Lobster Pound located on Rte. 286 in Seabrook, NH., 603-474-3331, it's open 7 days a week during the height of the summer months of course, which is there busy season at the beach then after around October 15th it's open only on weekends till around April 15th I think it is, it's quite the place for seafood! When you live here on the seacoast after Labor Day? That's when most of us hit these summer time popular places, when the summer crowds go home!! By then we can all sit down, relax with a table by the window in peace and quiet!
Brown's Seabrook Lobster Pound

Bob's Clam Hut up in Kittery, ME. next to the Kittery Trading Post where the Maine Outlets are along US Rte 1 is another gem to hit for a really good lobster roll, you can view their site to see what to get on their menu!
**************** Bob's Clam Hut - Seafood in Kittery, Maine.
207-439-4233

Market Square Day is in Portsmouth every June and if you move here, you should try to remember it next year. It's always the 2nd Saturday in June. They have the shop keepers and vendors up there with all kinds of food, crafts and trinkets and arts to buy. This year I tried this lobster roll that was out of this world. It was from Warren's Lobster House which is actually located in Kittery, ME., but it's only over this bridge that connects Portsmouth to Kittery. In Portsmouth there's 3 bridges that go over the river that brings you right in to Kittery where this Warren's is located and where the Kittery Outlet Shopping area is located. Warren's had a stand set up at this big event back in June called Market Square Day this year and their lobster roll was quite good from here, I never had one from them before, I heard about them though from SO many people. It was wonderful. Warren's is noted for their incredible salad bar too! In fact it's the best one on the seacoast and still going strong, so remember that when you move here! Warren's Lobster House - Kittery, Maine

Good luck and hope you find just the right place to live!

[PriyaQuinn]

We have come and gone from our visit to Exeter and Portsmouth - and loved it. We stayed at the Wentworth by the sea and had lobster rolls from Rickers in New Castle - great. Thanks so much for the information above, it was all really helpful. My wife and I were really impressed by all the areas along the seacoast - the only difficulty will be deciding exactly where to live. ONE MORE QUESTION - now that we're seriously interested in moving to the area, does anyone know about job prospects for my wife. She will be interested in pharmaceutical or biological/chemical processing or research. With an education in Chem engineering, she will be looking for something technical but with limited hours and no travel. Thanks again for your replies.

[Annabelle]

Hello,
I'm glad you enjoyed your trip. This link may be beneficial regarding employment for your wife.

Seacoastonline.com: Lonza's expansion begins at Pease