Exeter Fantastic ;-)

[Radio Flyer]

[quote=Annabelle;4925967]Just a reminder that within SAU16...One thing to consider since you want to live in an area with land and woods if you choose a location at the far ends of Kensington or E. Kingston or Brentwood, that the bus ride to Stratham can be quite long from those areas.
QUOTE]

Yup. We used to live in Brentwood.... Swasey, the elementary school, right in the middle of town is wonderful. We moved before my kids got to middle school, but I was never comfortable with the thought of them traveling that far for middle school. High school, maybe. Middle school, no.

Another thing....Exeter is charming, no doubt. But, honestly, when it comes to REAL shopping, you have to go to other towns. There is a Walmart in Epping, but the closest department stores are in Newington. Kind of a trek, if you ask me.

Having the beach closeby is a huge plus though.

[TCSCT]

How do you like the school district in exeter??? Im going for a visit labor day weekend. My husband will be working in exeter so the towns that surround exeter with the sau16 school district are my first choice of towns. But the town of northwood seems kinda neat, a little farther away, all the kids attend school in the town where they live and much less students. The coebrown academy up there has very good reviews. I think norhtwood may be the town we are looking for, if work was not an issue we would move way further up north than that. But this town looks like it may be bit away but still close enough for the daily commute to exeter.

[Radio Flyer]

Are you talking to me, TC?

We don't live in the SAU 16 district anymore. We were only there for two years.

[chanisco]

I grew up in Exeter and I currently live just over the border in Kingston. For 10 years I lived elsewhere in CA, FL and PA. It seems that everyone comes back here! At a recent reunion I found out that many of my former Exeter classmates left and are now back "home". It's a wonderful place to raise a family. We are actually moving away (we want to be back in a warmer climate) but this is a great area to live in. You are close a hour from Boston (my husband commutes to Boston) and Portland, ME. 20 minutes from the beaches, an hour from the mountains, and Kingston has a wonderful state park on the lake where you can swim and picnic. Crime is almost non-existent.

The Exeter area schools (SAU 16) are great. The Kingston/Newton (SAU 17) are a little less great but they are trying! My 6-y-o has a slight learning disability and I can't say enough about how great Bakie Elementary has been for him. He is now keeping up with his class and even excelling in areas. I've been very happy, and I haven't heard any complaints about the schools from any of my friends who are parents. The new high school is very nice. Kingston is a great little community. (The police chief is a great guy who really watches out for the citizens.) The only thing about Kingston is that they don't allow much change in the town. This could be good or bad depending on what you're looking for. The "downtown" area of Kingston is beautiful. I can see why they don't want it to change much.
One thing to check before you move here is the property taxes. They could be considered high, depending on where you hail from. We have a 3BR ranch on 0.7 acres, and we pay about $5000 a year in property taxes. (But there is no sales tax or income tax in NH.) From what I understand, Exeter is higher - but you get a lot of for the money.
Good luck to anyone moving here. It's a great place to live! Oh, did anyone mention The Greenbean in Exeter? Great soups and sandwiches.