Help! In search of the perfect town! (Manchester, Keene: houses, neighborhoods)

[AnneConstance]

My fiance and I grew up in a small town (population 4,000) in CT and moved 4 years ago to where he was stationed in the military in VA Beach. Now he's a law enforcement officer and we're looking to move back to the northeast to a smaller, more family-oriented place...Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, MAYBE parts of east-central New York and MAYBE parts of southern New Hampshire. Here are our desired specifics:

1. Between rural and suburban, not too bare but not too industrial.
2. Good schools.
3. A nice downtown with some little shops/cafes/restaurants.
4. Roads that can be walked by us and/or our children ultimately without fear.
5. Must be NO more than 2 hours from Chester CT.
6. A good family town with nice neighborhoods.
7. Decent, newer houses that are under $400k.
8. Preferably within 20-30 minutes of a bigger town/city that my fiance can work in that's not TOO dangerous, but with plenty for him to do.

I know what you're thinking...this is probably hard to find, but if anyone has any info that might help me, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks!

[terryandie]

HI Anne.
I'm here in CT myself. Before I can suggest areas what type of government and social services are you looking for. CT and Mass are good places for people who need or like government to take care of them. RI and NY have nice rual areas.

[Rexicana]

Unless GoogleMaps has me wrong, there is no place in S. NH that is 2 hrs or less from Chester CT. Keene, which is closest to 91, is 2 hr 28 min.

Did you look in the Pioneer Valley (Mass)?

[jen27]

i live in milford nh which is close to what your looking for accept the conn part im 45 min from keene but i love it here but its expensive for us but if your budget is 400k your in good shape. the schools are good here and its a nice small little town with everything you need in just min. manchester is 35-40 min away which is a city with lots to do for your husband or nashua is also close to milford. hope this helps

[fishnfool]

Exeter, NH is all those things.

[aponeil]

I agree that Exeter is fantastic! Also Brentwood is the same school district and a bit more newer subdivisions and sometimes more affordable. This general area is 30min to Manchester NH (airport), 30 min to Portsmouth, 15 to ocean in Hampton, 1 hr to Boston. Stratham is more expensive sometimes, but also great and shares that cool Exeter downtown. SAU 16 has 6 feeder towns for the school and is a great district. There are some tempting nearby towns which are significantly less $... aka, Epping, Fremont, Kingston. Just that schools just aren't as great and they don't have as great a reputation. I live in Fremont, and I often feel like, gee... if only our house was 1mi east, we'd be in Brentwood and so much would be different.