Anyone familiar with Doylestown? (Philadelphia, Chester: fit in, buying a home, landscaping)

[Ocean Parkway]

My husband might be soon transfered to Horsham and we're considering neighboring towns. Doylestown has been recommended to us in addition to New Hope, but New Hope seems too far for commuting and I've heard it's very touristy. Can anyone offer insight into the Doylestown area? We'd like good schools and an active, interesting community, with some culture/museums and a couple of good restaurants (we'll go into Philly for great food). But I'm especially wondering how the town might be changing and what local concerns are...meaning can local stores still afford to remain in town? Too many malls going up in a certain area? Any major environmental issues? What are the people like, personality-wise?

We're from the NYC suburbs so what we consider bad traffic is relative, but perhaps road congestion is a growing major concern in some areas.

Buckingham Township was also recommended, but it appears to be all McMansions with no character and no privacy, but we only looked in one small area of it.

Thanks for any insights...we're just starting out looking at everything.

[rainrock]

Hopefully someone from Bucks County can help you out but I'll add my 2 cents.

I live in the western mainline suburbs, other comparable towns to Doylestown that I know well are Swarthmore,Media, West Chester, Wayne,Bryn Mawr,Narberth,Ardmore. The 4 or 5 times I've been in Doylestown I'd say it's on par or better than all of them. The only communities I personally would put ahead of Doylestown is Chestnut Hill which is in NW Philadelphia and Center City Philly. The Doylestown area is quite impressive, I wouldnt worry about the climate of the town progressing or regressing too much. It's a town that knows its niche and is very comfortable in its place, and Central Bucks Schools are very good.IMO from afar you are on the right track with Doylestown

Good luck

[maf763]

Agree with Rainrock. Doylestown has more of a cultural center than most suburban communities with the Michener Museum, County Theater, some decent downtown restaurants. The commute to Horsham isn't terrible, but you'll certainly get slowed down in some areas. Central Bucks is a large school district with a good reputation, though like any school, the quality of the education your child receives depends mostly on the teachers they have.

[L.K.]

We moved to Doylestown last June,specifically Buckingham township as you mentioned.We love Doylestown.It does offer alot,including all that you mentioned.The housing here is as you mentioned also,but there are other types mixed in.The school district is wonderful,people are generally friendly,and from what I understand,there will be no other types of malls going in in the future.

[Ocean Parkway]

Thank you so much for responding! It's a bit unnerving relocating to an area that we don't know well and don't have anyone we know personally to ask. I really appreciate the insight.

We're just starting our search, so will look completely around Doylestown/Buckingham, etc., but also appreciate the suggestions of other towns.

Is anyone intimately familiar with Doylestown, in terms of understanding the differences between the neighborhoods? Trying to get an idea of where we'd fit in best and not sure if some areas are more geared towards older residents with no children.

Thanks again.

[damone5000]

Most of what has already been said is true. The difference between Doylestown and the mainline is simply that Doylestown is a little isolated from center city and other areas. This is because of a strong local community that has fought unnecessary development which has led to zero highways, etc. There is a train to cc (R5) but it takes 1.5 hours. If you are commuting to cc tne I would say any town along the mainline would be a better choice.

However, if that is not a concern, the D-town is by far a more engaging place to live. There are many resturaunts, a good amount of quality museums, and a local nightlife scene that is not overwhelming but not dull either. Also, the schools are top notch.

As for specific neighborhoods, the westernmost end of town is the nicest with houses ranging from $600k to over $1.5m. If you want to live in the center of town that will be expensive also. The least expensive (but not as pretty) part of town is the north end which borders on some very light inductrial and commercial zoning. It shuld be noted that most of Doylestown is zoned historic, which can be a headache for some residents but has really been a boon for the town. There are alsmost no new malls, shopping centers, etc. And the shops that do go in have to follow very strict zoning. A CVS, for example, had to make their building conform to historic codes and made it look not terrible.

As for getting away from kids, you cant. They are all over the place. However, since the area is really nice, the kids are not your typical punk teenagers. You would never feel threatened at night, etc.

Hope this helps.

[solibs]

I would check out Ambler, PA. It's all of 6 miles to Horsham it's a cute town, train (R5) to Center City takes about 30 minutes. It's not as big as Doylestown but it has the basics.
I would check out any of the towns between Ambler and Lansdale.

Also, on the R2? I know the R5 towns better but maybe someone else can talk about Jenkintown, Glenside, Abington, Willow Grove, Hatboro, Horsham and Warminster.

[ajb842]

Doylestown is beautiful. I would also recommend Jamison and Ivyland which are right next door. A little further is Richboro and Newtown which would offer much of what Doylestown does, including the wonderful school district. Council Rock is I think, within the top 15 districts in the state. These places are not too far from Horsham, about 25 minutes tops I would think. You're time to CC from Doylestown will be further than if you were in Newtown or Richboro, as you would have access to 95 in those two areas. Richboro and Newtown, while I may be mistaken, may have more of the character you may be looking for in a home, though I think Doylestown has that I'm just guessing you saw a number of newer developments in the area.

[Ocean Parkway]

Thanks all, for the information. We ended up buying a home in Buckingham Township (after all that), only because we wanted to stay on the eastern side of town for commuting back to NY for family. We did find some older neighborhoods that had homes with more mature landscaping and privacy, and the homes had a bit more charm, which is what we were looking for.

Many of the newer developments in Buckingham (and elsewhere, I gather) has the newer development style homes with very large square footage on a smaller lot size, with little to no landscaping and no larger trees, which we really wanted.

We had looked in different parts of Doylestown, but there wasn't quite as much on the market at this time as we would have liked; perhaps more will come up in the fall but we needed to look now.

THanks again for all of the help!

[Vox2121]

We've been looking in the Doylestown area and, like you, was put off by the mcmansions on small, sterile lots in Buckingham. I'd love to know what area you settled on and how you like it! Seems like we had/have the same search criteria