Looking for a walkable, downtown suburb near Horsham (York, Willow Grove: apartments, schools)

[reztrop]

North Wales has an excellent Korean supermarket called ASSI Plaza. The quality of the produce at ASSI is very good and inexpensive compared to Trader Joe's or Whole Foods. I have seen a lot of non-Asian customers shop at ASSI.

Lansdale is more walkable than Horsham. Lansdale has more of a small town feel and its Main Street has a SEPTA train station (R5). The ASSI Plaza is just outside of Lansdale. Within Lansdale there is a public library, a park with baseball field, a recreation center, and churches within a one mile radius.

[niceguy19125]

Originally Posted by michgc

Thanks, everyone for all of the great ideas. I remember Narberth as being very nice. I'll have to look into the commute, though. One of the factors that would sway us to move is a better commute than we have now since DC is notoriously horrible, although I'm not sure Philly is too much better. I will look into Jenkintown, Ambler, and Hatboro. Does Horsham have a walkable downtown area? I have never been there. If so I will check it out as well. Any ideas on North Wales? I saw online that it has a Trader Joe's and Whole Foods and a small downtown, but not sure what it's like in person. Thanks again for taking the time to share your ideas.

I think Narberth would trump the other choices being offered since it offers the walkable aspect (the town is one mile wide). North Wales, Jenkintown, Horsham and others mentioned include lack of a cohesive downtown, busy streets/highways, and sprawling geography. Aspects which aren't conducive to the term "walkable", which usually means you that you can actually walk from your residence for a purpose (to go shopping, go to restaurants, to a park, etc.) The only other place remotely similar to your original criteria is Ambler.

The commute from Narberth to Horsham is no where near the horrible DC commutes. 20 miles here equals 40 minutes, at worst. Avoiding the Schuykill Expressway would do wonders for the trip. Taking PA 23 (State Road) north to I-476 makes it a bit easier.

If commute time is your number one criteria then I would of course suggest some other quality of life sacrifice to accommodate that. However, to reinforce, it's not even close to the level you experienced in DC.

[michgc]

Thanks Reztrop and NiceGuy. Narberth does look great - I checked out their website. Glad to hear the traffic isn't as bad as DC. I have three children (one in elementary school and two preschoolers), and we walk everywhere where we live now. On a daily basis we walk somewhere - either to the library, the playground, the community center for classes, the grocery store, or few other places. I enjoy that quality of life so much (I hate hopping in my car for every little thing!) that I am trying to replicate it. We'll be up that way again in August so we'll check out a few of the towns listed. Thanks!

[JasmineFlower]

Originally Posted by niceguy19125

I think Narberth would trump the other choices being offered since it offers the walkable aspect (the town is one mile wide). North Wales, Jenkintown, Horsham and others mentioned include lack of a cohesive downtown, busy streets/highways, and sprawling geography. Aspects which aren't conducive to the term "walkable", which usually means you that you can actually walk from your residence for a purpose (to go shopping, go to restaurants, to a park, etc.) The only other place remotely similar to your original criteria is Ambler.

Uh, I think you are really selling Jenkintown very short. Especially with the implication that there is a street that is a highway similar to 309 running through it. Many people walk around and through Jenkintown everyday and its not hard to cross the streets there and it definitely has a cohesive downtown and is walkable to the things mentioned including a park, shopping, and restaurants. If you want to sell Narberth, great, but no need to sell Jenkintown short in the process especially when its inaccurate.

As for the commute, if you live in Ambler or Jenkintown, you do not need to take a highway to get to Horsham. If you live in Narberth, you might need to depending on flow of traffic, and that's on top of dealing with traffic once you get into Horsham. And FYI, there is traffic in Horsham during rush hour because there's a ton of businesses there. It flows MUCH better than it used to, it was a parking lot that made you want to shoot yourself sitting there for an hour, but its better now, but traffic is still an issue in the area during rush hour. Especially if you come on/off the turnpike.

[silverspringer]

I love Narberth, but I really value a quick commute. I would second (third?) the rec for Jenkintown. It is not particularly quaint, at least to my eye, but I think it has much of what you're looking for.

Narberth's elementary schools are outside the town, which makes it a little less ideal in terms of walkability for someone with three small children. The houses are zoned to two different elementaries. One is possibly walkable (Merion), the other is definitely not.

One final thought as another DC-area transplant: the traffic here is much less bad than what I was used to in DC. While it's not very eco-friendly, I do find myself using my car for quick errands, even ones i could walk to, because traffic is not a problem and parking is easy. In warm weather I try to walk more, but there aren't the same incentives to walk as there are in DC, when you know you might get stuck sitting in traffic a block from your house.

[michgc]

Thanks again, everyone! The more I think about Narberth, the less I think it is for us. I looked at the real estate online and it's quite expensive. And I am worried about the Main Line snobbery/competitiveness in the Lower Merion School District. While I remember the town itself being very cute and walkable, there may be other factors that preclude us from living there including the commute. I will definitely look into the Jenkintown/North Wales/Lansdale area. And I am going to revisit Doylestown again as well as Newtown and Yardley, and then Hatboro and Ambler. We don't even know if this job will pan out or what kind of salary will be offered so this exercise might be for naught. We will find out more in early August. And I am hoping we don't need to make a rush decision. But if we do, I will be well-prepared! I appreciate all of the help!

[renlouis]

Good Luck! My husband was looking at a job in Horsham as well and we had the same criteria as you do. We were looking at Doylestown, Yardley, & Jenkintown, based on recommendations on this board. I was a little put off by the schools in Jenkintown, though I 'm sure some will disagree. If you look on greatschools.com or greatschools.net (not sure which), they lag far behind the Doylestown schools (Central Bucks) and Yardley schools (Pennsbury?). I know that test scores aren't everything, but they are certainly something to be considered. Unfortunately, my husband didn't get the job in Horsham, so we probably won't be moving to the Philadelphia area. I was really disappointed, but I hope that your husband does get the job - that it's a great salary - and that you love the town that you choose!

[niceguy19125]

Originally Posted by JasmineFlower

Uh, I think you are really selling Jenkintown very short. Especially with the implication that there is a street that is a highway similar to 309 running through it. Many people walk around and through Jenkintown everyday and its not hard to cross the streets there and it definitely has a cohesive downtown and is walkable to the things mentioned including a park, shopping, and restaurants. If you want to sell Narberth, great, but no need to sell Jenkintown short in the process especially when its inaccurate.

As for the commute, if you live in Ambler or Jenkintown, you do not need to take a highway to get to Horsham. If you live in Narberth, you might need to depending on flow of traffic, and that's on top of dealing with traffic once you get into Horsham. And FYI, there is traffic in Horsham during rush hour because there's a ton of businesses there. It flows MUCH better than it used to, it was a parking lot that made you want to shoot yourself sitting there for an hour, but its better now, but traffic is still an issue in the area during rush hour. Especially if you come on/off the turnpike.

Sorry, I wasn't selling Jenkintown "short"...just disputing the claim that all of Jenkintown is walkable. All of Narberth is walkable, which was an original criteria of the OP.

[IrinaV]

You may check out Newtown as well. It has nice walkable downtown and excellent schools. If you will find the place to live inside Newtown bypass road, you can walk to the grocery store, playground, sport club, even with small children. Taylor state park is close by.The only downside is the housing price, it is pretty high. Yardley is good too, it has cute downtown, close to I95 and Delaware river, not sure about shopping within walking distance. Good luck!

[keithlantz]

North of Horsham...Doylestown, would definetly be a good choice, and is only about 10-15 mins by car. It has a nice downtown and there are a few grocery stores just up the street from the county courthouse. There is a train station in downtown as well. I believe a "drive-through" isn't enough to get the feel of Doylestown. Doylestown is expensive, though.

South of Horsham about 10-15 mins...Other people have mentioned Jenkintown and I think this would be a good choice as well. There is a nice neighborhood feel and there are many amenities. Next to Jenkintown is Glenside, which is similar and has a nice downtown area with lots of amenities. Both Jenkintown and Glenside have train stations. Almost every train stops in Jenkintown, and the airport line goes direct from Glenside on most trips.

Also, no one mentioned downtown Willow Grove, which is 5 mins south of Horsham. You actually can walk to the mall from many of the houses in downtown Willow Grove, but there isn't as much of a "downtown" feel. But, there are many amenities, along with the mall, parks, train station, restaurants, groceries, post office, banks, etc.