[Wilton2ParkAve]

Plenty of shoreline towns exceed WH. Westport, Ridgefield, New Canaan in particular.

[Vin100]

I agree that north West part of Glastonbury is a good place and close to I-91. But the same question comes that if my wife has to drive for about 35 -40 min from Glastonbury (considering the time it takes from a home in glastonbury to reach I-91), then why not West Hartford and drive for 5-7 min more

[Vin100]

I would have loved to stay in these shore line towns..but for the distance to Hartford where I need to travel everyday and may be even during night calls.

[NewJeffCT]

Originally Posted by Wilton2ParkAve

Plenty of shoreline towns exceed WH. Westport, Ridgefield, New Canaan in particular.

New Canaan & Ridgefield are not shoreline towns, though.

and, West Hartford has more of an urban/suburban feel, and more diversity, than any of those towns. It's more like a nicer & wealthier Danbury because of its size and economy, with better schools. (Danbury has Boehringer-Ingelheim, Praxair, West Conn State U and a few others, West Hartford has Legrand/Wiremold, Goodrich, Colt, as well as UConn and Univ of Hartford)

Westport, Ridgefield and NC are all wealthier towns with better schools than West Hartford, but lack the sheer volume of jobs, shopping and restaurants of West Hartford.

[NewJeffCT]

Originally Posted by Vin100

I agree that north West part of Glastonbury is a good place and close to I-91. But the same question comes that if my wife has to drive for about 35 -40 min from Glastonbury (considering the time it takes from a home in glastonbury to reach I-91), then why not West Hartford and drive for 5-7 min more

Depending on the locations in both Glastonbury and West Hartford, you could be saving closer to 15 minutes of time. When I worked off of Hebron Avenue in Glastonbury, I'd be down past the Route 9/91 merge in less than 15 minutes. If I have to travel on 84 to 9 South from West Hartford, or 84 to 91 South, it's going to be closer to 30 minutes to get that far, and a much greater chance of traffic.

[SeaDoo342]

Originally Posted by Wilton2ParkAve

Plenty of shoreline towns exceed WH. Westport, Ridgefield, New Canaan in particular.

New Canaan and Ridgefield aren't shoreline. To whoever said Milford, Milford's can't compare. Not even a little. Neither can Westport's.

[Wilton2ParkAve]

Originally Posted by SeaDoo342

New Canaan and Ridgefield aren't shoreline. To whoever said Milford, Milford's can't compare. Not even a little. Neither can Westport's.

New Canaan is part of the gold coast. I would agree that Westport can't compare for those who prefer a small city with parking garages, a plethora of chain stores, small residential lots and congestion. However many of us prefer a small town feel with a real sense of community. All of the small businesses and family owned restaurants in town know my name as we'll as the wife and kids. If you are a high achieving professional in finance, law or medicine, Westport or NC will trump from a comp standpoint.

As for a lack of restaurants, let's stop putting so much emphasis on this farcical concept. How often do you people eat out? Even if I focus on just Westport restaurants and assuming we eat out 3x a week, the entire rotation would take months. More than sufficient. 100 restaurants, yawn.

[Vin100]

My idea of looking for a town is not the restaurants. I hardly eat out. But the market, restaurants, shops, does indicate the density of population and more closer interaction among the residents of a town.
I am absolutely new to these near coastal towns of NC, Milford, (though know a little about Ridgefield), but the entire conversation started as looking for towns as close to the feel of West Hartford between Hartford and New Haven where me and my wife will be working from mid next yr.
Coming back to Cheshire and North Haven, does anybody know if any particular part of these towns are more family friendly, less woody, has reasonable priced houses (200K-350K) on level lots and do not depend on septic tank or well water (Many good houses in Cheshire have septic tank/ well water.)

[htfdcolt]

Back to the OP's request--they are looking at towns commutable to/from Hartford & New Haven. Ridgefield, New Canaan, Westport might be great but don't fit their criteria.

[Stylo]

I was actually referring to New Haven area coastal towns since they have higher density areas south of 95 and downtowns (which aren't as big as WH's, but whatever).

The North Haven areas closer to Hamden/Whitneyville and the North Haven green are where you want to look