NH bound--In need of wisdom!

[nbergeron]

Hello Mamas,
I am so excited to be leaving NY state for the land of the White Mtns! I see there is an active tribe on MDC and hope to get some much needed advice from you!!
A little background: I am a AP, SAHM with an 18 mo old (we are also ttc) My husband accepted a job w/ a co. in Portsmouth and he is 80% WAH but is required to travel around New England a bit. We need to be close to US 93. I am trying to research communities that would suit our lifestyle but am finding it hard to evaluate with statistics alone. I plan a trip to NH soon-supposed to be this week but may back out b/c of the snow coming...to check out towns in person. We are looking to buy a home since we have loads of animal children and want to get settled right away (esp. if baby 2 will be on the way). Here are some of my hopes/requirements: local midwives who attend HB, a decent library that offers kids programs, sidewalks!!!, outdoor rec opportunities; parks, nature preserve or hiking/walking trails etc., a natural foods co-op or store, a "town center" or downtown area, misc. community centers that offer activities; like a YMCA, yoga or dance studio, public transportation and AFFORDABILITY
Whew..I guess those are the major items that I'd like to be immediately accesible. I've lived in the styx for 5 yrs now and am used to driving ~30-40 minutes to get groceries. I am looking forward to being able to walk into town w/the fam and do our errands or to have playdates. Some of the towns I am interested in so far are Wilton, Derry and Salem. I will appreciate any words of wisdom on any communities you think has most of these characterisitics. Please feel free to throw in any misc. or random tidbits!! Thank you so so much for the help!!
Nicole

[mudhugger]

I so love that mdc can be the perfect place for mamas to connect on anything! Here's my 2 cents. I don't know Wilton at all, but I wouldn't say Salem matches exactly what you're hoping. Derry is close. Exeter comes to mind, but it's slightly more expensive. It has everything you mentioned though: right off Rte 101 that brings you to 93, and is about 15 minutes from Portsmouth; has a great village-like downtown with sidewalks; there's a good community center; Blue Moon is a coop/natural foods store that has cool events (they even have ChildLight Yoga classes); there's a park at the river (right downtown) that's great for picnics and kayaking; Stratham Birthing Center is nearby and I know Jeanne Browne of the Concord Birthing Center travels down that way for home births (she's amazing!) I live nearer to Dover (a place with a great downtown) so I don't know the 93 area as well. I wonder what others may say about the Raymond/Deerfield area? That's beautiful out that way and also has Patuckaway State Park not too far...I'm not sure about sidewalks though! lol They aren't all that common in NH Good luck-- it sounds like an exciting adventure!

[Jelinifer]

I live next door to Wilton in Milford so I can vouch for our awesome area Wilton is a small country town and would be a great place for a family with lots of animal children.... As for the "town" atmosphere, Milford (which really is only a 5 minute drive away from the center of Wilton) has it all. We have a great Boys and Girls Club in town, a nice little town center with diners,cafes, small stores, and a great library with alot of kids programs (not sure about what the Wilton library has to offer.) We have an awesome free standing birth center in town (Birth Cottage in Milford) and the midwives are more than supportive of attending home births.... we'll be having our first baby at the center in May and Adrian and Autumn really are amazing midwives! If you go into the next town over in the opposite direction of Wilton into Temple, NH , you'll find Temple Mountain Yoga. The owner/instructor is a wonderful gal... I'm loving her prenatal class right now! There are lots of hiking trails in the Wilton/Milford area including a long rail trail here in Milford..... we have a Natural Foods Co-Op that's tied in with an organic CSA in Amherst (on the opposite side of Milford) and the area is affordable! The only downside is our lack of public transportation. Feel free to PM me with any other questions, because I can really ramble and forget things when you get me going

[mudhugger]

Jelinifer, Milford sounds amazing... I don't mean to hijack this thread It's just that my husband (also a marathon man btw!) and I have been thinking about moving out of the seacoast, so now we may check your area out!

[birdword]

I would check out the Monadnock region . . Peterborough and surrounding towns. There's a midwife in Peterborough, and well I think this area is one of the prettiest spots in the world. There are two health food stores in town, and a great farmers market in the summer. I love it here

[babynatasha]

Portsmouth is not close to rt. 93. There are a couple of routes that connect rt 93 and rt 95 (where Portsmouth is off of) such as rt 101 and rt. 495. If I had to choose which to use, I would go with rt 495. So I will start based off of this.

Newburyport, MA
Yes!! All this!! "local midwives who attend HB, a decent library that offers kids programs, sidewalks!!!, outdoor rec opportunities; parks, nature preserve or hiking/walking trails etc., a natural foods co-op or store, a "town center" or downtown area, misc. community centers that offer activities; like a YMCA, yoga or dance studio, public transportation and AFFORDABILITY." Newburyport meets all of you requirements and is about 1/2hr to 45 minutes from Portsmouth. It is also about the same distance to Boston. However if you want to buy a place close enough to the center of town that has enough land for animals it will be pricey. There are nice area to live in that are not in the center of town though that have land, like West Newbury or Amesbury.

Other towns that come to mind are Amesbury MA, Exeter NH, Portsmouth itself, Haverhill MA (although not nearly as nice). Possibly New Market NH, Dover NH or Durham NH.

Salem, NH has no downtown, no sidewalks and is very commercial/car oriented. Derry is nice, but the commute to Portsmouth will be long (rt 93N to 101E to 95N). I have no input on Wilton, not sure where it is. Raymond and Deerfield also have no side walks and I don't think they really have much else.

I like Kingston, where I live, although we have no side walks, no 'community' but we have land and can drive 15 minutes to get the most. (or 45 minutes to get the rest)

I also posted on another person looking for places near Exeter, NH a few minutes ago. You can check that out too, as the other posters are also commenting on similar things

Good luck and

[nbergeron]

Thanks!!

Well, wow! Thank you everyone for your responses. I must say that Wilton/Milford is sounding better and better. I do, however, LOVE Exeter as we visited 11/09. I think we may be priced out of that town & my husband (on further reflection) prefers to stay in southern NH. The office is in Portsmouth but he only goes there 1x/mo, most of the plants he has to travel to are in MA and RI-hence the need to be near I-93.
I am bursting at the seems with excitement!!! We are coming out soon to investigate. Again, thanks so much for the insight

[nbergeron]

Oops--trying to PM.........newbie to the forum technique