Living in Oxford...

NicktheNorse

NicktheNorse

NicktheNorse

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Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
4,364
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Oslo, Norway
Anyone familiar with the Oxford area? I need to start looking for a place to live. I'll be driving to work in Enstone and its completely dead up there, hence me wanting to live in the outskirts of Oxford. I guess ideally somewhere in the north-west, perhaps between Oxford itself and Kidlington.

Can any of you recommend anything?

Atm I'm probably looking to rent a one bedroom apartment, I'm gonna hunt around a couple of estate agents today.
 
Cheers for all the suggestions, I've been busy looking up various things. One thing I'm not too sure about is the price however - not specifically in terms of Oxford but more in terms of general letting behaviour - this will be the first time I rent anything not "studenty" so to speak.

It looks like ill be getting about £1600 in disposable income a month (ie, after tax, NI, student loan). What do people usually spend on living costs? 50%? All the decent one and two bedroom places in the outskirts of oxford are about £700 a month - does that sound right?

edit: I'm a bit of a n00b when it comes to living in the real world.
 
KaHn said:
Dude that depends on how much your gettin paid :D

Hope its a lot as its going to be awful hours mate.
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It isn't going to be easy work, the head of the Aero department said that I should expect 55 hrs/week during the busiest of times (December - February testing) and 42 hrs/week for more "normal" periods. It is certainly the kind of work where you have to be uber dedicated, but I think i'll be able to survive.

It is also not the best of paid jobs, at least not to begin with. As a "junior" aero engineer Ill be taking in about £1430 /month after tax, NI and student loan repayment....

edit: my earlier monthly pay estimate was a bit off :p
 
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sorry to bring back such an old topic :p

I've spent the last 3 days driving around the oxford area and looking at flats.

Kidlington is in the perfect location but hardly anything to rent. Wasn't too impressed with the housing to be honest, a little council estate-ish, at least what I saw.

Woodstock is cool, though there are few to no places to rent and very expensive.

After experiencing the traffic I know for sure I can't live inside the ring road as i need to go 10 miles up the A34 to get to work. Plus, nothing much available in Summertown/Botley/whatever now anyway.

My favourite place, and although not specifically Oxford, was Witney. Lots of brand new flats at great prices and still only a 20 min drive to the Renault factory. Seemed like a reasonably lively town as well, though it is a fair distance away from Oxford (10 miles) so it will be hard to get back to after a night out in town.

Need to phone around some more tomorrow and sort out some more viewings. Didnt realize how tiring all this crap was, and then theres the drive from Surrey to Oxford i keep having to do!
 
OllyM said:
Yeah, Witney isn't too bad...

Be warned though, at morning and evening rush hour, the A34 is an absolute nightmare, there are often accidents which cause huge jams :(
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oops, i meant the A44, not the 34.

cheers for the advice guys, really helps a lot!
 
Bat said:
Just re-read and remembered you will work in Enstone. If that's the case Witney is ideal. Getting in and out of Oxford in the evening is really easy. The 100 bus service runs up to every 10 mins at busy times and runs until about 4am IIRC.
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boom! just checked the bus schedules and you are right, the N100 goes from oxford to witney up until 3:15am. good stuff :D
 
right, well im back into Witney tomorrow to look at another 5 flats. All brand new and pretty swanky, hopefully i'll find the right place for me :D Unfortunately the appointments are all such that I'll hit the M25 traffic on the way home :(
 
legacy said:
I'm in the same position at the moment. Started at renault a few weeks ago and have been lodging in Banbury, although I'm trying to get a place in oxford in some studenty house or something (i'm on placement).

Do you have any idea what the commute is like out of Oxford to Enstone? At the moment it takes me about 20-30 minutes depending on the route/roads from Banbury.
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Banbury is about as far away from Enstone as Witney is - I've driven from my flat which is on the north side of Witney to the Renault factory several times and it takes me 21 mins.

If you live within the ring road I guarantee you the commute will be approaching an hour. During the mornings I drove around Oxford trying to get a feel for the traffic I got stuck on the A40 on my way to the A34 (which leads directly out of Oxford up towards Enstone/Chipping Norton) and it was absolutely horrendous.

If you want to be near Oxford centre the best thing would be somewhere like Kidlington. This is a quick sub-15 min drive to Renault up the A34, and its 10 mins by bus back into the town centre.

And boom, another OcUK'er starting at Renault :) How long is your placement for? What are you doing? Are you at uni now? How did you get it?

Wallace said:
What estate agents are you using?
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Yeah I'm using Finders Keepers. Ive already paid them the reservation fee and I'm doing the tenancy application now. To be honest they have been nothing but curteous and professional with me!
 
Well i signed the contract and picked up the keys to my flat today, probably moving in this coming weekend - then my first day at Renault is on Monday :D

Although there are definite hints of fear, I am very excited :)
 
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