I echo the comments of Belle and Bluesuperted above. We live on Siddons Road, a stone's throw from Loxton. We've been here since 2008 and have even in this short time seen in the surrounding area significant home improvements take place. We renovated our home during 2008/09. To me this indicates that people are opting to stay in the area, and to, say, convert their lofts to extra bedrooms to allow this. Re distance I personally like being slightly removed from the centre. It's a 7 minute walk from my front door to the station - no biggy - and I find this walk psychologically (and literally) uplifting. It takes me up and away from the south circ up the hill past christchurch into what I like to think of as FH's sunny uplands (dont let anyone try to tell you these fall north of the train line toward Wood Vale - piffle !). The cut-through connecting South Road to Shipton Road mentioned upthread is very helpful as it allows you to circumvent Perry Vale. I guess there is a pre-disposal toward families in the area, but this reflects the housing stock - there are many houses here as oppose to flats. I would recommend the area. We plan to stay for a good while yet.