We did this past week actually. I didn’t get to spend a lot of time in each area but found that for our style the most sensible option is going to be East Greenwich (or directly surrounding areas).

The reason we came to this conclusion:

• E. Greenwich most resembles our current home in FFC. Lots of woods, charming town, schools (private and public), large lots, plenty of beautiful old homes
• ease of access to both the train and the airport are important for us and not driving 45 minutes is going to make our living easier.
• How we personally spend our daily lives is mostly homebodies, but when we want to strike out for our adventures 2-3 times per week we can given this is a very convenient home base to beaches, Jamestown, Newport etc.

Many of the other areas certainly had their charm but it felt like for us a lot of trade offs for our needs. Jamestown for instance is beautiful and has a lovely town, but smaller lots, less dense woods, not as convenient. Bristol / Barrington has lots to like but definitely less convenient for commuting to Boston/NYC and where our children will likely go to schools for instance.

So for us, despite everything having plenty to like, EG seems like the easiest pick that affords us the quaint life that we currently enjoy without going overboard as well as access to things to do given everything is so easy to drive to for a day trip. It was great to ponder the possibilities on a map but there really is no substitution for going there and that helped us choose pretty quickly.

To your point real estate in EG is pretty sparse, and I don’t want to minimize the expense, but we also are coming from an area that is SHOCKING even to us (lots of properties being relisted for double and triple pre Covid levels) so I at least take solace that we aren’t paying as crazy prices as we would otherwise have to here.