Groundwell & Abbey Meads
Swindon 028 · 6 sub-areas · 10,639 residents
Swindon 028 is a suburban stretch of Swindon, home to around 10,600 people and one of the more settled, family-oriented corners of the town. A typical two-bedroom home lets for about £974 a month — noticeably below the UK median for a 2-bed — and nearly four in five households here own their home outright or with a mortgage.
Groundwell & Abbey Meads is a mid-density neighbourhood of Swindon in the South West region. It sits between busier and quieter parts of the local authority and isn't dominated by a single use — there's a mix of workplaces, housing and local services. The demographic profile leans family-aged, with a clear share of households with school-age children; most homes are owner-occupied, so turnover is low and many residents have been here a long time.
Overview
What's it like to live in Groundwell & Abbey Meads?
Greenspace is on the doorstep — a park or playing field is within walking distance of most homes; The streets feel safe by national standards — police-recorded crime is well below the country-wide median; Transport links are limited — a car or e-bike is a practical assumption for most regular trips; rents are roughly in line with the national norm, at around £1,082 a month for a typical home; gigabit broadband is effectively universal.
Generated from the latest May 2026 data · refreshed automatically
Figures are aggregated across 6 sub-areas — population-weighted means for rates, sums for counts. Sources cited beneath each section.
Groundwell & Abbey Meads in Swindon
Living in Groundwell & Abbey Meads
This part of Swindon has a distinctly owner-occupied, family feel. The tenure split is one of the most striking things about it: around 78% of households own their home, which is well above both the Swindon average and the national norm. That shapes everything from the pace of the streets to the age profile. You're not in a transient, renter-heavy neighbourhood — this is somewhere people put down roots.
On cost, it sits comfortably within reach. A two-bedroom home runs roughly £974 a month in rent, and a three-bedroom comes in around £1,200 — meaningfully cheaper than equivalent properties in Bristol or Reading, both of which are roughly an hour away by rail. If you're buying, the median sale price is around £308,000, and it takes an estimated 4.6 years to save a deposit at local earnings — tighter than ideal, but more manageable than in many southern commuter towns.
The population skews toward families and settled working-age adults. Around a quarter of residents are under 18, and the largest adult cohort — those aged 35 to 49 — makes up nearly 26% of the population. Single-person households are relatively rare at under 20%, and couples with children account for nearly a third of all households. This isn't a neighbourhood of young sharers; it's where people move when they're thinking about schools and space.
Practically speaking, the nearest mainline rail station is roughly 4 km away. Around half of residents commute by car, and nearly 40% work from home at least some of the time. Broadband is strong: 100% of premises have gigabit-capable connections. For more on how this area breaks down street by street, see the sub-areas listed below.
What you'll need on day one
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Frequently asked
- Is Swindon 028 a nice place to live?
- For families and owner-occupiers, it's one of the more appealing parts of Swindon. Low deprivation, a crime rate below the national average, and a strong community of settled households make it feel stable and quiet. The trade-off is that you'll need a car for most daily tasks, including getting to the rail station.
- What is the rent in Swindon 028?
- A one-bedroom home runs about £809 a month, a two-bedroom around £974, and a three-bedroom roughly £1,200. These are estimates scaled from ONS council-level data using local sale prices. Rents rose about 3.3% over the past year.
- Is Swindon 028 safe?
- Yes, relatively. The crime rate is around 67.5 incidents per 1,000 residents annually — noticeably below the UK national rate of roughly 80. The neighbourhood sits in the top 10% least-deprived areas in England, which correlates strongly with lower crime rates across most categories.
- What's the commute from Swindon 028 to London?
- By public transport, London is around 97 minutes away. The nearest mainline rail station is roughly 4 km from the neighbourhood centre, so you'll need a car or bike to get there. Birmingham is around 152 minutes by rail or bus.
- Who lives in Swindon 028?
- Mostly families and settled owner-occupiers. Nearly four in five households own their home, couples with children account for nearly a third of households, and under-18s make up around a quarter of the population. It's not a typical renter or young professional area.
- What schools are near Swindon 028?
- There are 96 schools within typical catchment distance, so provision is plentiful. Around 58% are rated Good or Outstanding by Ofsted, and the nearest Outstanding school is roughly 1.6 km away. Check current Ofsted ratings directly before making school-based decisions.
- What are broadband speeds like in Swindon 028?
- Excellent. Full gigabit-capable broadband coverage reaches 100% of premises, and no properties fall below the minimum universal service obligation standard. For remote workers — nearly 40% of residents work from home — that's a genuine practical advantage.