Naim factory visit?

I have seen a few people talk about a Naim factory visit on this site. Is this mainly dealer-led, groups of potential 500 buyers, or does Naim welcome all punters?

My wife and I are in Wiltshire all this week, trying to find a suitable location for a weekend retreat that will become our home in retirement, in 5 or 10 years, we are looking in the Bath-Marlborough-Salisbury triangle…

Would Naim be happy to see us if we stopped by, obviously with some notice? Anyone done this?

Thanks, Tony

It has to be arranged by a dealer, as far as i know private visits are not accepted. I can understand this as when the forum visited last year, it must be disruptive to the factory. And looking at their calendar board they were pretty much filled up with visitors for the coming months.

Thanks Gazza. It was just a thought as I was in the area. :slight_smile:

Just to confirm what Gazza said, it’s not possible to drop in at short notice. I organised last year’s Forum visit directly with Naim and it took several months to find a suitable slot. At the moment the dem room is out of action anyway.

If buying a house for retirement don’t be taken in by cutesy villages with no public transport and no shops. When in Salisbury take a walk along the river and look at the cathedral close. There are some beautiful houses there, right in the city. Bath is a nightmare and overrun with noisy tour groups and hen weekends.

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Thanks for the tips, makes sense.

I agree about Bath, was thinking along the lines of Bradford on Avon up in that corner of the triangle; I have been to Salisbury a few times but do not know it well, I will follow your suggestion.

This trip is about finding a general area that we like and that ticks the boxes, we’ll come back to zoom in on specific properties later.

But it seems a lovely part of the world, Dorset and Devon nearby, fresh air, a couple of decent cities in all directions and still not too bad for the occasional trip into London (mainly to see the kids, hear live music and visit galleries).

I am hopeful that prices will be a bit lower than London too, recycle some of that into the listening room.

Thanks again, Tony

Good call Nigel, forgot about the dem room, no sofa,s to sit on at the very least.

We visited the areas between Salisbury and Watton Bassett, it’s all very nice.

Lovely place - some friends of ours moved there early last year. They are 2 mins walk from the canal and some lovely pubs. It’s a very pleasant place to wander around. Close to Bristol / Bath for shopping. The only downside so far is it gets a bit packed in Summer but otherwise they’re very pleased with the move.

Good intel, thanks!

BoA is a great little town…

Real shops, a very good health centre, a railway station, the canal, the river (and ancient bridges), history of the rubber and wool trades (Avon Rubber), the country park, good pubs, great walking in the near countryside, it’s even a pretty little town, and it has a good community feel that attracts interesting (aka eccentric!) residents.

Royston Vasey?

G

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26 years ago my wife and I were looking for a new home somewhere along or adjacent to the Swindon to Bath stretch of the M4 corridor. We took a wrong turn on one occasion and tipped into Frome. We bought a house in a small village on the outskirts of Frome shortrly afterwards and haven’t budged.

Bradford is very pretty and interesting, but choked with traffic and poor air quality in the middle. Bath is great if you are a multi millionaire. Good Naim dealer there. And also choked with traffic a lot and has poor air quality. These are generalisations of course. I haven’t lived in either but have property hunted in both and I visit both. But you’re spoilt for choice really. So many lovely locations and communities south of Bath and Bristol. As long as you are not in a hurry to get fixed up.

Compared to Wiltshire CCG, who will be merging with Swindon CCG and BANES CCG, Somerset CCG provides superior healthcare, in terms of both service access and choice of treatment, from my experience as an end user and working in the pharmaceutical industry. If you are retiring and intend to use the NHS, you are better off in Somerset.

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I moved to outskirts of Bath 7 years ago and love it here it has everything that I could wish for. I can either walk, drive or catch a train in and have easy access to Bristol and London. We have so many events like music, literature, comedy festivals and beautiful countryside. Yes you do get lots of tourists but doesn’t affect us much besides the Christmas market that I tend to avoid those weeks. Many smaller villages that have great community spirit and a Naim dealer on your doorstep.

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We are here now, we took a lovely AirBnB place in Hinton Charterhouse.

We will be popping into BoA for some dinner later.

All your comments have been helpful and we will have a few days wandering round and getting lost…

We are in no rush, if we do find anything it will be a weekend retreat for us and our 4 adult children (and their families) until we retire, or semi-retire.

It’s Absolutely lovely here, we have been lucky with the weather of course.

Tony

We did the river walk… very nice, saw two swans with a new family of 7 or 8 cygnets. Really lovely.

Tony

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I’m pleased you liked it. If you fancy a trip to Emsworth tomorrow (36 miles away) let me know. It’s by the sea!

A few years ago I was doing some work in Bath and phoned Naim and asked i was in the area could I visit the factory and they were more than happy to welcome me.

I can’t quite remember how may years ago that was but if I remember correctly Adam Meredith did the tour with me, that may indicate the time frame as Adam has been gone for some time now I believe.

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Naim used to do walk ins and arranged visits on Fridays. It’s been dealer organised for some years now, but there are some rare exceptions, if a group of people approach Naim or if Naim offer something to a particular group.

That would have been rather more than just a few years ago. It would have been pre 2007 if Adam was still there doing the tour.

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how time flies when one is listening to music on Naim gear! :exploding_head: