Winchester

Located on Judkins Pond, the Griffin Museum of Photography is one of Winchester's highlights.

THE GOODS Move to Winchester and soon you will hear - possibly in a hand-written welcome note - from the Winchester Neighbors Club. The group of local residents takes home-cooked meals to families in town with new babies. They host house-hop parties and playgroups, book clubs, and spirited games of bunco (a dice competition). It may sound like a throwback to 1950s suburban neighborhood life, but a strong sense of community is one reason people are willing to take on massive mortgages to live here.

PROS Ask people why they moved to Winchester and inevitably they talk about schools. The town's public school system, which routinely produces stellar MCAS scores, has long been a draw for families with children. Students at the Muraco Elementary School often have the highest MCAS scores in the state. For extracurriculars, the Winchester Community Music School - located in a Tudor mansion that once belonged to comedian and singer Frank Fontaine - offers lessons, workshops, ensembles, and music appreciation classes for children and adults. Although the town is one of the verdant W towns, the commute to Boston is relatively speedy. The trip on the Lowell branch of the MBTA commuter rail line - Winchester has two stops - to North Station can take as little as 15 minutes. And hikers revel in proximity to the Middlesex Fells Reservation, more than 2,000 acres of woodlands, ponds, and rocky hills crisscrossed by hiking trails and populated by coyotes and white-tailed deer.

CONS One of the biggest disadvantages of living in Winchester, where homes for less than $500,000 are an endangered species, is price. It's generally not a town for first-time buyers: And, if you don't have children, you may find yourself searching for diversions. Winchester has a few good restaurants - most notably, Catch - but they close early, at least by urban standards. The closest movie theaters are in Arlington and Woburn.

KATHLEEN BURGE