Honestly can’t say enough good things about this area. I live just north of where you’re looking about 3 miles off of Route 78. I have 2 acres, an 1800s farm house, a barn, a small guest cabin, a pond, etc…all tucked quietly in the woods on a private lane. I’ve posted pictures of my property elsewhere on Reddit and people can’t even believe it’s New Jersey, yet I can get on Route 78 and be in Manhattan in 50 minutes with no traffic. My kids attend the public schools here which are extremely well funded with small class sizes, highly trained teachers and lots of individualized instruction. They will go to North Hunterdon High School which is excellent. The other towns you mention go to Voorhees and Del Val which are also very good but I’m partial to NHHS.

Despite what is sometimes said about this region of the state we have a lot of “cultural exchange” in this area in that you have a mix of middle to upper middle class professionals who come from elsewhere to make this their home, locals who have gone out and seen the world and come back bringing that perspective with them (restaurants, local live music) and folks from the NYC metro area who weekend or end up settling here. That makes for a pretty robust local restaurant/pub scene that has really come along since the end of COVID. Clustered around the Route 31/Route 78 corridor you have Pattenburg House, Inn at Glen Gardner, Muddy Waters, Circa, Little York Tavern, Cryan’s, Juniper Hill, etc…all of which are big on local food and local beer. Downtown Clinton is great just for walking around, outdoor music in the summer, probably the best independent coffee shop in NJ (Citispot).