New job in Luton - where should we live?

[ecofreckle]

My DP has just taken a job at the Uni of Bedfordshire based in Luton. We have a 9mo dd and have lived in Norfolk for nearly 20 years. We know no one in Luton so have nothing (other than the job) to take us there and I am scared of very urban living. We have family in Leicestershire. We are wondering where to move to!
As we are selling in Norfolk we will not be able to afford the 'southern' prices of the beautiful and nearby Chilterns . We ideally would like to be somewhere with a good community, good school, good transport link to Luton with some lovely countryside/walking nearby. Happy to commute up to an hour but prefer more like 45 mins.
We have looked at Market Harborough but it seems expensive (we have up to £200K). Anyone have any other inside info or ideas please?

[Aworryingtrend]

Not in Luton! MY ILs live there and the town centre and immediate surrounding areas are not very nice, I'm sorry to say. Harpenden?

[Reddeb]

Unfortunately £200,000 won't go far in Harpenden, its expensive. You might be better off looking at villages to the north of Luton.

[ecofreckle]

Aworrying and Red thank you for your insight. I think we will certainly not choose Luton: too much of a culture shock for this bumpkin! Villages to the north sound worthy of more investigation; do let me know names of any that you hear/know are nice please. We are plucking places from the air as we know totally nothing about the locality.

[3littlefrogs]

Barton-Le-Clay looks nice.

Agree about not choosing Luton BTW.

[Undercoverme]

Meppershall, Gravenhurst, shillington, campton, silsoe. All beautiful villages nearby with outstanding schools. X

[Reddeb]

Just some villages from the top of my head: Elstow, Barton, Silsoe, Streatley, kempson.

[JollySantersSelectionBox]

Barton Le Clay used to have a fab chip shop.

I used to go to Uni at Silsoe it is beautiful and on the right road for an easy drive but is super expensive - a little more down to earth is Ampthill or Flitwick? Flitton, Pulloxhill, Sharpenhoe Clappers all lovely. There are some nice villages around Shuttleworth too.

Befordshire is a really underrated county IMO.

[TheWomanTheyCallJayne]

Toddington?


I did the opposite. I'm a Harpo bod who has made my home in N Norfolk

[Lottiedoubtie]

Hitchin?

[ecofreckle]

Thank you kind souls! I am now going to plan a minibreak for the 3 of us next weekend to go and check some of these places out a la Kirstie and Phil.
Jolly you and I sound like we are on the same wavelength: I like a good chip. In fact, we went to Wells-next-the-Sea yesterday and desite having eaten a picnic we still went to Platten's for chips If I had known Thewoman I would have waved to you!
Jolly it is nice to hear someone say something positive about Beds. Whenever we have told people about our move they have all pulled this face:
Undercoverme it is great to have somewhere to start with on the schools front. I will investigate.
More ideas welcomed of course! Thank you again

[JollySantersSelectionBox]

That's because folk just think of Luton and Bedford. There are a lot of lovely villages around there with lovely countryside.

But on the upside - if people are making that face then the property prices won't go through the roof will they?

[Undercoverme]

Check out the right move website with postcodes like sg17, mk45 etc. first is campton, second is Gravenhurst - both 15mins to luton & outstanding schools. A 3 bed house opposite me in campton is £190k. Campton small village with pub & school & park.

[elastamum]

Olney is lovely

[YOUCANBEMYFRIENDIFYOUBUYMECAKE]

hi I lived in luton most of my life
the areas I recommend are
Limbury/icknield area good schools and buses local shops
Stopsley area good schools and local shops
if fail then try hitchin will be cheaper than harpenden and surrounding villages and you can go down the a505 to get into luton for work which I think takes about 20-25 minutes
good luck

[ecofreckle]

All really useful again, thanks!
Undercoverme we are booking to see that one you suggested :-) We will give you a wave too!
Any other different ideas welcome to the melting pot.

[Undercoverme]

Lol mines th house opposite! X

[OddBoots]

Is there any chance his work will need him to go to other UoB campuses (Bedford, Putteridge Bury)? That might influence which direction you might want to be in.

I'm Luton born and bred for 4 generations so I love the place but I know it's not for everyone.

[ecofreckle]

hello odd. His work will only be at the Luton campus. I don't mean to be down on Luton it's just that it is so big! I have grown up in or out of villages and might find the contrast at bit too much. If you have been there for so long you must have loads of inside info I need to wheedle out of you! May I come back to you with questions if we have any please? Thank you.

[OddBoots]

No problem. :) I'll help where I can. Depending on what subject your dh will involved in I might see him in a few years, I'm doing my BSc with the OU but I've seen an MSc I'm interested in at Beds.

[Happypiglet]

Beds is a lovely county. Actually very rural between the larger towns. I live in the north of the county so not right for this move but there are loads of villages between Bedford and Luton or Luton and Leighton Buzzard ( which is a lovely smaller town by the way which I grew up in) which you would probably find would suit.

[JollySantersSelectionBox]

My brother did his MSc at Luton too actually! For a year we were 6 miles away from each other. It had a good reputation.

I have such lovely memories of Bedfordshire.

Am feeling quite jealous now op!

[Kayakinggirl86]

Will agree that there are lots of lovely villages in Bedford such as marstone, and Cranfield that have outstanding schools and great communities.
However if you want your money to stretch further then looking in Northamptonshire (nn7) in the villages next to the m1 maybe the way forward.

[mewkins]

You will get much more for your money in Beds than you will in Herts. I would check out little villages aroundbut stay out from under the Luton flight path!

[ecofreckle]

mewkins great point and one I hadn't considered. I will have to do some research. Flight noise would be a deal breaker for me. We have booked a Bedford hotel for this weekend and are having a good look around as well as viewing a few houses to get the lay of the land. Thanks everyone. Sure I will have more questions after weekend.