Peterborough - any nice areas to live?

[cloudywithachanceof]

DH might be working in Dogsthorpe soon. Are there any areas in or around there (within 30 mins drive one way to work for him) that anyone can recommend? I am not a driver so will be using public transport to get to places. We have 3 DCs aged 5 to 11 so being near to parks and libraries would be nice.

[cloudywithachanceof]

Oh yes... we can only afford rent up to about 750 pm.

[concretefeet]

It is a while since I lived in Peterborough,but centrally Longthorpe was considered a good area.

Otherwise, you might like to be nearNene Park, in one of the Ortons (Goldhay and Malbourne less so).

You need to look quite carefully at secondary schooling in Peterborough though and catchment areas.

All the Hamptons are the new(ish) housing,out by the big shopping centre.

You could consider moving out in the countryside to
Oundle , which has Country Park and good schools. 30 mins into Peterborough by car and plenty of buses into Peterborough, although as it is a small town has everything in walking distance (including a library,town park,waitrose and co-op).

[UsedToBeAPaxmanFan]

Stamford is lovely. Move to Stamford and your DH can commute from there to Peterborough.

I used to work in Peterborough but never lived there. And all my work colleagues lived in Oundle/Stamford/Market Deeping etc, which tells you something about Peterborough. But it might have improved, and I'm sure there are nice areas.

[butmumineedit]

look at Bourne as well, excellent bus service to Peterborough, fab schools including a grammar school, library, indoor and outdoor pools, parks etc, plenty of people live here and commute to Peterborough

[cloudywithachanceof]

Thanks for all the comments. I will look at the villages mentioned. Is there any particular reason why living in Peterborough is not so recommended? Is it crime? We've lived in many parts of England before, including London and Liverpool, but is the crime in Peterborough anything similar to the worst areas in London and Liverpool? We had a lot of trouble when we unwittingly rented a house in the middle of a rough council estate once... Obviously I don't want to repeat it.. so wonder if there are any areas like this in Peterborough and where they are.

[concretefeet]

There is crime and drugs - like all cities. I think really the 'not nice' areas have lots of slightly run down housing and no particular sense of community. Peterborough has a large amount of people who have moved to what was a small city and doesn't have the original large community of say,Liverpool.

The bigger cities have great public museums and libraries, whereas Peterborough's facilities are smaller and built more recently and aren't much really. The cathedral is beautiful, but the town centre otherwise is chain shopping and Peterborough has grown out in areas such as the Ortons and Bretton and now Hampton more from the 1970s onwards and lacks a cohesive city feel with the facilities you would expect in a city.

The reason people move out is because the surrounding area is lovely though - Stamford, Oundle and all the villages around them are very pretty and highly sought after to live in.

[Tinkerisdead]

I used to live in Dogsthorpe.
If your set on living in Peterborough itself, Dogsthorpe is not too bad. Its all ex council houses with good squarefootage with absolutely huge gardens so well worth considering. You can walk into town from there too.

Stanground, Hampton, Longthorpe are all nice.
The Ortons have some rough rough rough areas Goldhay, Malbourne and Brimbles. However there are old villages Orton longueville and Orton Waterville and Orton Wistow are all nice.

If your reliant on public transport you may be better to look at Gunthorpe, werrington(close to the old village if you can) and Stanground as all are close to town with good bus links

[cloudywithachanceof]

I'm not really set on anywhere at the moment, but I do miss the convenience of city-living and I'm hopeless at driving a car so I am limited by that in where I'll be happier to live in. I'd also need to be able to get my 3 DCs to music lessons, youth orchestra, Brownies, Cubs, etc. by myself when DH is working night or afternoon shifts. It's all very good information so far, so thank you for your responses. I'll need to see what's available on Rightmove for those good housing locations mentioned and find out what sort of amenities are around those houses for rent.

[cloudywithachanceof]

I've just made a day trip to Peterborough today and I have to agree with those who say the city center isn't the nicest place to live in...it kind of reminds me a bit of what Brixton was like more than ten years ago but without the proximity to nice attractions and resources in central London like Brixton was. I then squeezed in a trip to the Serpentine Green Shopping Centre by the Hamptons afterwards and the shops and the general atmosphere there was better. Though I don't really like newbuilds myself... guess I'll have to make more trips down to look around other areas before deciding where.

[cloudywithachanceof]

I've just made a day trip to Peterborough today and I have to agree with those who say the city center isn't the nicest place to live in..I then squeezed in a trip to the Serpentine Green Shopping Centre by the Hamptons afterwards and the shops and the general atmosphere there was nice, though I don't really like newbuilds myself, I would consider living there. I'll have to make more trips down to look around other areas before deciding where.