moving lock stock and barrel to somerset or suffolk? which to choose?

[overthemill]

For various reasons we had to move 2 years ago, changing counties, new house, new schools everything. It was really tough and we have just about got settled. But the truth is that although the place we live in is really nice, we know it isn't our forever place. We'd like to live in big village, very small town with a really community - so preferably gp surgery, shop or 2, pub and schools (though does not have to be a secondary school).

I love somerset and am from the south west and my feelings are to go there. But at the weekend we went for a night away to suffolk and really really loved where we were. we had booked randomly but ended up in a perfect village. it had everything we wanted and it has fired us up again. it completely felt like 'home' and had a great mixture of stuff going on, we felt we'd fit in really well.
there is no right time to move, we have 3 kids and it would be very complcated to move at all but i am keen to get there before our youngest gets to yr 9 (she is in yr 6 now). By then one would be at uni and one just about to start a levels.
so,decision is complex on lots of levels but which is 'best' - i know its entirely subjective but would love the collective MN wisdom to help me think about it.
thanks!

[MrsBadger]

the only thing I will say is that ime Suffolk is truly poorly connected wrt roads and public transport - it isn't on the way to anywhere

[nickschick]

Suffolk.

[fruitshootsandheaves]

I am in suffolk, my IL's are in Somerset.....guess which I would recommend!

[deloola]

suffolk

[MakemineaGandT]

overthemill - do you mind me asking which village in Suffolk you visited?

[morningpaper]

I live in Somerset

It's not London fine if you love being surrounded by white people countryside

Taunton is only 2 hours from London which is nice

I wouldn't move to a village EVER

I guess it would largely depend where your family are, if you are from the west country?

[Pollyanna]

dh grew up in suffolk, and inlaws were still there until recently (now in Essex). i agree that it is really isolated, takes ages to get there, and has no amenities.

I have only visited the sw but prefer it.

[morningpaper]

the BEST thing about somerset is that you are only a max of 2 hours from pretty much all the nice places in the westcountry e.g. Devon coast north and south/bristol/cardiff/exeter/dartmoor

I do love the M5

[ILikeToMoveItMoveIt]

Tee hee, it makes me giggle when people think Suffolk is the arse end of nowhere and has nothing there

Where abouts did you stay?

[overthemill]

haha. i do understand all the points made! ok, this proves how old i am, but I have lived in wiltshire (18 years)and bristol and bath. I love all of these - and of course each has different characteristics. Holidayed lots in cornwall devon and somerset (LOVE somerset)all as a child and as young single and now married.
Currently live in bedfordshire (2 yrs), lived in hertfordshire (17 yrs), cambridge (5 yrs),norfolk (cademic yr, for college), London (8 yrs), Leicester (18 months).
i have been to suffolk a lot for brief work related trips and always love it. when childless we seriously thought about buying holiday cottage there and on one of our many weekend sussing out trips i got pregnant!!
we currently live in tiny village (like before tbh) and i am really getting sick of no shops to walk to, getting stuck in snow, 10 mile round trips to gp, 20 mile round trips to a&e, no buses to shops and having to have 2 cars!!!
i know moving is hard (done it a lot) and w edo want to make a next move THE move,

the area we were in at the weekend was clare, nr sudbury/long melford. it was lovely - but if you know different do tell

[BelleDameSansMerci]

I'm from Suffolk - lived there until I was 21. All family still there so I am biased.

I love Suffolk and am considering moving back for DD's (2.4) schooling etc.

Somerset is beautiful though.

I actually think that Somerset is more rural with fewer and less reliable transport links than Suffolk but it depends where you want to get to. If it's London, then it's an hour on the train from Ipswich.

The Clare/Long Melford area is lovely. My mum lives near there.

As I said, I'm biased, but I'd choose Suffolk every time. As long as you understand the locals, of course!

[deloola]

Clare is lovely - I grew up not far away from there. Lovely village and nice pubs

If I was going to live anywhere in Suffolk I'd want to be near Bury St Edmunds - lots of lovely villages near there too...

[overthemill]

belledame/deloola, thanks!bury is lovely and we did look there previously but at that time had focussed on woodbridge area to catch tourist trade for hol letting initially. (oh the heady days of thinking we had spare cash! Bury itself is nice but clare/long melfors just ticked all our points. may not be practical but it was instinctive, we had no thoughts whatsoever before going, just needed pub to stay in that let us bring a dog. Totally random choice.

My dad is ancient and still in wilts. He will not move and isnt part of my thinking. I have sisters scattered on east side and in usa so thats not an issue. Dh's family have all ended up in midlands in lovely villages so we have thought about there but we do want this to be a move, if we do it, that is about where we want to end up. All moves to date have been on other people's agendas not ours.

Surprised more of you arent pro somerset. I love the villages and the coast!

[BelleDameSansMerci]

Somerset is lovely. Even with my Suffolk bias I'd find it hard to really choose if I didn't have family in Suffolk.

I suppose, for many people, it's the convenience for London, Stansted, etc?

I think there's a lot to be said for instinct. I always find I ignore mine at my peril!

I envy you your choices...

[BelleDameSansMerci]

Just realised that I've contradicted in my posts - I'm going to put it down to tiredness!

[overthemill]

i'm tires too, sick dd.
The actual move if we do it will have to be timed well. It releases money for uni fees etc but we may not see so much of my dss. This would be incedibly hard but we are only here through an enforced move caused my dh's x needing to move. We just followed but didnt esp want either to move or the place itself. My dd isnt happy here tho i am hoping she may settle in which case we would stay. If she still hates it we would seriously consider the move.
So suffolk is gorgeious. We're not fussed about london, regional centres are ok for us!

[Merrylegs]

I am on Norfolk/Suffolk border. I would be looking at secondary schools in Suffolk, tbh if you have a yr 6 child. Can't think of any great state schools near Clare.
Sudbury? Think that is 'satisfactory' according to Ofsted.

Where do most kids who live there go to school? Thetford grammer I should imagine. Or there is the hugely pricey Culford near BuryStE.

I would def do your homework re: schools.

[overthemill]

have done and the upper school is haverhill which is about the same as our choice here. Not great but dsd got 4a* and 8 a regardless so not anxious about that. If a parent died we might consider private skls but doubt it!
I'm quite relaxed about schools now having been so stressed to start, happiness is more important i reckon!

[Merrylegs]

Oh, well in that case, Suffolk!

[BethNoireNewNameForPeachy]

Don't know Suffolk at all

Lived in Somerset first 30 years of my life though

Somerset is so variable.If you weresaying Bridgwater (where Ilived) i'd say run as far in the opposite direction as possible

OTOPH if you are a fan ofsleeper towns and suchlike Ilminster can be quite nice.

My personal no no list is Bridgwater, Yeovil, Chard (no real reasons except Dh from there and I just never saw anything in the place), Burnham on Sea and Wellington.

But there are many lovely bits too- Wells, Quantocks, Glastonbury-lots of lovely spots.

Transport is shite though unless you are right by a station or on the very few main routes. If you have a car though itsnot so bad and pretty much anything yopu want is close enough.

We'restill nto far away- just over bridge- we go back a lot for family and we're involved with the carnival scene (google somerset carnivals) but am not sure if we'd go back.

And YY to MP's white; it is. A big p[lau of being here is the variety of people. Seen to many generations of racist grow up back home.

[BethNoireNewNameForPeachy]

Oh and there are some good schools in Somerset.

After 16most of the county uses a system of a tertairy college for everything from A-levels and resits to motormechanics and hairdressing- it soundsa bit rubbish but actually have worked in that system and there are some excellent colleges and I wouldn't be concerned if my boys were heading to them- Strode, SCAT and Bridgwater Colleges in particular.

[overthemill]

if we did go tp somerset i would choose wells def as i love it. Glastonbury is good but could i stand the crowds!?

[Sonnet]

What a great choice to be able to move lock stock and barrel....can I be cheeky and ask what job your DH/you do to be able to relocate where you wish?

Oh and it would be Somerset for me every time!!

[GrendelsMum]

I think Clare and Long Melford are very different from the standard 'village' - I think that Clare is really a small town in terms of amenities. Living in Clare is a very different experience to living in a 'normal' Suffolk village, which can be exactly how you describe it - 20 miles round trip to GP, 10 miles round trip to shop, snowed in, flooded, etc etc. I believe that this makes Clare more expensive. I wonder if Long Melford would be a little bit touristy in summer?

My sister has just moved to Clare from a small village, and she was adamant that she was not going to buy anywhere other than in Clare she was fed up with small village lifestyle.

[morningpaper]

Wells is lovely but is is a bit of a bugger to get anywhere from there