Relocating to Northamptonshire - advice on where to live please?

[rosieposey]

Could i have some advice on where to live please? We currently live in Devon ( have been here 18 months after moving from Wilts ) but DH has just started a job in London and he is staying with my DM during the week in Wiltshire and commuting in from there and coming home just at weekends.

We don't want this to be a long term thing as we have young DC's and are hoping to put our place on the market in April and be moved by the Autumn. Wiltshire is expensive for what we want and looking around at whats on offer in a commutable distance from London we felt that Northamptonshire had a lot to offer.

Ideally we would like to live in a village as we do now but one that is not more than 20 mins from a mainline train station into London, I can see that there are quite a few beautiful villages in the Northants countryside and something like that would be ideal but i have no idea where to avoid or even what the schools are like.

Could anybody who lives in Northants tell me what its like to live there and where best to start my search? ( and where to avoid!) tia.

[BopToTheTop]

I'm not sure how much you know but there are 2 stations in Northamptonshire- Wellingborough and Northampton, however I would aim to live nearer to the Bedfordshire border as train travel into London is a fair bit cheaper from Bedford station (it is a largish station with multiple lines running through it heading into London)

I would start your search by looking at some of the villages which are dotted around the A6 which runs from Rushden (which is in Northamptonshire) into Bedford

Both Wymington and Sharnbrook are lovely and I believe they both have good state schools, if your after private then there are a couple of great ones just into Bedford

[ProbablyMe]

There is also a new station in Corby which runs a service into London and there are some lovely villages in the surrounding area - Stanion, Geddington, Welford for a start. There are some good schools in Corby - Brooke Weston is particularly well regarded and is one of the better schools in the country.

There are also some nice villages near Wellingborough - Orlingbury, Little Harrowden, Mears Ashby, Isham although I don't know what the Wellingborough schools are like.

I live in a village between Northampton and Kettering, west of the A43 - Walgrave, Mawsley, Holcot, Moulton, Brixworth, Pitsford sort of area. there are some nice primary schools and a couple of good secondaries (Guilsborough and Moulton). It is further from the stations in Northampton and Wellingborough though so may not suit. It is a beautiful area though!

[ProbablyMe]

South of Northampton is also nice - Rothersthorpe, Bugbrooke, Kislingbury and I believe the schools are also good.

[Cherrypi]

There's a station at Kettering too. Hour on the train to St Pancras.

[rosieposey]

Thats great thank you - that will give me some places to start looking. Im not that keen on Bedford or Bedfordshire but i agree it is much cheaper commuting in. I can look at the commute time to the various train stations and factor that in.

[momb]

East Northants is pretty: Oundle, Thrapston and all the villages in between; further you can whip along the A14 and get the train to london from Huntingdon which is 2/3 the price of the ticket from Kettering.

Generally the towns aren't great and the villages are amazing: so wouldn't recommend Kettering, Wellingborough or Corby for example but surrounding villages are lovely. Oundle and Thrapston are both really nice but I am biased as quite local.

[rosieposey]

Ah thank you for that heads up about the A14 to Huntingdon i will investigate some of the villages you have mentioned ( getting excited now!)

I did read elsewhere that the towns weren't up to much in Northants but as long as there are easily accessible shops thats fine by me i wanted village living anyway.

[Cherrypi]

Northampton needs some investment but there are lots of facilities. Kettering has a big multiscreen cinema for instance. There are lots of lovely country parks and pretty villages with great pubs. It is an area that is being invested in and there are lots of planned new houses particularly around Kettering.

[Jingleyflashyballs]

There's Geddington, just outside Kettering, Cransley, quite a few actually, we'll almost be neighbours

[Jingleyflashyballs]

www.northamptonshire.co.uk/guides/ list of villages

[mandy214]

My parents moved to a little village outside of Towcester about 20 years ago which is very picturesque, social, with an excellent primary school and with good secondary schools nearby too.

My parents plus all their neighbours drive into Milton Keynes (maybe 20-25 minutes away) and its 40 minutes on the train into Euston. I'd already left home by that stage so have never lived there, but they were / are very happy there.

[rosieposey]

I have been looking at the Towcester area this afternoon as well as the villages in South and East Northants.

I have seen some real 'dream' homes - Jingly thanks for the villages list - i will work my way through them.

I liked the look of Geddington, and have seen a couple of houses there i liked - I can't put my place on till April but really hope it sells quickly so that we can be moved by the end of the summer and avoid school disruption for DS who will be six.

Does anyone know anything about Market Harborough ( i think its technically Leicestershire isn't it?) the season tickets seem to vary from station to station and given that DH is commuting from Swindon at the moment we really don't want to exceed the cost of that commute intact it would be good mortgage wise if we could bring it down a little.

[Jingleyflashyballs]

Market Harborough is only about 15 mins from Kettering, I have family there and they seem to like it, my cousin has got a lovely house there with an enormous back garden, haven't been for a while though.

[Sonoma]

I too would recommend the villages the Towcester side (Bramptons, Holcot, Pitsford, Milton Malsor etc) lots of my school friends lived in lovely villages . Would avoid Rushden but further towards Bedford (Riseley etc) also v picturesque.

[MillyMollyMama]

I think around Towcester or Brackley could work. Or go North of Milton Keynes to the villages around Olney.

[Theas18]

If you are using any if the big routes -a14 for instance for part of a commute, drive it in rush yor before you decide.

[rosieposey]

Good advice Theas - where we live now we are only one village away from the train station that DH used to use to commute before this London job and in the car it was only approx 8 minutes.

[Cherrypi]

A14 around Huntingdon is constantly on the traffic news. Olney is gorgeous but I think property is more expensive round there.

[katandkits]

Market harborough is only 8 miles from Corby but houses much more expensive. Corby is cheaper but not so naice. Surrounding villages are nice, cottingham, gretton, rockingham, east Carlton. The disadvantage of Corby area is that i think the conmute is a bit too far and the train price is expensive.

[slippermaiden]

Long buckby is lovely, has its own train station.

[slippermaiden]

Just read upthread, no one has mentioned long buckby. I live near the cricket ground in northampton, lovely old Victorian houses, easy to get out of town to the countryside. Harpole is also lovely, has a scarecrow festival every year

[dramaqueen]

Hi Rosie, I think you need to look at your search from the commuting to London side. I live in northants and have commuted into London for over 5 years. Having tried all the routes, I've found that the Easst Midlands Trains route is by far the most reliable and most pleasant. Wellingborough station has loads of parking and I always get a seat. Market Harborough is on the same line , but has slightly fewer trains stopping. It is a bit more ££ but so worth it and goes into St Pancras which is a lovely station.

The London Midland routes are not pleasant, and always seem to be on the local news for being suspended. The main Virgin line into London stops at Milton Keynes but very limited parking.

I live in a village amongst those west of the A43 suggested by probablyme, and it takes about 15-20 min to drive to Wellingborough. They are lovely villages and are good value for money. Happy to give more info if you want.

[rosieposey]

Thats brillant info drama - just the sort of thing that will really help with our search. Train reliability is a must and paying a couple of hundred a month more would be worth it to us so DH could get in and out of London reliably and relatively fuss free.

Sooo it looks like i need to be looking at places within easy commutable distance to Wellingborough and Market Harborough. I did look at MH a while ago but discounted it as i was worried it was a bit too far out iyswim? Hearing from people who live in Northants and work in London is great because we need to look at all aspects of the commute.

Had a look at Olney and it seemed to be that bit more expensive - we are looking at houses up to and around the 450/475 mark - I have 5 DC's so lots of space is a bonus even thought the two eldest have gone off to uni - my little ones are sharing a room at the moment in our current 4 bed and its a bit squashed!

[samlamb]

Have a look at Kilsby/ Barby/Crick right on the M1 close to railways good schools :)

[TheWildRumpyPumpus]

We've just bought a house in Broughton (hello anyone local!), we moved from Kent. There are lots of nice villages around Kettering, train service seems to be good into London and property is so reasonable it's ridiculous.