Cambridgeshire living

[househuntingFTM]

Hi All!
Cambridgeshire mums!
Where is best to live with a little one?
Somewhere with good schools, good public transport into Cambridge, but really want to avoid anywhere with student accommodation. A nice family area please!
Ideally somewhere rural and pretty quiet but with amenities. Bus and train service needed. Community would be nice!
Budget 350k ish!

Thank you :-)

[SilkieRabbits]

Maybe Melbourn

[SilkieRabbits]

Saffron Walden might also work, train is Audley End which is a couple of miles out but on a fast route - its north Essex but amazing schools and very family orientated, lots of nice shops and cafes.

Ely is also nice but not sure what schools are like.

[househuntingFTM]

What's the crack socioeconomically in Cambridgeshire? Trying to move from the north as sick of the antisocial behaviour, gangs and crime etc. Heard Cambridgeshire can be a bit rough with all that due to its London proximity. Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

[Itscoldouthere]

I may be wrong but having lived in London and in Bedfordshire but on the edge of Cambridgeshire, I don't think it has anything to do with London.
Some parts of Cambridgeshire have poverty like a lot of rural areas due to lack of job variety and difficulty to get around without a car/money
Lots of people commute into London on the train, but you need a reasonably well paid job to pay the £4000+ rail fares.
Cambridge itself is really expensive to live in the further out you get the cheaper it becomes, because many places are small and don't have many facilities.

[SilkieRabbits]

It's not that close to London and very difficult, only people commuting to London are very well paid c £60k plus jobs and generally middle class professionals. Within the villages generally crime is very low AFAIK, south tends to be pricer than the north and more middle class due to London commuting pushing up costs. There's deprivation in the villages due to lack of jobs and lots of kids but not really crime or anti-social behaviour in ones I know.

[SilkieRabbits]

difficult should be different

[househuntingFTM]

Thanks everyone. Can anyone comment on what Melbourn is like, or recommend any other well connected villages?
Is it easy to get into Cambridge on bus?
How do I avoid moving somewhere with high crime/deprivation rates? Thanks :-)

[UncleBunclesHouse]

Melbourn, meldreth, Ely all should fit the bill

[Brashopper]

I don’t know a lot about Melbourn, apart from hearing some good things about the village college, but there’s more information on the village website.

[clouds87]

Orwell is lovely, 10 mins to newnham area of Cambridge. Bus service not brilliant but shepreth train station is 5mins drive away

[SilkieRabbits]

Takes about 30 minutes to get into Cambridge from Melbourn - you walk about 10-15 minutes to Meldreth train station then take train which takes about 15 minutes.

It's a fairly quiet village with some thatched cottages in, primary and secondary school and a co-op, about 4,000 people. Never heard of any crime there. melbourncambridge.org/village-information/ Swimming pool in village at school for public use.

[SilkieRabbits]

Apparently Melbbourn does have 1 criminal, he's 77 and lives in a thatched cottage

www.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/local-news/live-updates-melbourn-police-bombsquad-18136887

[ihatethecold]

unfortunately your budget will decide where you can live. 350k won't get you far in Melbourn, meldreth or south cambs.

Ely is possible and it is very pretty. with a direct train to Cambridge

[mackerella]

£350k will get you a nice 3-bed house (or a less nice 4-bed) in Ely. The primary schools are all good and Ely College is definitely on the up too. It's only 16-18 minutes away from Cambridge by train.

[DesperatelySeekingSunshine]

Ely - regular trains into cambridge, and london. Lots of lovely independent shops.

[househuntingFTM]

@DesperatelySeekingSunshine

Ely - regular trains into cambridge, and london. Lots of lovely independent shops.

Thanks! I read that north Cambs is a bit rough and has a high crime rate? Ely included, do you have any thoughts on that? It looks like a lovely place!

[orangina01]

£350k could get you something in St Neots depending on what you need size wise. Four beds are mostly £400k and up. Fast train to London is 38 min for work although empty at the moment. It's the biggest town in Cambridgeshire so has a fair bit going on. Commutable to Cambridge via A428 but traffic can be bad.

[orangina01]

Sorry if you want rural try Great gransden or little gransden.

[Oopsiedaisyy]

South Cambridgeshire is lovely, but 350k will only get you a 3 bed semi, if you're lucky. It's definitely nicer than north Cambridge though, and the bus routes into Cambridge are regular.

[Itscoldouthere]

Massive amount of new build housing on the edge of St Neots, the road to Cambridgeshire gets jammed, but there are plans to turn that road into a new dual carriageway all the way from the (notorious traffic blackspot) Black Cat roundabout to Cambridge. The Oxford/Cambridge railway line has also started and will stop at St Neots, but obviously both of these are quite a few years off.
I believe the secondary school in St Neots is not good, but that is only hearsay, I have no direct experience, but I lived about 6 miles from there and know it reasonable well.
Not sure what prices are live but St Ives has that tram line direct to Cambridge and it's a very pretty small town, nicer than St Neots.

[spacegirl86]

Not to everyone's taste as it's a town of new builds but Cambourne is great for families with lots (Covid excepted) of groups, parks and country parks and a good community. Commutable to Cambridge, some buses included. 15-20mins into the station at st Neots.

[knackeredmumoftwo]

Ely doesn't have a high crime rate - that made me giggle :)
The local rag is the Ely Standard google it for the latest in tractor crime /)

[justanotherneighinparadise]

Longsands is fine. Enulf - I’ve heard not so great things.

[mackerella]

Ely isn't rough . (It's also in East Cambridgeshire, not North Cambridgeshire, in case that makes any difference.)

[justanotherneighinparadise]

I agree it’s isn’t tough. It’s just the Fens.