What do you think about Bury St. Edmunds? or Stowmarket?

[OzzieinLondon]

Would love to hear your thoughts on this area - good and bad.
What is it like for a family with young children?

[OnlyWantsOne]

Bury - lovely old market town

Stowmarket - (apologies in advance to any one from MN who live there) is fairly shitty....

by fairly, I mean, is, really shitty.

Trust me, I live equidistance from both.

Bury is lovely though

[TheRedQueen]

Bury = very nice, but have never lived there.

Lived in Stowmarket for about two years at the beginning of the 1990s. Can't remember it having much to offer and wouldn't bother going back even just to visit.

[havoc]

I'm not sure, but I think Bury has better schools. It's certainly a bigger and better town (for shopping and eating out) and has good parks.

I wouldn't live in Stowmarket, but I'm sure it has some good areas (in case anyone from stowmarket is about!)

[arsesandoldlace]

Bury looks nice but unfortunately does have a great deal of violent crime/drug crime.
That will probably not affect you if you stay out of town centre at the weekends!

[OzzieinLondon]

Thanks for your thoughts. A job in this area has come up and I wanted to get some thoughts. It is a bit far from where we were looking, but the job looked pretty good. I did find a facebook page with lot's of responses that were pretty negative against Stowmarket, but you never know if something like that is just people having a rant. We are always quick to write things we don't like about a place. I know I could say heaps about areas close to where I am now....

Thanks again though, do appreciate it. (and apologies if you do live in this area and love it)

[BelleDameSansMerci]

I'm originally from Suffolk and even went to Stowmarket High School and I would say that you could do a lot better than living in Stowmarket!!

If you don't need to be in a big town, there are lots of lovely villages around and even some smaller towns.

Bury is very nice though.

Suggest, depending on where the job is, that you have a look at Needham Market which is a bit pricey but much nicer than Stowmarket.

Also, have a look at Great Finborough and villages surrounding.

Would avoid Elmswell which is nice but I hear they're about to revive or build a big quarry there so prices may drop considerably.

I've been looking at moving back to Suffolk myself - mainly for schools but also to be closer to my family.

Good luck - and let me know if you need any help in translating Suffolk to English!!

As they say there, "see ya gal".

[fairy15]

i lived in stowmarket for 26 years, i moved away last year, more because i had to rather then wanted to. although i had been wanting to get away from the place since i can remember! its really not all that great but i say that from a person who lived there all their life. although a lot of people who move there thinks its great so maybe they saw something i did'nt. woolpit which is between bury & stow is nice but can be pricey. i would live in bury, its lovely. as someone said there are lots of nice villiages so def worth a look!

[GrendelsMum]

Bury = great theatre

I wanted my sister to move there so I could go to the theatre and then stay over at hers, but selfishly she wouldn't.

Damn her. She insists on living in a chocolate box cottage in a chocolate box village instead.

[OzzieinLondon]

I found some online community newlsetters for Great Finborough - sounds lovely & welcoming. Anyone else know much about this village? house prices?

[ILikeToMoveItMoveIt]

Bury doesn't have a great deal of violent and drug crime. Like most places those sorts of crimes will mosty affect you if you move in those sorts of circles.

I don't know much at Gt Finborough. It looks nice and has a big private school in the village but that's about all I know of it tbh.

Buxhall is also a nice village, but I don't think there's much there.

What sort of things are you looking for in the place that you live? And do you want village or town?

[BelleDameSansMerci]

Great Finborough is a sort of long thin village, IYSWIM. There is a private school which also has a Montessori nursery associated with it. There are also normal village schools. The village is surrounded by fields and is close to amenities. If you need to get into London, for example, Stowmnarket has a mainline station and is probably only 10 minutes away (although, clearly, you need to allow longer in the mornings and would need to park at the station).

House prices are about £200k for a nice three bedroom house. I put in an offer on one a few months ago but the vendor wouldn't accept my offer and I wouldn't pay more!

Have a look on Primelocation.com - you can do a search for your price range for the whole of Suffolk or just that Stowmarket/Bury areas.

There are a lot of new builds too but the villages do tend to be more expensive.

Also, worth looking at Woolpit as suggested above. It's lovely there.

[thedollyridesout]

BSE is v.v. nice and has great schools - 2nd top performing comp. in the country. Lots of lovely villages around with nice primary schools. There are plenty of toddler groups and activities and some very nice parks. There are also some lovely shops and a brand new shopping area in the town centre. With a cinema and a theatre, some nice restaurants and a lot of coffee shops, what more can you ask for?

There is - Waitrose, Fat Face,H&M, Apple Store, Topshop, Paperchase, Monsoon, M&S and lots more.......those are just a few of my favorites .

[OzzieinLondon]

Isn't it interesting to get such different points of view. Thanks I do appreciate them all.
I think we might need to live in a town, as we are used to city living and having everything so close at hand. although I would like a village but not sure if this would be too isolating?

The range of shops at BSE is great - H&M has become my favourite for my boys, so glad to see that is around.

[ILikeToMoveItMoveIt]

I live in a village which is only 2 miles from BSE town centre, so I get the best of both worlds.

Also traffic isn't a problem in BSE unless you are travelling at peak times, and even then it's nothing like it is in a city. So living say 10 miles outside of BSE will only take you 25 mins in the car to get into BSE town centre.

If you like new houses search for properties in Moreton Hall. The estate is in BSE but it's almost like a village of its own.

[bronze]

I used to live about 25 minutes out of Bury. Best of both worlds.
Nice place if you dont have to live there

[Floopy21]

I live in Elmswell & echo others' views - yes to BSE, no to Stow. Loads of lovely villages around. Gt. Finborough is pretty. Woolpit too, but a bit pricey maybe? Walsham is lovely. & Stanton. What are you after? Village/country location or plenty of amenities/not much travel?

[OzzieinLondon]

Hi Floopy21 - not really sure exactly what we are after - that would make things too easy!!
Looking for a more outside of London is about all I do know. Partner will stay and work in West London - so Gt Finborough and surrounds might be too far (journey planner puts it at a 2 hour car trip) Will keep searching (and asking!)

[Floopy21]

Hi Ozzie. There's a massive difference in living in a tiny village compared to one of the larger towns round here. Could you spend a week / weekend living the rural life & see if it suits? It's defo not everyone's cup of tea, esp. if you're used to the conveniance of London. I wouldn't have it any other way though!

[OzzieinLondon]

A friend is doing something similiar, renting a cottage for a few weeks to try it out. Might do the same once I know what area we are looking at!

[Floopy21]

That's a good idea. You could always rent somewhere for a week & get out & about to a few surrounding villages whilst you're there to have a look?

This thread may be a bit of interest to you, as it has some conflicting views, etc, that may get you thinking? Ignore my comment though, we're a friendly bunch really!

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/property/906794-moving-lock-stock-and-barrel-to-somerset-or-suffolk-which

I can't stress enough how some peeps are built for the country & some are definitely not. It would be horrid to move & find it's not all it's cracked up to be.

[bourboncreme]

Bury lovely,Stowmarket not in the same league frankly./we live in Woodbridge and I would recommend it too!

[OzzieinLondon]

Thanks floopy21 just had a good read.

[9Jumbo9]

Why all the downers on Stowmarket.
Moved here 8 years ago it's great

[Rockyv123]

Hi looking for information on Stowmarket ? Possibly may need to move there so any information would be great

[whiskyowl]

I actually think Stowmarket is getting a really hard time on here - it's a decent town by an ordinary person's standards, though it's not Hampstead and therefore not posh enough for Mumsnet. I think many Mumsnetters have sometimes never lived in actually poor areas, though. Try living in a properly deprived place that's had its heart torn out, like an ex-pit village in Nottinghamshire or one of the Barnsley mining villages, and compare, and you quickly realise that Stowmarket is actually quite nice - hardly any crime, good community etc. I think house prices there are increasing quite quickly, too.

There are some absolutely gorgeous villages around that part of the world, OP, but do NOT move to one if you're used to convenience - it really is very different. I made that mistake in a different part of the country, from London, and it was like hitting a brick wall at 60mph. BSE will seem absolutely quiet and isolated after the capital, but at least you're within easy striking distance for days out!

I am very of your move there. I miss the countryside loads!