I'm considering moving to Northampton; yay or nay?

[Shirley1006]

Hi,
With house prices soaring in London, my husband and I are considering making a move to Northampton. I have a lovely 22 month year old who will need a good environment to grow up in as well as access to a good school, and activities.

So far I've been looking in the Upton and Duston area, but I have no idea if these are good areas or not.

Any advice from those who have made the move or live in Northampton, any history to share, or anyone with current information about Northampton i.e. good areas, areas to avoid, that would help a family considering a move would be most welcome!

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/detailMatching.html?prop=40570938&sale=4322623&country=england

The previous photo set is what we saw. Someone obviously flipped it. We thought it was a detached. We bought a larger double fronted detached for the same price.

@SoyDora thank you.

@MillieMoodle yes, must be that. Glad all worked out well for you.

I commute to MK. I think the wages are a good bit higher. Can be bad on traffic days and bad drivers but back roads can be a morning pick me up for the long hard day.

@StayClassySally - yes, something like that amount, per household. It is written into the covenant/deeds that paying up is part of the deal when buying a house here. I guess you don't buy if you don't envisage using the club!

@StayClassySally - Those photographs!!! Imagining Spiderman tucked into the corner of the ceiling snapping away!

We'd never seen it before so were a little surprised. Seems like a great idea tho, as long as everyone there is friendly.

Oh the original photos have gone. That's a shame. These are more honest about the size of the rooms.

SoyDora

You were working probably at a different level to me and you only stayed 2.5 years.

I was a clerk in one of the motor industry businesses.

It was death by a 1000 cuts.

I am normally a very happy person but years of isolation left me with depression.

Every time I thought I was going to escape the place something came up to stop us. At one point I contemplated handing the keys back to the mortgage company just so I was free of the place but Dp said no.

I look back and wish we had

It nearly broke us.

A couple who arrived from London made it better for a few months but they didn’t last 6 months

I started at a company and whilst people were finding out about me it came up that I lived with my partner and we weren’t married.

Cue my supervisor (female) and manager summoning me into the office to ask if the manager should have a word with my partner to see if he can persuade him to marry me.

I was usurped by the YTS boy who had terrible BO for a supervisors job because “he is a man and one day he will have a family to look after”

I met people young and old who had not ventured more than 4 miles from their home ever.

I know a few people who were born in the area and have family there but moved out as soon as they could.

They dread going back.

I have seen on here posters mentioning the area I lived and the people being a little “strange” in their outlook so it isn’t just me.

When we moved even though we were effectively homeless the relief of not being in that place was euphoric.

It might be ok if you are a certain religion and you have children who go to school and you are happy to spend evenings and weekends in the pub.

I think most people are unhappy there. It hasn’t dawned on them though because they take to the drink to take the edge off

I swear after a certain age the population of the village I was on had either cancer or a dodgy liver.

@Oliversmumsarmy i could have written /currently write yr post. ❤️ to you.

Good luck with your move.

When we sold the buyer asked if he could be in within 3 weeks.

I didn’t consult Dp I just said yes and started to pack even though we had no where to go.

Moving day was the best day of my life.

@Oliversmumsarmy i hear you! 😂😂

@Shirley1006 are you there? Can you hear/read us?

So I am getting that my judgement about Northampton is correct? My only excuse is a Pavlovian association.

Mind you Northamptonshire is like a bad cake - it has good ingrediants - location, climate, nature but its cooked badly - no transport, cultural capital - lots of pretty villages that are sylvan prisons if you have no personal transport...

That's the long and short of it, with a bad local economy, lack of money to improve anything at all, leading to pockets of very rough areas with lots of crime, terribly congested badly maintained roads.

@rasp all that coupled with an unwillingness for locals to accept, welcome and embrace newcomers. A lack of understanding of what incomers have left behind and their subsequent exclusion.

I really cannot work out if it is just bitterness on locals part that they are still here and have been for generations with no opportunity/bravery to leave or what?

Incomers really are separate in these communities, unless of course when they are required to part with their London/foreign money... for the benefit of the community of course! A community which largely ignores them at all other times.

"People" really do make a community. A life lesson this experience/gamble has taught me. Perhaps , for me, all other failings in this county could be overlooked if there was a sense of welcome and belonging here and a
respect for the ongoing hard work and financial contribution the incomer has made to the village and wider local economy ( i employ 1 person , work full time, spend my money in local shops and businesses) But... no!

Finished work for the week now so won't see another grown up until Monday now. Apart from when i am buying stuff or driving my kids around etc and thats just a superficial interaction. Just me and my youngest ... and the four walls again...

I know i keep going on , on this thread but i want people to know my experience. Its important when making such a big move. I wish i had had this thread avail to me yrs ago when i made my decision.

I have found this thread personally very helpful and to know that others have experienced same, has helped me greatly to understand that it is not just me , i am not imaging it and it has been a positive influence on my general wellbeing and belief in myself in recent days.

Equally, some posters have had a hugely successful experiences here so it clearly can be done and many continued successes to them.

I really can’t agree enough with what ElizabethQueeniofEngland3rd
has said.

Until you live there you cannot imagine how isolating it is.

I lived there without children and a Dp who sometimes worked away. I was in my 20s and I could go days without speaking to anyone.

One side of my family are from Northampton. Our branch of the family left to go back to London. It’s from one of the villages mentioned as nice on this thread. The whole village is two roads. No railway station. Two restaurants that have been there forever. We find it very depressing and boring to visit although that may just be our association with it. A drink in the local cricket club is considered a proper night out.

I really cannot work out if it is just bitterness on locals part that they are still here and have been for generations with no opportunity/bravery to leave or what?

I sense this very heavily while I’m there actually. It’s bravery on my family’s part and that my Nan was from London originally so teally felt the difference in lifestyle.

I've been on the receiving end of the snubbing within this county from the "true locals". Despite originally being just over the border in Leicestershire then living in Northants since a teenager and moving just a few miles to the east from the family home to afford our first house in a nice village.

We are in a medium sized village and there are lots of people who have moved into it in recent years. There are still a few around who think they own the village as their families have been here since before WW1 but they are few and far between. It's become much more of a commuter village now. Most people here are friendly and you can be as involved in the community as you want - there's lots going on and the village FB page has really helped, as people who are new to the area post to ask what's going on and they always receive a very warm welcome.

Those of you who have had an awful experience, are you in very small villages? I wonder if that makes a difference as there are less people moving in from "outside"?

I wasn’t in a small village
I worked in the local town

It was hideous

In the collingtree at the minute. Tempted to shout out @pinkkoala and see who turns around

Stayclassysally, i am home today, both myself and dp are night workers, me being a hca, dp a hgv driver. I worked last night and he starts his 4 on tonight.
So just vegging in pjs all day today, yep i know, slummy mummy.
Dd 14, has gone with her friend to big tesco costa coffee, for cake and drink. They will be back at tea time, just for food and water, lol.
Enjoy the collingtree, i have not had a bad meal in there and new manager is making an even better place than it was.