Moving to Norfolk......help!!

[Leefau]

Hi everyone,
So Me and my partner have decided to move to Norfolk, my partner has friends in happisburgh and they have said it’s the best thing they have ever done.
Our only concerns are finding work (I’m a veterinary nurse, my partner is currently changing jobs so not fussed what work he does)
And Good schools ( for my 9 year old son)
We would like to be about 30 mins from Norwich but easy reach to the coast/broads, we are looking for a 3 bed with a budget of 200k in a village location that is rural but don’t have to drive miles to find the local shop
Space is really important to us due to collecting a allot of animals in my time working as a nurse 😕
I will also need to find a good livery yard for my horse.
We’ve been looking at
Ludham
Potter
East runton
Stalham (there is allot of houses for sale in this area but have been told it’s not the greatest, even though I do come from Laindon,Essex I don’t think anywhere is as bad as here 😳)

Any help will be much appreciated!!! Thank you!!! 😊

Anyone please???

yeah.. if you live outside Basildon then any of those places will probably seem alright. (is also how we felt when we moved here from East Midlands)

I know all those places you mention. not sure what you're asking, though, how posters could help.

When you say "30 mins" from Norwich do you mean to centre or just to edge of the city? And I would still consider carefully what your partner can do for work. People move here and plan to travel 2 hours to work each way. It's what they are used to living in the SouthEast, but it will grind you down. Why move here & bring a London Lifestyle with you.

Surely you find jobs first and then decide where to live?

Why not rent somewhere for 6 months and then you're not committed if you decide you want to be elsewhere

There are so many villages and towns in Norfolk which could meet your needs, it’ll come down to personal preference.
If you’d like easier access to London, you might be better south of the city, maybe Mulbarton, Stoke Holy Cross, Shotesham, the Forncetts... You can get a train to London from Wymondham (which has excellent schools).
My happy place in Norfolk is Reepham (north of Norwich) which again has a good primary and very good secondary school. It’s close ish to the broads and coast and has a really lovely community feel with lots going on. It’s about half an hour from the centre of Norwich and Aylsham isn’t far away for bigger supermarkets and a town. There are quite a few smaller villages nearby too.
When we moved to a new area, we stuck a compass in the middle of the city we needed to be close to then drew a circle of places within a half hour drive of there. We then went up for a week to explore the areas and have a look at houses within our price range to see what was available. We soon got the feeling that one village was right for us and had six happy years there before moving on again.
I love Norfolk (I’ve spent most of my adult life there and we keep going back. If we go back to the uk to live, it’s where I’d want to be). Good luck!

Hi all

Thanks for responding, sorry, my post probably wasn’t clear, was asking about the area’s which ones are nice with good schools in a nut shell.

We definitely won’t be bringing our London lifestyle with us, after my partner owning his own shop for the past 20 years and myself being a nurse with ridiculous hours/shift on minimum wage and still not being able to afford a house in this area, we would like to get out of this rat race, so with job wise we really at that point where we don’t care what we do as long as it pays the bills 😊

We will be getting jobs before we move but want to find an area first. We have visited twice now in the last couple of months and will be going back in a couple of weeks to look around more.
Thanks

Thank you @EagleSqueak I will have a look at Reepham :-)

Have a look at the area around Fakenham. Not fashionable, but close to beaches (20 minutes to Wells). Go on a Thursday and check out the market and the auction. East Rudham is nearby and very horsey. Lots of Veterinary practices in the area.

Try Coltishall or Horstead. Both nice villages on the river, 25 mins from Norwich, 30 mins from Happisburgh. Brundall and Longwood also good, but a bit closer to the city/further from the coast.

Avoid North Walsham, it's a bit grim. Cromer and Sheringham are both nice and on the coast, but a good hour from Norwich.

I live in this area so feel free to PM me if you need any info.

*Lingwood not Longwood

It's still a big county(!)

Walsham has the best public transport links in NE Norfolk. And the most variety of supermarkets. If you aren't in a town then you will be driving daily. There are 2 vet surgeries in Walsham (Westover is about to move to a large custom building). Most the market towns have a single vet surgery.

Places nr. Broads with reps for "good" schools AND a shop you can walk to: Coltishall, Aylsham, Wroxham, Reepham, Cawston, upper Southrepps, Brundall (then looking at Thorpe St. Andrew for secondary). I don't think there's a shop in Neatishead (is there?). There's no shop in Worstead which otherwise ticks your boxes, but 10 minutes drive to the highlights of Wroxham or Walsham.

The only Livery I know about is in Swafield but it doesn't have great rep. You need to find a horsey site to ask.... I suggest you register for NextDoor to get recommendations for livery. There are loads of Norfolk facebook group where people ask for recommendations, too.

Thank you all, that’s really helpful. We be taking a look at coltishall when we next down.

We are viewing a house in Stalham in a couple of weeks any views on that area?
We didn’t mind the area when we looked round it last time we was there but I’m not naive to the fact that it will be different living in an area than visiting it a few times on a weekend away. Just allot more houses in Stalham within our budget.

Have joined a few groups on Facebook and yes like you said @lljkk it’s a big county it’s just trying dwindle down to a couple of villages we like there’s just so many 😳 just would like to get the local people’s view on the good and bad area’s (schools etc)

Stalham is a bit "nothingy" IMO. The tesco that was built a few years ago has put paid to must of the nice shops. It's close to the coast and is on the river, but I wouldn't say it would be top of anyone's list.

South Walsham is nice. And nowhere near North Walsham.

Reepham, Aylsham, Roughton all nice.

There's a vet in Stalham (which might be relevant to you, but no idea of likely staff turnover in those parts)

I don't know what it's like to live there though. Quiet, I'd imagine, it always felt rather a holiday than a real life place IYSWIM

May I suggest Docking.

I know of it from holidaying near there.

It's a nice village (not to small) and is near Great Bircham and Anmer.

If you look on google maps you will see it's nicely located for the north Norfolk coast.

What kind of work would your other half be looking for?

I was thinking of Buxton or Brampton for you today.
Lessingham is cute.
I like Sea Palling but then, I'm a scruff bag at heart.
West Somerton looks nice.. but probably too far out for you.

We really like Winterton, actually. Love the heath there. Not sure what position in league tables Flegg HS is.

Stalham itself is sleepy, you may love or hate it for that.
North or East of Stalham I'm not sure you'd be within 30 min. drive of Norwich.
Local parent opinion of schools tends to closely mirror the league table positions... but people will give you all kinds of reasons why they like/dislike the schools that have nothing to do with the exam results.

I would steer clear of Stalham - it's not the nicest place to live. There is quite a bit of anti social behaviour there and it's rather run down. Granted though, you will find a three bed there for £200k fairly easily.

Coltishall has a good and bad side - the part closer to the river / Horstead is nice but property is far more expensive - for £200k, you would get a small two bed not a three (unless it needed work). The more built up part of Coltishall can be rough in places.

There is a vets in Wroxham, but property here is getting expensive and you won't get much for £200k, not a three bed at least.

xpost... Docking is > 1 hr drive to Stalham! Not sure if OP is wedded to idea of Broads, but she did put it in her opening post.

xpost... Docking is > 1 hr drive to Stalham! Not sure if OP is wedded to idea of Broads, but she did put it in her opening post.

I'm not quite clear on the point being made here. Could you clarify?

OP wrote
" We would like to be about 30 mins from Norwich but easy reach to the coast/ broads "

I live in North Walsham- I don’t think it’s grim at all. Good transport links. Easy to get into Norwich and so to London, or up North. Equally easy to get to the coast.

The Primary Schools are fine. North Walsham High School awful. However kids can go to Broadland or Aylsham. Has a 6th Form College, (although my gut feeling is it’s being run down ready for closure).

Has everything you need by way of doctors, dentists, supermarkets etc. Rural, but not too rural.

I'm also curious if OP has lived rurally before. If she knows about oil fired heating, small town/village gossip, and sugar beet harvests.

Fantasy house shopping... ok I put 3 beds into Rightmove,

I think you need to think about somewhere with some public transport, in case for whatever reason you cannot drive for a period of time. The rail services run seven days per week but buses outside main transport corridors are limited.

Stalham is a bit rough (which is why it's cheap). Coltishall is very nice but doubt you'd get a 3 bed there for 200k.