Moving to South Northamptonshire or any other nice areas.

[Saxo367]

Hi all,
I was wondering if you all can spare a few minutes to point me to any relatively safe area in South Northamptonshire or other areas as I am looking to move there soon. I understand from reading other posts that some areas are not so nice/safe. My budget is £300 or less for a 3 bedroom. I currently live in a relatively safe area in Hertfordshire but due to divorce I can't afford to buy there so have to move, besides I will like a completely new beginning and hopefully make new sets of friends. Hope someone can help me out. Thanks.

If it is Church Brampton then I am not surprised. Majority of houses are hidden by high fences and hedges. You open your electric gates and drive out. Do not much chance to get chatting to neighbours when washing your car or mowing your front lawn. I doubt you even see your postman! The school is a short drive away and there isn’t a pub or a shop. The houses are beautiful (so, so beautiful) but they are very enclosed. Plus it can be quite heavy on traffic as most people use it as an easy route to avoid Kingsthorpe. If I could afford one of those stunning houses I still wouldn’t buy one unless I already knew people locally because living there - everyone is quite shut off from each other. The houses are amazing though - there’s a reason it is called Millionaires Row!

@MayorGoodwaysChicken

The villages along the A361 towards the Oxfordshire border are lovely - Byfield, Boddington, Chipping Warden, Eydon, Culworth, Middleton Cheney (has an outstanding secondary school, really great). All that area has beautiful countryside and a great place to raise a family.

I’m also quite perplexed by @Ifiknewthenwhatiknow experience. It sounds very extreme and dramatic. Whole villages of people aren’t generally awful to one particular family just because they moved in from somewhere else a decade ago. People move in and out of the area all the time and I’ve never heard a story like that. I’m sorry you had such a negative experience and hope you find happiness where you move to.

Yep. I live v close to here too and it's a lovely place to live.

I've been here 20 years, west London born, even back when i first got here i knew no one but i was never made to feel unwelcome. And it's got even busier/more diverse here since then.

@Saxo367 I hope you haven't been scared off by the negatives comments from @Ifiknewthenwhatiknow. I really would recommend northants as a good place to start over and get more for your money than you would where you are. Hopefully the fact that so many of us weren't born and raised here helps.

I stand by my recommendation of Rushden because the house prices haven't caught up with its improved reputation. My DH works for a large national construction company who have just moved hundreds of staff there- part WFH, a day or two in the office. It's also an easy commute to Bedford, Northampton, Wellingborough and Kettering so the job opportunities are good. A PPs suggestion of nearby Higham Ferrers is also worth looking at.

Sincerely, I can't thank you all enough. I will in the next month drive down to explore the areas you have mentioned and speak to locals prior to making final decision.

I live in a small market town in south Northants that is massively popular with Londoners, increasing every year. My next door neighbours moved here from London; I didn’t realise I was supposed to be unwelcoming and elitist I shall pop round immediately and terminate our six year friendship and ignore them henceforth.

@Ifiknewthenwhatiknow do you mean the Bringtons? population fits and they closest to Duston?

I think it is easy to read my posts and view me as perhaps moody, unfriendly and someone who alienates people. You could also read my posts as someone who has been quite damaged , hurt and disappointed by their experience here and quite frankly broken . I have lived in 2 villages here over the last 10 yrs, i left the first because of the clique, only to find more of the same. People have lived here for generations, have their friends and family around them, do not need anymore friends. Difficult when you have left everyone you love behind and looking to make a life and new friends.

No one needs new friends here where i live and while they say good morning that is it. A neighbour of mine who has no one ( due to mental health issues) had a heart attack last yr and i was the only neighbour to help them. I put them in the ambulance, called the hospital to check on them daily, got their house ready for their return, did their washing and made them hot meals. My neighbour thanked me and said they "were an outsider too"! They are from the next village originally!! Not exactly miles away.

I regularly hosted events, offered tea when people turn up at mine unannounced , wanting something, which is always accepted.... i go to them, rarely... always left standing on the doorstep in the cold. I let
them in my house, i do not get in theirs ! Do not bother anymore, so used to it now. Leave people on my doorstep now, they do not seem to like it. It's ok for me to stand outside theirs but they still expect to come into mine??

Covid was the worst. I could not travel to my loved ones as too far, nor could they to me, i was here alone with my DC's, very very alone. I am a single parent now as i left my DH, 3 yrs ago. as it was his fault we moved here ( we did not need to be here, i wanted to be by the south coast, as did our Dc's and i had the money to fund that for my kids. I had accrued and earned the money to move us to the sea). He thought the Midlands would be better as he grew up here and it was close to his work , a few jct's on the M1, despite the fact he himself left the Midlands when he was 18 in 1989 and never set foot in the place again until 2011. It suited him, he was one lazy unambitious arse ... so we moved here. It clearly did not suit us or him ( due to loneliness and exclusion) so , i took control back and left him. Ironically he then cleared off back to London in 2018 the day we split, leaving me here to finish the DC's education and suffer this. He grew up here, not so keen on hanging around here though?

He has lost his family because of his selfishness. Me and my DC's are fine and we are moving back home.

Anyway, not one person here asked how I was during Covid, despite the fact i got all their shopping and made window home visits checking everyone was ok. The very one time i had to isolate and at short notice , mid 21, due to DC Covid in yr grp, I asked for help on village FB page but, the only person who responded told me they could not afford the petrol to the next village shop so could not help. I had no shopping, NO ONE helped me. NO ONE. I had to have a relative travel from London to bring us food. Disgusting!!!!!!

I suspect it will take time for these villages to have more "incomers" as the old guard move on. I have been told many many many many times that when my house came up for sale (before i bought it) locals were eying it up for their families. It was not expected to sell and therefore the price would have fallen, making it more affordable to someone from the " village". Why would you keep telling me and my family that??? How is that my fault??? Why do I need to be repeatedly told that my house was expected to go to a villager at a lesser price? Why do i need to be repeatedly told that the land my house was built on used to occupy an orchard, decades before i was even born and there was massive complaint and village petition to it being built. How does that help me and my children fit in 40 decades after ? How is it my families fault we bought a house that they ( villagers) did not want built ( before i was even born) and that their children cannot now afford?? How is that my fault!??

However, i came in here with my "London" money and snapped it up for a price their children could not afford. I am exactly the same age as their kids, i could afford it how come then their kids could not? I then spent £110k renovating it, employing all local trades and re investing in my new community and increasing surrounding house prices by my remedial works. 4 yrs ago a "new" family bought a stunning listed building in our village, they are "incomers" and quite frankly have met obstacles and nastiness at every turn. They have spent tens of thousands refacing their house with original, locally sourced stone as per the conservation and graded listing, all approved and carried out by skilled trades but apparently they " are a bit stuck up and from Kent". I have met them, they are lovely. Their eldest is in the same class as mine. They are a lovely family respecting this village, its properties and it's regional traditions, as have i.

They have had a shite unwelcoming time here, people ignoring them, slagging them off and making their life difficult, and it is not ok to do that to a family moving here wanting a better life. It is NOT ok!!! It is NOT OK , to do this to a family who moves into your community and respects yr village, yr county traditions and yr heritage. It is NOT OK to treat us like this

Op, i guess it depends where you move. I work in a sch up here and all my colleagues are lovely , admittedly, my immediate colleagues are not natives and have recently moved ( within last 6 yrs) in to the area too , so ready and wanting to make new friendships. I also have colleagues who have moved here and hate it, it is not the dream they thought it would be. All leaving, all moving away, all vacancies for me to now to fill.

I am sure there are lovely, kind. welcoming people up
here Op, I am sure there are. There have been many kind people on here who have offered you advice. I sincerely hope you find your happy here.

If anyone who has posted here and lives in Northants and would like to offer the kind hand of friendship to me it would be very much appreciated. I would love to make friends here and build a network. I would love to have local friends for coffee and a friendship group. I am still here for at least the next 12 mths.

@HoneyDragon
@MilduraS
@Laiste
@NoWordForFluffy
@Africa2go
@Doodle2021 @NoWordForFluffy
@NoWo

Would all of you be interested in meeting up with me in Northants town center for a coffee? It would be nice for me for me to make some friends here. Maybe Op could join us ?

1. Northants is the county, not a town, so doesn't have a town centre to meet up in.
2. I don't live anywhere near the county now (moved for love!).
3. I found you under a previous name on a old thread and you were really very rude indeed (including to my cousin) which makes the idea of meeting up less than appealing.

"3. I found you under a previous name on a old thread and you were really very rude indeed (including to my cousin) which makes the idea of meeting up less than appealing".

Excuse me?? I have only been on MN for few months. I name changed for this thread. My other user name is Cinston Whurchill. I have not commented on any old thread l, only joined the site a few months ago but a long time lurker.

I see you moved away!

"Northants is the county, not a town, so doesn't have a town centre to meet up in"

Whatever!

"Northants is the county, not a town, so doesn't have a town centre to meet up in.

1. I don't live anywhere near the county now"

Welcome to Northamptonshire OP!

I'd say it really depends on what you're looking for with your 300k. Southern Northants (down Towcester way) is a lot more expensive and you'll get less for your money. I'm in Wellingborough and you'd get a lot for that round here, as well as good transport links out (ok the commuter to London as deteriorated slightly recently but still exists). This is only local hearsay - but some parts of Rushden aren't too great (to be fair that could be said of pretty much any residentail area over large village sized and upwards).

Some nice villages between towns this part of the county too where 300k would probably still get you something decent

I live in Rushden and it's like a lot of towns, some parts good and some poor. All or some of it is in the catchment area for Sharnbrook school, a lot of DC from the south end, there are couple of large housing estates there go to Sharnbrook you have to check this though as things can change. It's a lot better now the Rushden Lakes is there as we don't have to go out of town now to do our shopping though it is very busy at weekends as people visit from out of town.

You would get a 3 bed semi or small detached easily for £300k. Rushden hasn't got a railway station with running trains but I think that one is being planned on the Irchester border. Houses are also cheaper in Wellingborough, Raunds and Kettering areas but places like Olney and some of the local Bedfordshire villages are quite expensive.

@Doodle2021 Thank you for your PM and yr kind words. I would love to meet up with you and will PM you at the weekend when i have more time. Sorry that you have been lonely too. I do not think you are that far from me , so there is a lovely Garden Centre near that may suit us both for a coffee, that you may know. I will PM you and we can chat off site. Thank you again for yr kind words.

@Ifiknewthenwhatiknow

Hi Op, i am Londoner who moved to Herts. I spent 20 yrs growing up in London and then 20 yrs living in /starting a family in Herts. ( Rickmansworth)

I moved to Northamptonshire 10 yrs ago ( with my now exDH). I have been made to feel unwelcome, excluded, not part of the community and it's all my fault that, i have priced locals out of buying property and i should have stayed in London.

I have spent 10 yrs largely alone as have my children. The sheer misery of living up here ended my marriage 4yrs ago , as, it was my ex's fault we moved here in the first place. I did everything i could to fit in over 10yrs, hosted much, helped at sch, i gave to the community, i helped in Pandemic. I did shopping and errands for villagers. When it was my one and only turn to isolate, not one sod could be arsed to shop for me. I actually had to have a relative travel 160 miles to help us as , not one person in this " village" could go shopping for me.

If you have lived in Northants for over 1300 yrs , it is a lovely place to live. If you have generations of relatives in the graveyard you are reet. If you are a southerner, moving here, don't waste yr time.

I am now moving back to Herts, my DC's are finished secondary. Complete waste of 10yrs and the most miserable 10yrs of mine and my children's lives. We moved here for a better life,it has been a lonely, anti southern nightmare. I helped our village ( very near Duston) throughout lockdown, not one sod helped me and my children when we had to isolate for one time. In fact, we never saw a sole for almost a year, no one in our community bothered with us. A bit like the last 10 yrs.

My village know i am moving back south now, due to them all being a bunch of cunts. The only contact/ interest i have had from my village is those wanting to buy my house for their kids who cannot afford to buy. Not one has asked, after 10 yrs of living here, where me and my DC are going.

We are going back to Herts and will never set foot in Northants again. It will always now be jct 15/16/16a on the M1 , that i drive past, while en route to the Trafford Centre.

Look elsewhere Op, this is a not a place to rebuild your life.

That is such a sad story. I moved to North Northants/Cambs border 14 years ago with my DC and have loved it throughout. I've found Northants a really welcoming place.