Moving to Cambridge

[WhenFor]

DH and I are planning to move to Cambridge. We don't have to consider kids / schools etc and would be looking for a 2-3 bedroom place close to the centre with a small garden. I have been to Cambridge on days out or for conferences and DH knows it a bit better than me. Which post codes should we be looking at if we want to be in walking or cycling distance to the centre? Where is nice? What min house prices would we be looking at?

Have you had a look at rightmove?

There aren't really any 'bad' areas of Cambridge. Cherry Hinton is cheaper than Newnham, but if you're within easy distance of the centre it isn't going to be too scuzzy.

It is, however, expensive. Close to the centre with three bedrooms and a small garden was, when I moved away four years ago, typically from around half a million up.

It's £££ close to the centre. No bad bits really though some are more desirable. Outlying villages are also nice, with cycle routes. You just need deep pockets

Thank you, we'll have to carefully consider our budget. If anyone else has lived in central Cambridge or lives there, would you be happy to share what it's like? I'm having romantic notions of walking and cycling everywhere, which I used to love when l lived in central London. I work for a London University (not an academic) but am only on campus 2 days a week so might continue this or try and find something in Cambridge. Is it a buzzing and interesting place to live in? Does it have a community feel?

What could you afford on Grange Road for your busget? It's just been voted one of the top 50 streets to live on, according to one of those broadsheet 'surveys'. Very easy access to cenrre of town, and beautiful atmosphere, tho not exactly buzzy - more serene. If you want buzzy, maybe look off Mill Road or Hills Road.

I lived in central Cambridge (renting!) for four years. I absolutely loved it. Definitely busy and buzzy; lots going on. Yes, you can walk everywhere (I didn't cycle, but of course you can). I used to have a beautiful commute going across green spaces, over the bridge at King's, and into work - it was just gorgeous and I still miss it. I was very slim with all the walking, too!

I do think 'community feel' varies. Because it's so expensive, there are parts of central Cambridge that are either student central or very, very, very well-heeled people/elderly people who have lived there for ages. That's all lovely, but if you're (say) 30 and looking for a street full of neighbours with kids the same age, you might not find it.

It's also very loud and bustling.

Oh, and parking is an absolute fucking nightmare!

Outside of student life, is cambridge a welcoming place to newbies? Is it easy to make friends, join activities etc.? Kids will have flown the nest when we are hoping to move.

I found it welcoming. It is a city with a high proportion of people who didn't grow up there and quite a big non-UK community too; I think because of the dominance of the universities (and the hospital!) it also includes a lot of people who are passing through on short-term contracts. So lots of people are prepared to make friends quickly.

I'd say it's perhaps less good if you have very young family, but that may just be my experience. Families have often moved out of the centre.

I love Cambridge. I lived there when I was young and single in a house share. Sadly had to move way out to buy a house (nurses salary) when we wanted a family. I visit there often with my children as we are about 40 minutes up the train line now.

It is a buzzy little place, lots going on and with great connections to London and Stansted and then you can easily travel north, east and west as well by train. Anywhere central will be fabulous to live. I like the Mill Road area but I also lived in Chesterton and Trumpington and it was very easy to cycle in to town from either.

I laughed when I read today that the average sale price on Grange Road last year was £800k. Rightmove themselves has just one property sold in 2023, a flat which went for £890k (Pinehurst is a development off Grange Road.) They clearly weren’t counting 12-14 Grange Road which went to Queens’ College apparently for over £10 million.

OP, if you want a postcode suggestion, try CB3 9, but on the other side of Barton Road. Perhaps this one?

Newnham is great - easy walk or cycle into the centre but a great community feel. Not cheap though!

I work near Grange Road, most of it isn’t residential at all and it’s nowhere near the railway stations. It is on the bus route to them but if you want to live near commuting options then CB1 areas off Mill Rd for Victorian housing or Hill Rd for £££ housing. Cherry Hinton is a big area, some of it is way out from the city centre and all of it is on a long winded bus route to the city centre. Some CB4 postcodes are on better routes and there are nice riverside properties (Chesterton).

Don’t be fooled by the bridge they show, it’s not that near.

Pinehurst is an old fogey place to live and it’s miles from the railway station. It’s not really on the outskirts but your neighbours would be colleges, libraries and private schools

? I wasn’t recommending Pinehurst, I was pointing out that it’s not on Grange Road so shouldn’t be included in Grange Road’s average property prices calculations.

The bridge is at the bottom of Driftway extended, near where the map says, ‘Coe Fen’, so not that far from the Derby Street property and on one of the walking routes into the city centre. I liked the house details for their estate-agency description of Newnham.

Pinehurst is off Grange Road and there’s very little non uni or non school occupied housing stock actually bang on Grange Road.

Re Derby St - see what you mean

What’s your budget?
The mill rd area is close to the Station and the town centre, but it’s mainly on road parking and getting busier with housing developments everywhere.

I like the area off Mill Rd. We live towards Cherry Hinton but on the city centre side of Cherry Hinton Park and I really like the area. We had to compromise a lot on house size to live there but I can walk to Mill Rd, the station and work in the city centre including dropping my daughter at nursery on the way to work so it’s perfect for me. Also close to supermarkets like a large Sainsburys. Some areas are not as good for supermarkets and local facilities although of course many people get groceries delivered.

@New2024 ‘Pinehurst is off Grange Road and there’s very little non uni or non school occupied housing stock actually bang on Grange Road.’

Absolutely, and some of the houses at the south end of Grange Road which were probably built as private houses, and still look like them have, been bought by colleges. This is why calling it one of the top 50 streets to live on is so ridiculous - unless it realises that most of the residents are Cambridge students, and considers that’s a desirable thing to be.

Not what the OP wants, but if any readers have young families and lots of money, I think the Gough Way development off Barton Road in Newnham would be a great place to live. It‘s quiet, has mostly detached houses with gardens and includes an area with playground equipment and a small football field. There are mostly off-road routes to two state primary schools and several private junior and senior schools You can hear noise from the M11, though, and there’s the continuing possibility that the fields between the motorway and the development will be built on.