PLEASE help me find the perfect Cambs village to live in!

[ButterScotch00]

Hi,

So after much hanging about and deliberating, we've finally decided to get on the market and move.

We're already in Cambridgeshire, but would like to be closer to Cambridge centre.

I can't seem to find anywhere that ticks most of the boxes within our budget, so wondering if I'm missing some hidden gems.

Budget, we think is around 850k, but probably more comfortable at 800k. We need 4 beds, 2 reception rooms, detached, decent sized garden. Ideally a pretty, characterful village with at least one good pub/restaurant. We don't really want a project, a new build or a thatch - as pretty as they are!

Villages like Madingley, Grantchester and Coton are probably ideal in terms of area, but hardly anything comes on near our budget or actually, at all!

Any suggestions? I'm pretty much living on Rightmove these days and my head's spinning tbh! 🥴

TIA

I'd suggest Bartlow, gorgeous wee village.

With a fab pub!

Guilden Morden, Steeple Morden, Ashwell? All very accessible to cambridge

Abington? (This is where I am). Pub, post office and lots of countryside. Bus in to Cambridge, and Cambridge South station opening soon. Bartlow has a good pub but nothing else… it’s very small. Balsham is bigger (2 pubs, village shop and school) and has a lot of very nice houses …

Also Babraham, which has a pub. That and Abington both have science parks with associated employment. The land settlement in Abington has a lot of huge plots and would suit if you’re up for a deeper-upper and quite intrepid. Upside is lots of space and quiet.

Last one: Sawston. Probably too big and not pretty enough for you. But it has excellent shops and services, relatively speaking. Good doctor’s surgery.

@tadjennyp Oh, that's great! Always nice to hear of a pub re opening and hopefully it keeps busy 🤞Are they doing food now? The house I had my eye on has mysteriously come off the market. Not sold, just not available. They actually didn't want us viewing as we weren't local enough 😕 so I suspect we were better out of that one anyway. Very odd.

I don't think they will do food. Enough places in the village already do. Good luck 👍

@UndoRedo it does look lovely, but think it's a bit too far out unfortunately.

@ilod thanks.

@Flamerouge Abington was on the list, but it's another very pricey one!

@ButterScotch00 indeed … I fear that what you’re looking for at the price point you’re describing is probably going to be a bit of a unicorn! Where are you currently?

I think you might find a 4 bed / detached etc in Sawston, but it’s not a pretty village place …

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/166903346

@Flamerouge yes, you might be right. I think location is very important, but it can't trump everything. I wouldn't want to live in a shoe box in our number one area, but I also wouldn't want to live in a beautiful 5 bed house in an area with nothing going on.

Swaffham Prior or Swaffham Bulbeck? Lovely villages and give the option of Cambridge or Newmarket supermarkets, cafes and shops etc.

@CambridgeAh actually they are newly on the list after we ruled Burwell out. We drove through the area and thought it looked quite pretty. Not loads going on though, perhaps..

Have you considered villages in Essex? It would push your 7 miles into Cambridge but Cambridge would still be very accessible. South of Cambridge you’ve got Linton, Great Chesterford, Littlebury, Ashdon, Bartlow, Hadstock, Debden to name a few. But it might be too far for you.

My sister lives in Saffron Walden and works at Addenbrooks and so it’s easy to get into Cambridge from that side.

A friend of mine lived in Thriplow. It was amazing, with incredible community spirit and a lovely school.

Not a huge amount of nightlife, I agree! Though there are pubs in both villages. Also, the village communities arrange various events, including quizzes, feasts, art exhibitions and other get togethers.
The village magazines might be useful if you are trying to get a feel for what's going on.
https://www.swaffham-crier.co.uk/
https://www.bulbeckbeacon.org/archive

Thanks @CambridgeAh Are they at least good pubs? 😅

Both under recent new management and seem to be doing really well and creating real centres for the communities. Definitely worth checking out for a lunch one day!
Pubs in other villages nearby are good too. Also lots of interesting food vans which stop in different places on different days.

@CambridgeAh sounds good. Interesting you mention the food vans - I've noticed a lot of pubs in the surrounding areas offering these food vans instead of food from their own kitchen. I guess it's working well!

Does anyone know much about these areas?..

Shepreth,
Melbourn/Meldreth
Barrington

Melbourn/meldreth has a train station and a small ish secondary school.

shepreth don’t know.

barrington is nice but has a hill on the way to it (lots of cyclists take that route) and a cement works. The church is nice and there’s a good riding place just outside it. Nice pub.

There is a lot of controversy about the route of the East-West rail that might go through/near Barrington and that hill...

Shepreth and Meldreth both have stations (as does Foxton).

Thank you @Octavia64 and @CityCentre

I've driven through them actually and was surprised how pretty they were. I did have a drink (purely for research 😉) at the Barrington pub - the Royal Oak (?) which I thought was lovely! Just wondered generally what kind of villages they were.

Newton is cute

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/87312432#/floorplan?activePlan=1&channel=RES_BUY