to ask you about Northamptonshire?

[lotsofreasons]

I'm posting here for traffic really.
We are looking at houses in Northamptonshire, first looked briefly at Northampton, but then moved on to Kettering and Wellingborough area.
Now I find that Desborough has got even cheaper property prices, but I guess there must be a reason?

We don't know anyone from the area and you can't really trust the estate agents or the vendors as they want to make a sale so might not be too forthcoming about what it's really like.

So if anyone knows this area please tell me what are the nicer parts what are the areas to avoid if any.

So far we have really liked Mawsley next to Kettering, so based on that we like a fairly recent development (around 10 years old) that's quiet and peaceful and great for young kids to make friends and go to the same school etc. Also needs to be not totally isolated, DH will be commuting to London.

Avoid Wellingborough if you want good transport links. No direct trains and bus takes forever.

I live in Northampton so feel free to PM me :) there are nicer locations on the beds Northants border but expensive. like Olney.. that's got direct links into milton keynes which is 35 mins into London.

Whataload, Wellingborough has direct links to London St Pancras.

I used to live in Northants. Generally, the county has lovely villages and not so nice towns! Corby and Kettering in particular have dodgy reputations locally. Some gorgeous villages though. And parts of Northampton are nice. Friend had a gorgeous house overlooking Abington Park. Collingtree is good if you're looking for a new estate. Ditto parts of Wooton.

Are there not direct trains to Wellingborough? Pretty sure it goes into St Pancras direct.

Other reasons to avoid w'boro.

I'm Northants born and bred, lived in the East, west and centre.

Great location, not many places in England you can't get to in 3 hours or less.

Northampton and Wellingborough, and to some extent Kettering have slipped imo over recent years. Town centres aren't really that nice these days.

However, it's got the best villages in the country imo and can't think of many I wouldn't mind living in. Any of the villages either side of the A45 from raunds up to Northampton itself are worth a look.

I'd have said avoid Corby a while back, but hearing good things of late and it looked a different place when I drove through a few months back.

Can't help on house prices, moved east with work 10 years ago, but still visit family there a lot

Agree re the villages and the towns, TheWhiteRoad. I used to live in Northants too.

I'm mawlsey and it's beautiful here great community good little local shop and village hall/pub! Good primary school! I have lived in kettering and northampton also, best areas of northampton in my opinion is the Weston favell / abington vale area. Kettering leisure village is the best area in kettering

Have you actually been to Mawsley? It's kind of...odd. There are lots of lovely villages around the area though, we've just moved to one near Kettering.

South Northants is lovely. Towards Banbury and the border of Oxfordshire. Rolling hills and chocolate box villages. West a bit from there takes you to Stratford on Avon - lovely but pricey.

If you can commute from Desborough, have a look at Market Harborough, just over the border into Leicestershire, beautiful little town, 1 hr to St Pancras on direct train, loads of local independent shops, lovely restaurants and even a cinema club! feel free to message me for more info

Desborough is much cheaper now due to waste incineration plant being built there. It does however have great transport links due to train station in Market Harborough. Corby is quite nice now but had a bad reputation locally for years due to little investment in the area and high crime. Corby has a lot going for it now.
I would avoid Kettering due to terrible shopping and parking costs a fortune. Rothwell is quite nice but a bit pricier. The local schools however are good and has a lovely community around it (if you manage to find a way in). There are a lot of old local people there so it can be difficult as a newcomer to get past that. It can feel a bit 'Local town for local people'

Mawsley's lovely. Northamptonshire villages in general are lovely, with lots of good small village schools as well as the towns. House prices in Corby are great, the pricing reflects partly being further north and further away from the M1, and also because Corby town has a bit of a rep for pride in being tough, based on its history with the steelworks. The town centres are all pretty but run down, but there are lots of smaller shopping centres and retail parks that are good. Milton Keynes and Banbury aren't far in South Northants for the big shopping centres, and good rail links everywhere.

Northamptonshire resident here

If you are looking for a village feel on a fairly new development then check out the Priors Hall development at Weldon. There is a primary school and a very good secondary school (you will need to go through the usual application process). Weldon has a couple of pubs, a village hall and a village shop. The train from Corby takes 1hr 15m or you can drive to Kettering in about 20 minutes where the train takes an hour.

Another development close by is Little Stanion which has a primary school and a village hall. I have a recollection of there being other amenities planned but I'm not sure if they are underway yet. Ten minutes drive will take you to the train station at Corby and 15-20 minutes to Kettering. There are excellent secondary schools nearby in both Corby and Kettering.

It takes 30 minutes or so by car to get to the M6 and the M1. Less than hours drive each to Leicester, Peterborough and Northampton for bigger shops. 20 minutes to Market Harborough. 10 minutes to some beautiful countryside and fantastic pubs

Love the description of Rothwell.

I've just moved to the Wellingborough area because of a new job. The transport links are a bit weird, in that you can get a train to London but not Birmingham. I don't think the trains are especially quick but it took me about 50 minutes the one time I have done it, which is not terrible depending on where your DH is trying to get to.

I've found living in the town pretty nice- but I've moved from a less than nice area of Plymouth, so you might not want to trust my judgement! I agree with other posters that there are lots of really nice villages in the general area around Wellingborough/Kettering and I have seen houses for sale in a lot of them when driving through.

I probably don't really know enough about the area to give you proper advice, but I've found it a surprisingly nice place to move to so far!

The lettings agents I used were pretty helpful when I moved, and I think they do house sales too, so if you want a recommendation, please feel free to PM me :)

Commute from wellingborough or kettering really easy - market harborough bit further but much nicer - you will pay for that in house prices though. Mawsley is a village that has been built from scratch over the last 15 years or so - loads of facilities and community stuff going on and lots of families living there.

If you're looking at Desborough (which I've heard called 'Dirty Desborough'...sorry relatives) why not take a look at Rothwell. It's next to Deborough and is far prettier.

Can I throw Long Buckby into the mix? Really close to A14 / M6 / M1 and has a little station just outside that is on the Euston - Birmingham train line? Nice school choices, in catchment for Guilsborough school.

Also second what has been said before about Corby being on the up - Priors Hall, Little Stanion are nice modern developments but close to A43 and the town now has a train station.

I was married in Weldon church. Then my family drank the George dry.

Irchester?

I prefer south northants, loads of lovely villages and not too pricey.

Another vote for Rothwell. Much nicer than desborough. But I'd live in market harborough if I could afford it.

Go to western end of the A14, hop on to the WCML at Rugby. 50 mins to London and beautiful countryside around West Haddon area.
Long Buckby is only London Midland.
Rugby is Virgin, and shaves at least an hour off a day and guaranteed seats from/to Rugby/Euston.

I drink in The George Disgrace!

Priors Hall is ok but is being built much, much slower than anticipated. There's no primary school yet (the kids go to Weldon) and no shop. It's going to be years before it's finished (my guess is at least 12 years) and the developer recently applied for there to be less green space than originally anticipated.

Corby rocks. Best town centre in north Northants and really cheap house prices. Plus it's got loads and loads of community clubs & facilities as so much money was ploughed in to help regeneration. It has an international swimming pool and a brand new theatre. There's one, maybe two, multiplexes being built. Nando's and Prezzo are about to arrive. There are two fabulous secondary schools and two ok ones. House prices will rise. It's not everyone's cup of tea, but at least it's on the up rather than on the down. Newest housing estates are Priors Hall, Little Stanion & parts of Oakley Vale. Nearby villages are Weldon, Cottingham / Middleton & Gretton. Gretton is a excellent place to bring up a family. Great park, good primary, doctor's surgery, pubs, shop, coffee shop & loads of community organisations.

Corby -> St Pancras is an hour as you'll usually get a seat as it's often the first stop. Parking at the stn is plentiful and cheap.

If Corby had a tourist board, I'd be it

I'm in East Northants. Near Oundle, which is really really naice, and surrounded by picture postcard villages. We moved up from Hampshire last year and absolutely love it. Good schools, friendly people and a very young & active community. Loads to do for all ages.

My DH works in Corby as a police officer, so he probably sees the rather, er, rougher side of the place! It does have a lot of quite serious and violent crime. Having said that, the regeneration programme that's happened over the past decade or so has really turned Corby around, and it is certainly on the up.

Peterborough is our closest city (11 miles), with trains to Kings X taking 45 mins. The A1 is just up the road.

I used to work in Market Harborough, and yes, it's a lovely town. Lots of good places to eat. An ex-colleague lived in Desborough (Des Vegas ) and she loved it.