To ask about Ashby de la Zouch?

[Didiusfalco]

Posting here for traffic as i noticed a few Ashby folk on the 'sneering' journo thread. Dh's job is relocating to the East Mids and because of the motorway network Ashby de la Zouch looks like a good option. So, one damp Sunday we went to have a look round. I feel umcertain about it and have a few questions, but would welcome any observations from people in the know.

Are the schools as good as they sound, are there any to be avoided or any parts of town to avoid?

Is the nearest a&e department in Burton?

Is the nearest train station Burton and what is the transport like for getting out of Ashby de la Zouch?

Is there a park with swings etc for children within the town - i cant seem to find one?

Is there much going on for children? Would teenagers be bored?

Are there paths that you can walk on out of town to open countryside?

Would you recommend living there?

TIA

I always thought Bingham looked nice. Is it ok or not so ok?

As an adult, ashby makes a great home. Nice area, big tesco, decent town, fab cafes and pubs, plenty walking. As a kid it sucked. The school is perfectly fine and I got fab results there but there's not a lot else to do out of school if you don't like outdoor swimming or castles.

Bingham is lovely, lljkk

Bingham is lovely, but nowhere near the M1. And the a52 that direction can be a nightmare.

It's not near the M1 but it's fast roads on a46 down to the M1 at Leicester to go across to Birmingham.

IME the A52 around QMC/Wollaton/Beeston is much, much worse.

I think in rush hour it's all a nightmare, but that's the same wherever you go. I've never found the A52 bad outside those times. 20 minutes drive to Derby some days. I love the shopping centre there. Wish I could say the same about the Broadmarsh.

Ashby is quite a nice little town with a nice feel to it, I think it's quite similar to Market Harbro'. Loughborough is ok. I would avoid Burton-on-Trent like the plague. If you want a nice village then Quorn is lovely.

You have some great advice here I hope it helps you to make a more informed choice.

I would avoid long eaton though as the town centre is tired and the schools aren't great.

I wouldn't want to live in Ashby as a teenager. 10 miles to the nearest railway station, so virtually impossible to get independently to Nottingham, Leicester or Birmingham, and nothing much in town for them to do.

I'm in Nottingham. West Bridgford is the prime area for families, with the riverside, parks, cafes, football and cricket all in walking distance and is ten minutes on the bus into central Nottingham for cinemas, ice skating, bowling, theatres, restaurants and city shopping. It's expensive for Nottingham, but Nottingham is very affordable, especially if you've moved from anywhere south. Bingham is fine - further out of the city but there's a station. Beeston, Chilwell, Wilford are all worth a look, and on the new tram routes into the city.

lborolass's "A453 is not a joy to use" is a typo, I'm sure. It's now a joy to use. The journey from WB to the M1 which could take 25-30 mins now takes around 15 mins.

Thank you EMM, you are quite right, that was an unfortunate typo - the A453 is a delight

Wow thanks everyone, and thanks for delurking for this spaniel it sounds like there are great things about Ashby and Nottingham! Interesting to hear a teenagers view of Ashby too beads. I think we will have to visit again and have another look.

Have been doing some googling and talking to Dh, Beeston/Attenborough/Chilwell definitely somewhere to look at. West Bridgford sounds lovely but maybe a bit expensive? Dh thought Loughborough was a good call too, although neither of us have been, or know much about it.

as a curveball we might also look at Chesterfield as caulli mentioned this, and it's not too far, unless anyone would like to comment on the awfulness of the M1 going south in to Nottingham? Dh work will be to the north of Nottingham not far from the m1, so although Bingham looks lovely I think that commute might be a nightmare.

M1 north of Nottingham at rush hour isn't great, TBH. "Smart motorway" for a lot of the way. I wouldn't want to do Chesterfield to Nottingham every day (best part of an hour each way)

Can you be a bit more specific about where your husband will be working? (North of Nottingham does make the idea of Ashby de la Zouch seem even more random, btw!)

Look at Woodthorpe, Mapperley, Mapperley Park as nice north Nottm suburbs, or Ravenshead, Papplewick, Calverton as nice north of Nottingham villages.

So you think the traffic would be a nightmare coming into Notts south down the M1 then East Mids? Work is by junction 26, I don't really know much more about it than that. It would be about 25 miles from Ashby I think. Dh not terribly keen to live in Nottingham itself for some reason, although we will be taking a look at the areas mentioned as I think they sound promising, but that's why we were looking at the areas around Nottingham.

Listen to Radio 5 Live, every Friday night, well, every night really but especially Friday nights. The M1 near between L'ster & Nottm is a chronic nightmare. I don't think any of the roads off this stretch are a lot better.

Isn't Arnold a naice area of Nottingham?

What about between Chesterfield and Nottingham lljkk is that also a nightmare?

It's not as notorious a stretch, Chesterfield to J26-M1, I suppose.
I commuted Worksop to Lboro & found the east side of city much faster, having played with the routes for yrs. I (heart) the A46.

What is the aversion to living in Nottingham?

I think there might be some nice areas of Arnold but it's not somewhere I'd consider as naice.

no... I'm gonna take that back. The Nottingham to Sheffield stretch of M1 is still horrid on a Friday night. Honestly, put Radio5 on & listen to the evening traffic reports, every 15 minutes, 4-7pm this week. Note which stretches of East Midlands Rds come up all the time.

Flash backs...

Arnold's OK - nothing special. Mapperley is nicer.

Wollaton / Chilwell / Beeston / Attenbrough to the west are worth looking at too.

I guess it depends where you're living now and what you want from a location. We've lived in Nottingham for twenty five years and been really happy here. Some of the surrounding towns (Mansfield, Chesterfield, Long Eaton etc) look pretty... tired/down at heel to be honest.

(A thought: if your husband is going to be right by Junction 26 you might want to take the tram into account. There's a stop at Phoenix Park, so he could commute from further down the line. Look here: www.thetram.net )

Living in Notts is great! Living in the surrounding areas but still only being 25 minutes from the town centre is perfect I think.

Toton is another area worth a look as it has a park and ride for the tram and is equally easy to get to the M1 from. Good schools too. Just a bit further on from Chilwell.

Yep, Toton is good value too, I think. (And in 20 years time, you'll be in the doorstep of the HS2 station!)

That's a good idea about listening to the traffic report, I might have to give that a go.

No idea what the aversion to Notts is, but then I haven't been! Dh has more recently and wasn't particularly taken with it, but then used to live in Leicester, which I loved, but he didn't like that either - maybe he's just fussy

He reckons that going round the edge of Notts from for example Beeston would take just as long as driving from somewhere by a motorway junction, is there something in that?

Will definitely look at the tram, personally I'm inclined to cut the commute distance so Nottingham appeals to me.

He reckons that going round the edge of Notts from for example Beeston would take just as long as driving from somewhere by a motorway junction, is there something in that?

Maybe, but then you'd be living somewhere nicer than motorway junction!

Different strokes for different folks, I guess! Personally, I'd always prefer to live in a city than near a motorway junction... :)

What's his idea of a long/reasonable commute, by the way? You could live somewhere like Wollaton or Bramcote and be at J26 in 10 minutes in normal traffic (maybe 15/20 at rush hour.)

Ha! Absolutely East Mids

I only seem to hear positive things from people who have lived around Beeston. I think I'm going to have to drag him up there and have a look round. I do like living in cities, though also a keen walker (like lots of people basically) but Wollaton park and the Attenborough nature centre look fab!