To think Northamptonshire isn't that much worse than Oxfordshire?

[MandrakeLake]

We are moving and it looks like it will likely be to one of these two places. Everyone I've spoken to has gone on and on about how beautiful and lovely Oxfordshire is and how crap Northamptonshire is. Objectively I don't see that much difference. Both have lovely stone villages and commute times of roughly an hour into London. But what I keep hearing is that the people in Northamptonshire aren't so great but no one will elaborate beyond "parochial" and "less educated". The housing in NH is MUCH cheaper. So AIBU to think there isn't that much difference?

I grew up in Northants too and would agree that the towns aren't nice, while the villages can be lovely. Wouldn't agree that Northampton is a shit hole though!

Oxfordshire has better infrastructure, more schools and what not. But Northamptonshire is nice too and also had good services. Maidenwell for example is considered one of the best preps in the country.

I live in northants and went to university in Oxford.

Northants is cheaper.
Oxford city is 'nicer' than Northampton. But Northampton and Oxford aren't representative of what the other towns/ villages in the county offer.

I can get into central London in 58 minutes. It's nicely located for m1 and m6, easy to get to Milton Keynes, Leicester, Cambridge, London or Birmingham.
I couldn't afford my property in Oxfordshire.
Healthcare wise Oxford has the JR and NOC but aside from that they are facing similar budget cuts etc.
The countryside in Northamptonshire is beautiful! Lots of country parks. It suits us perfectly as a young family.
It depends on what sort of lifestyle you have I suppose.

I live in Buckinghamshire but I'm right in the borders of Northamptonshire and Oxfordshire. I work in Bicester. like most places you get food bits and bad bits. Bicester is growing at a rate of knots.

Trust me, not all of Oxfordshire is beautiful and lovely. I've lived in Oxford all of my life and I can't wait to move out. It's overpriced and certain areas are less than desirable.... I'm guessing the same is true of Northamptonshire.. Personally, I want to be in Devon or Somerset - which, I am equally as sure has some areas that are nicer than others.
Also, housing prices in Oxfordshire are utterly ridiculous - I wouldn't move here if you can choose elsewhere and get more house for your money....

Also, the traffic situation in Oxford is pretty awful too at the moment.

Northampton - Bedford - Milton Keynes is the Chav Triangle. The towns are all shit, but the villages are lovely. And as someone else said, the schools (particularly secondary) can be very hit and miss. Our local village primary was the feeder school for three secondaries, two of which were in special measures. There are quite a few mediocre private schools in the area, which scoop up the 11 + failures and those whose parents can afford for their DC not to go to the local sink school.

I absolutely loved the village we lived in, and the house we had, but the local towns were really grim.

Moved to near Faringdon from Oxford when we were sick of the city life. Biggest regret ever. What looked like a pretty market town turned out to be a dirty town of takeaways and drunks. First weekend we went for a walk around and saw a woman having a wee in an alley off and a fight in Costa. We could have seen that in some parts of Oxford!

The house prices tells you all you need to know. People prefer to live in Oxfordshire.

Northamptonshire has some nice places but seems a bit characterless - not much in terms of outdoors stuff unless you look hard. Lots of lakes but cannot do much on/in them. There are nice country parks though.
Northampton/Bedfordshire/Buckinghamshire suffer with being too close to London with the net effect that most of the character seems to have been sucked out of these places. Oxfordshire is far enough away to keep its own identity.
I lived near Bedford/MK for four years and although I made online friends I made 0 real-life friends. I lived in a nice village but if I wanted to see people or do stuff it was quite a hike away.

My DP lives in a village in Northamptonshire and I've been pleasantly surprised at how lovely it is round there. We had a wonderful summer discovering the area, some good restaurants, nice pubs, food fairs, country shows, village fetes, canal side pubs and v friendly neighbours. I'm a city girl and not really a fan of the countryside but was impressed at how pretty it was and how much there was to do!

Northamptonshire is a shit-hole. Not sure about Oxfordshire, I've never lived there.

The problem with Northamptonshire is there is literally nothing there. Genuinely. OK, Silverstone, Rockingham and Santa Pod if you're into motor-racing. Other than that, lots and lots of featureless landscapes, warehouses, clogged-up roads and towns long past their best now that their industry has moved away.

I believe that Northampton still has a shoe museum. If that floats your boat, go for it. Personally I prefer the museums Oxford has to offer.

The people are no worse than those elsewhere (indeed, if you come from up north you will be pleasantly surprised). But Northamptonshire is basically a vacuum with very little going for it. There is nothing you can find in Northamptonshire that cannot be found better elsewhere.

Sorry to depress you, but there is a reason it's cheap here!

Northampton is fine.
It's always going to be over shadowed by MK shops wise...
But that means there are lots of independent eateries, coffee shops, restaurants, Craft ale/ good pubs. Arts, museums etc.
There is a cheese shop, Italian deli, vintage furniture shops etc.

I grew up in south Northants, in a small village close to Brackley. It was nice, albeit a quiet, country upbringing. We did travel to Oxford or Milton Keynes for a 'day out' though. My sister is moving back there from London as the house prices are more affordable. She will be commuting to London for work. I guess it depends what you are looking for. Lovely villages and countryside if that's what you want! Can't comment on the standard of schools 30 years on I'm afraid!

I'm sorry op but I'm going to agree with the people who ever told you Northants was a bit crap.

There are some beautiful villages and countryside but after living there for a number of years I couldn't wait to leave.
No character, nothing to do and the people really hard work, they're not the most warm and friendly.

Mrsschafenfreude northampton/bedford/milton keynes are not chav triangle. How rude.

There are beautiful parts, as well as less savoury parts. Like everywhere.

Im sure the people living in Harrold or Flitwick or the castle quarter of Bedford are not chavs in any way shape or form. (And about 200 other non chav and quite expensive villages.)

Let alone the none outwardly middle class but still lovely people in many areas. There are chavs but there are chavs everywhere.

Its not a nice term to use anyway and ive just used it myself mutliple times, dammit.

Lots of lakes but cannot do much on/in them

There's sailing, windsurfing, stand up paddle boarding, white water rafting and tubing, canoeing, kayaking, water skiing and some good wild swimming at various places across the county.

If I had the money to make the decision between the two, knowing them both quite well, I’d go Oxon every time (or Bucks, which is similarly priced to Oxon but maybe a bit cheaper in the north of the county) We have been around here for nearly 15 years and it’s ok, but that’s it - just ok. Neither my husband or I feel it is home, and as soon as the children leave home, we will leave and I doubt I’ll ever come back.

Oxfordshire is massively overrated

Northants is a very white county, somewhat backwards, lots of UKIP voters. No proper city, county council awful, no personality to speak of and very low aspirations generally.

I live in Northampton, and agree with some that some parts are not great, there are some lovely areas and lovely people. I disagree with a pp that the healthcare is not good - my experience (of a few different departments) of Northampton General has been fantastic too.

Flirtygirl - my point was that the towns themselves are all dumps (and I haven't found anyone else disagreeing with me), not the outlying villages. MK "city centre" is just a big shopping mall. It is a soulless dump. Bedford centre might have some quite nice roads and a few nice buildings, but the centre itself is full of cheap pubs, chicken shops, pound shops and charity shops. It was a nice town many years ago, but not now. Ditto Northampton.

I can’t believe some of the comments on this thread!! I live in south Northants and it’s lovely! Some of the villages around here are very pretty and sought after (Abthorpe, Blakesley) and although Towcester might not be everyone’s cup of tea the secondary school there is actually very good!

I wonder whether some people commenting on this thread have actually been to Northamptonshire

Excellent theatres, art house cinema, classical music programmes, plenty of outdoor activities (cycling, walking, water sports etc etc), good schools both independent and state, lovely restaurants. Yes it has its bad parts but so does every county in the Uk.

Dh and I were both born in Northampton and we would never move back despite both of us having nearly all our family there. All my friends say they would move if not for their families. There just isn't a lot to do there.
My nan lived in oxford for many years and liked it, though I didn't think it was anything special. She lives in Warwick now which seems nice. Does it have to be between those 2 places?