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?

My son is high functioning autistic and we've given up on state for him. Moulsford, ab prep and oratory are in my list. Do you know how the school run is up the a34 in the morning for Abingdon? Are yours in state for secondary?

But racist and uneducated aren't really what I'm after for neighbours...

For fucks actual sake!

Are you seriously saying that there are no racist and uneducated neighbours in London?

This thread can't be real.

I parrot what others say - I grew up in a small town in Northamptonshire with lots of surrounding countryside. It was lovely. Northampton is dire though, although you now have Rushden Lakes for shopping. I used to get the train to Leicester for shopping.

Schools are very hit or miss. Mine was fine - all surrounding ones in the area pretty poor. It really depends what’s important to you.

There is a school bus for Abingdon School from Goring which all the kids going there take. Mine are at Reading grammars.
The only person I know who went to Ab prep came from Oxford. Wouldn't fancy that drive from Goring myself. I'm vaguely aware of some using the Oratory. I get less positive vibes from there than Moulsford. Couldn't really be more specific than that though, sorry.

(and Lenny Henry has just moved in to the village - what more could you want?!)

Try North or West Oxfordshire, pretty villages, fantastic schools, diverse properties. 1 hr from London on train.

My wife and I had the same discussion a while ago when buying our new house. We now live in a small town called Brackley that might as well be in Oxfordshire, where we both work.

The fact of the matter is it’s fine. It’s a very nice little town, very picturesque and house prices are around 50-100k cheaper than popular parts of Oxfordshire. The people are fine? Like, I have zero idea where this notion of Northants being some sort of hovel of morons came from.

There’s sod all here to be fair, and Northampton itself is a run down town. But Oxford is just down the road as is MK , and the countryside is genuinely really nice. Personally, we made the call to move here as we could buy a bigger house and renovate it, and we still have ample access to everything we would have in Oxford.

I think if we moved away we wouldn’t pine for it, but we’re both happy with it as is.

So here's a house in Goring/Streatley:

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-64281352.html

Here's one of a similar price in Broughton:

Church Street, Broughton, Kettering, Northamptonshire
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-62624248.html

The second house is twice the size and detached. Both houses would mean roughly the same commute.

Broughton is lovely! I wouldn't have possibly used the words racist and uneducated about it! I agree Northampton is pants but most of the county is great. Close enough to travel to London, Birmingham, Cambridge, Norfolk coast etc etc etc you get the idea. The villages are lovely, particularly to the North of Northampton in my opinion - I used to live in a tiny village called Hannington which is near Broughton. Also look as Walgrave, Moulton, Holcot, Pitsford, Brixworth. I now live just outside of Corby and we love it here. Corby is now direct to St Pancras and is definitely in the way up and you get a lot of house for your money! Where we are we see deer, red kites, foxes etc very often and we truly love it. For serious shopping Peterborough and Cambridge are close enough and preferable to Milton Keynes.

Yes, bit of a difference!!

tbh I wouldn't go for that Streatley house. Cute, but an awkward size/layout/position .

I'd go for one of these (the first has been on for a while so ripe for an offer...):

<a class="break-all" href="http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-69079886.htmlwww.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-62467978.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-69079886.htmlwww.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-62467978.html

Or this could be amazing (and will probably go for less), but it is on the main road in Streatley which is less than ideal:

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-64341091.html

You say it is the same commute, but you can't walk to the station, which was important to us. Even more valuable once you have teens.

You don't need to go that far to get somewhere much more impressive for the money here.

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-49627617.html

You pay a big premium for being within walking distance of everything (station, river, school, shops...)

It’s a nondescript county.

Because it’s so central and has good motorway and road networks, it’s got a reputation as a warehouse county for good reason.

It has border confusion too. Locals will claim they are in the East Midlands or East Anglia depending on their snob factor.

It’s East Midlands.

There’s a LOT of water. The Nene Valley, lots of rivers and lakes, a fishing, sailing or watersports club on nearly every privately owned lake, plus several large reservoirs with country parks attached. It’s a good county for outdoor activities water based.

Scenery is flat. Mild hills somewhere, but that’s probably on the Oxfordshire border

Some pretty villages built in local ironstone just as pretty as Cotswold ones, also some bland, backward towns inhibited by corrupt councils.

Wellingborough has a private school, and the town has immense history. Housing is relatively cheap, shopping is poor, employment and commuting connections are good.

I moved here age 15and left after 3 years. I’ve only ended up back here out of circumstance.

So out of a choice between the two, Id take the lush, rolling Oxfordshire downs any day, which is closer to my native Wiltshire than Northants.

You’ll never know until you take a drive around anyway.

Op I know both well and would go for south Oxfordshire. Goring is nice but I'd think about heading a bit more north to lovely villages like Dorchester or Sutton Courtney or Wallingford which is a bit bigger. Great schools around there, lovely walks, lots to do and good transport links.

In terms of 'vibe' I found northants more 'born and bred' while Oxfordshire is probably a bit more 'posh' and the snobbery that comes with that.

Good luck!

I live in Kettering, born and raised in Desborough. I went off to uni and after 10 years I moved back here due to house prices and to use our support network to help raise our young family. I also commute into London and work for one of the large investment banks. That’s all quite outing haha waves to anyone who knows me

We’re not all uneducated racists with no aspirations despite what previous posters have claimed. Yes there are people round here who ARE like that, but unfortunately in today’s political climate I think you’ll find most places are seeing a rise in antisocial and bigoted behaviour. If you’re an open minded person you will find like minded people and make friends with them, especially if you’re looking at prep schools (St Peter’s in Kettering is very good, we’re considering here for our DD, only drawback is they don’t have a senior school).

There’s lots to do here if you look for it, there’s always something going on at the country parks/national heritage/local farms etc.

I am biased obviously, but it was good enough to entice me back from the sunny south so can’t be all bad

Have you considered Warwickshire? Also an hour's commute to London!

mrscampbellblackreturns
However, I went to Northampton High School for Girls and it was very good then - albeit that was about a million years ago wink
I went to the high school too , I only managed a few years before I got sick of the lack of boys and left haha. Nowhere round here does the 11+ anymore I’m sure of that, private entrance exams yes but there aren’t any grammar schools to sit an 11+ for

Anyone who has no affinity for Northamptonshire like me, despite living here, is only going to complain about it. They’ll be attracted to the thread title to vent their complaint, so there will be a disproportion of against rather than for the county.

I’ve tried very hard to like the place as my young children are growing up here now, I utilise a lot of the local watersports amenities as that’s my hobby to try to bond with the place more, but .... you can take the girl out of Swindon, you can’t take Swindon out of the girl kind of thing . Roll your Rs when you read that out loud.

I’ve lived at over 16 separate nationwide locations in my lifetime (hamlets, villages, towns and cities, coastal, inland and bleak moors) so I hope I have a reliable view of a place’s identity and character.

Northamptonshire towns are nondescript. The smaller more expensive villages however are good.
The commuter villages (actually very, very small towns but like to think of themselves as villages) are very cliquey. You will have a tough time fitting in unless you have a robust anti Queen Bee oh hun radar.

For a very young family wanting good priced property and schools though, Northamptonshire is probably a good Starter Home county.

I'm in Northamptonshire, a 15 drive from the Oxfordshire border. So South Northants.

Northampton town is a bit run down, but it doesn't affect me at all because i have no reason much to go there! It's 40 minutes away from us, I'm near the Warwickshire border too. The rolling hills and villages are lovely. We've got Banbury and the M40 and Oxford if we drive south. Birmingham to the North. Milton Keynes about 45 mins away.

My DCs are having a lovely upbringing here - nice village primary, horse riding, country walks, woodland walks ect. Most of the kids from the primary go up to the same secondary and a lot of their network of friends and acquaintances from those days, now all early 20s, are all stay around. It's a nice life. Little DD4 is signed up for the same primary as their sisters.

I guess it depends what you want out of life, but we moved here from West London 18 years ago (i'm a Londoner born and bred) and when i go back to see family i know i'd never move back there in a million years. The crime rate here is low, the air is fresh, it's clean, the views are beautiful, it's peaceful, and the community spirit here is good. All the usual kids clubs and classes are available in the village halls.

As for the Counties namesake - Northampton Town - we mostly ever only go to the outskirts of it (Sixfields) for the cinema and the circus and funfairs which rock up there quite often. If i really want to go to a proper big shopping center i go to Milton Keynes. (All the shops are all the bloomin' same wherever you go anyway these days!)

I love it here.

HS2 is not going near Princes Riseborough, it is going past Aylesbury.

I'm in Northamptonshire. I work in Northampton. So many potholes.... My town is a bit shit for things to do so it's always a drive away ( there's only so many times you can walk round a country park). I end up in MK for shopping or Rugby where they've just built Elliots field. Coventry too isn't far up the road and provides things to do. I feel things to do need to be found rather than offered. I think there a few nice houses and gardens around to look out but it feels like nothing good is actually local! I always end up in Warwickshire.

I used to live in a large village in nw Northamptonshire. It was great when the children were small, lovely countryside, could walk to shops and everyone said hello. But nothing to do for teenagers so problems with drugs, antisocial behaviour, teenage pregnancies. Village school was ok, some academic kids, some not, but expectations were low and same in local secondary modern although it was rated good. Some kids took 11+ and travelled to grammar schools in Rugby (Warwickshire) which is a far nicer town. Northampton town is a run down dump though it has a theatre. There are loads of eastern europeans in Northamptonshire doing warehouse jobs and I suspect that's the reason so many of the english voted for Brexit. There's a reason why houses there are cheap. I wouldn't go back.

P. Risborough looks nice but wouldn't the preps be aiming at 11+ grammar entrance? Can anyone recommend preps/primaries near there?