AIBU- really worried about moving to Northampton

[up1978]

we are looking to move to Northampton (Weston Favell area) or maybe somewhere else still not 100% sure from London. I have 2 children one going into high school in September and i am really worried that he wont do as well in school as he will be an in year transfer and I wouldnt really get a choice on where he gets a place as most good schools are oversubscribed. Just really anxious about it all. If any of you live in the area please let me know what its like living there with kids.

. 'If you enjoy putting yourself out there repeatedly, for very little back, like being alone all the time, don't enjoy the company of others and enjoy receiving no help from anyone ever,in times of crisis ,then this in the place for you!'

This sounds a lot like NW London!! I've grown up here and it's and totally different place to what it was when I was growing up!
We don't have anyone in Corby. Know people in Kettering, Wellingbro and Northampton. Who all say where they live is amazing!!!
The place we've seen doesn't look like it's in a deproved area at all. And in terms of school I have been told NSB is amazing so hopefully may have some luck with that. Guess if it doesn't work out we can always move back :).

I used to live in one of the picture box villages, and have escaped. You might be better of a little further up the motorway in Leicestershire... Lots of good schools, but like everywhere, some crap.

I don't know the area at all but I would be pretty reluctant to move somewhere that's getting the sort of responses you're having here!

Op, I'm from the west of London and it's always great there! 😉

We personally aren't in a deprived part of Northants,quite the opposite although I am familiar with and know people in the areas you mentioned below. OP, it's your move & your choice. I have given my opinion based on my experience. I can do no more.

@maxthemartian. This is the issue. The response I'm getting here is literally the total opposite to what I've heard from the people I know that live there and one that work's there. So now even more confused. Maybe I shouldn't have posted at all.

@up1978 What is your connection to the people who work and /or love here? Do they live because they
are trapped/cannot afford to live anywhere else? Or is the world at their feet and despite having the freedom
to go anywhere they stay here because there is no where else they would rather be? Do they want you here to make their lives better? OP, a wise man once said don't believe all you hear! Wise man! Perhaps you should rent up here for a while, see what's it's like! Then when you see what's it's like for yourself, terminate your tenancy and go back home. 👍

Kettering or

Corby-
an hour on the train to London.

www.brookewestontrust.org/page/?title=Brooke+Weston+Academy&pid=16

I visit the area quite a bit and would move there in a flash.
£2 for a pint in a pub!

If you do go to Northamptonshire I would go to one of the towns that you have friends at rather than Northampton itself because then you do have support to start off with. I think the important thing is what is the life you want for your family and what you want a town to have. For some people having a branch of M+S is the most important thing ever in the world. Others would rather have a decent branch of Waterstones (and that's just an example of retailers). From a finance point Northamptonshire is going through a very bad time but as a town (Northampton /Corby /Kettering /wherever) are no better or worse than anywhere else. All towns have good and bad points and all have history and something unique to them but it's the every day basics that are important to your family you have to focus on. I personally think Northamptonshire is fine. Not utopia. But fine.

I live in north Northamptonshire and love it. I lived in Corby for years and agree that it is really regenerating. Market Harborough is lovely too. Corby, Kettering and Harborough are all 60-75 minutes from St. Pancras. Despite moving here 30 years ago I don't know Northampton itself very well.

Brooke Weston in Corby is madly oversubscribed but you never know you might strike lucky with an in year transfer. I think it is 50% of pupils come from Corby and 50% of pupils from Kettering. The school runs buses from Kettering too.

Bishop Stopford is also a very good school in Kettering if you are happy with a faith school.

Wellingborough school is an independent school for pre-prep, prep and senior and is easily reached by train from both Market Harborough and Kettering. Trains from Corby also stop in Wellingborough but they are less frequent.

Sorry you said you do have friends in Northampton. Then go for it. I would if I could go. I live in London and essentially are 'trapped' there due to work. I would leave London and never look back if I could. London certainly isn't the amazing fantastic lifestyle that people seem to rave about.

I live in Little Billing. My children go to Northampton Academy.

I hate the town centre and never go there. No need to now as Rushton Lakes has opened.

Weston Favel shopping centre is chav city but I'm not there to socialise, I'm there to shop and go home!

I have made many friends here and don't intend to move

I have a little story. I spent two weeks this summer in Kettering staying at my in laws. It was the heatwave and I would be popping round the corner to the Londis shop about four times a day stocking up on ice lollies, drinks and bits and bobs. At the end of road lived a family who some people may describe as 'a bit of a rough chavvy' family and they would sit out the front of their house all day. Not a family I would likely be friends with but after a week of walking pass 3 or 4 times a day we were soon saying "morning" to each other as I went by. Same with the Londis staff - very friendly lovely people. I would always seem to end up chatting the old ladies on the bus. There is a collectors market and I had loads of conversations with the stall holders. It is not a perfect town. But those two weeks were very relaxed and I always feel very at home there.

Is that around Old Stratford or Stony Stratford then? That was to be my recommendation to the OP..

My STBXPIL lived near Stony Stratford. I nearly fainted when I saw the prices of houses round there. We couldn't have afforded a garden shed let alone a home, It's really expensive. But perhaps not if you're moving from London. It's certainly very chocolate boxey and picturesque.

@oofadoofa

Stony Stratford is Milton Keynes, no?

Now that’s a place that gets a consistently good report on MN dear OP.

I'm considering moving to Northampton, though I've been having doubts if it's the best area for my children.

I currently live in west London and have been wanting to move for years as its been going down hill for a while. However I am stuck as I am a single working mum renting. No landlord will take me on a single part time income etc.

My only option was to go with my parents when they moved but they moved to bloody Northampton! Alot further than they were intending.

My problem is my son is just finishing year 11 and all the good opportunities are here really, there doesn't seem to be am awful lot up there!
If I'm going to move I need to make a decision soon so I can go after he has done his exams and before my daughter starts here GCSE's!

Im in such a tricky situation. Stay here miles from family and paying extortionate rent, but kids don't get disrupted with their schooling or move save money, get a better house for cheaper rent but there's nothing up there!!
Though I do worry about their safety here.

Ooh yes, Stony Stratford is lovely! Think it is an MK postcode but is a relatively short drive from the areas the OP has previously mentioned. Houses are very expensive though!

Been to Northampton a few times as my company has some offices there. It's alright but I wouldn't live there, it seems a bit gloomy.

I live very close to where you have mentioned and it is one of the nicest places in Northampton to live. You're definitley doing ok if you can afford a house near Edgmont Rd, it's a very nice area. Weston Favell has a decent shopping centre and the area is one of the best in town. You're close to Abington Park, which is a gem.

On the negative side, the town centre is poor, but that's the case all over the country in similar size towns.

My kids go to school in the area, Northampton Academy is oversubscribed but if you can get in there it's a fabulous school and on the up. (Not the International Academy - very different place and not well thought of)
Weston Favell Academy is very poor and not getting any better. Moulton is great but very oversubscribed, not worth trying unless you're from one of the villages nearby.
The Boys and Girls schools are also very well thought of (NSB and NSG) but both of them have an entrance test to band by ability and then a lottery to determine who gets in, so many from each band are allowed.

You'll get negative comments about anywhere and if you're coming from London, you will miss some of big shops.

There's always Milton Keynes if you like roundabouts. Good schools, good leisure activities, lots of investment going into it at the moment, house prices aren't too eye-watering in some of the estates.

If I was in London. I would only move to be closer to the coast. Not be trapped so inland. Nah.

IMO Northampton is a total dump, the hospital is very poorly rated too. Some of the villages to the north are very pretty but becoming surrounded by new-build estates. You have to drive absolutely everywhere and they are very boring for the teenagers who aren't on drugs, which is one of the reasons we moved. Setting fire to the kids playground equipment was a favourite pastime in our village. Guilsborough School has a good reputation locally but it's really not great compared to schools in the south east and the village schools have low expectations. To be brutal, most people there lack any kind of ambition and are very pro-Brexit (as there are lots of polish immigrants). Houses might seem cheap but there's a reason for it, don't go OP. How about moving West to Bath/Bristol instead?

There are some cracking houses in the area you are looking at OP.
I think.if you have friends in the area you should take more notice of them than a load of random strangers.
I live in Northamptonshire and I love it.Beautiful countryside, country parks and a slower pace of life.
I feel very let down by the County Council who really have made a dog's breakfast of things and it really is a Tory heartland round here which makes things very onesided but I wouldn't want to go bac k to Hertfordshire where I started out.
I was definitely nervous when we moved but we had one set of friends who had also moved up.here and that really helped.
A move like this is what you make it.

I know you said you already had friends there OP, but thought I would share this anyway. I had a friend who moved to Northampton for a few years for work. She's the most lovely, friendly and outgoing person you could wish to meet and she really struggled to make any friends there. She really made an effort too; she joined various dance groups, got involved in local politics, heritage etc etc as well as doing the school run. She said that most people were local and had grown up in the area, and didn't have the need to make new friends as they already had friends and families. It might be easier to move to a university city with a more transient population as there'll be more people in your position who will also be new to the area?

This is the issue. The response I'm getting here is literally the total opposite to what I've heard from the people I know that live there

I used to live very near to Notthants and the people who lived there thought it was the best place they had ever lived.

It was the only place they had ever lived.

I sold up and was throwing our stuff in the back of the removal van because I couldn’t move quick enough.

There was a thread about Northamptonshire on here a few weeks ago.

Even now 20 years after I moved it sounded worse than when I had lived there and I didn’t think it could get worse.

FYI I did live in one of the pretty stone and thatch cottages in what was considered a nice village.

All the chocolate box thatch in the world couldn’t make me return.