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.

The private schools you want are spratton prep, Northampton high school (girls only), Wellingborough school. Rugby or oundle if you’re lookomg at public schools. They’re all excellent.

The state schools are dire. I wouldn’t send my kids to any of them. Northampton school for boys is an exception but it’s almost impossible to get a place.

Location wise, the general rule is villages are best. Abington has nice big houses but I’d personally be a bit concerned about the area. Overstone, pitsford, chapel Brampton are lovely. Collingtree park also lovely, blisworth, Stoke bruerne further south.

The county has lovely pockets so don’t be put off. I grew up there and had a wonderful childhood

The music service with kids orchestras etc is world class, there is an excellent swimming club and you are an hour from
Oxford, Cambridge, Leicester, 30 mins from MK and an hour from London - a dream for teens!

Catherine I left my home town of Oxfordshire because I met my husband who has a job in London. It is a job that could technically exist anywhere - and we looked at moving out of London fairly soon after getting together but for a 101 reasons it didn't work out. I certainly didn't come to London for 'job prospects'. If my husband's job was in Glasgow/Swindon /Penzance/whatever I would of ended up there. He also didn't come to London specificly for a job. He left Northamptonshire in 1983 to go to university (in the North of England) and has had jobs in various places all over the country. London just became another place he ended up. He didn't end up in London because it's London. Unfortunately moving out of London isn't possible and I am accepting that as much as I can. I would love to be able to move 'home' but that is more for family/friend reasons which is what I believe the OP wants. Northamptonshire isn't perfect but it isn't terrible either. It really isn't.

I can assure you Catherine that they are very happy living next door, they have begged us not to move, not that we are planning to at all, I've even offered to collect their son up from school if she returns to work as he's at the same school as mine, but you carry on thinking we are all rude, unfriendly and unwelcoming.

@bookmum08 so by 'home' you mean Oxfordshire. Not really qualified to comment on Northamptonshire then are you, given that it does not look like you have lived here. Just for clarity can you pls confirm for us just how many years you have actually spent living in this county then? That will help us to understand how relevant your input into this thread actually is. Thanks .

Also Catherine I don't drive because we don't have a car because we can't afford one. We can't afford to re located because a rented property in Northamptonshire that we could afford plus a deposit and moving costs would cost about £3000 that we DON'T HAVE. Not everyone in London has money. My husband's job is low paid (social services) and I don't work because of my daughter having asd. At the day before pay day we usually have barely anything in the bank. Infact my job prospects would be better in my home town because I am not qualified in fancy media or architecture or finance which is pretty much what London is full of.

@Mrsoh39 they may have begged YOU not to move but YOU do not represent the whole county do you not. Get over yourselves. I'll base my opinions ,on what I have seen, witnessed and experienced . Do not presume to tell me how to think or feel.

@bookmum08 can you just answer the question please. How long did you live in Northants ?

Wow, how rude you are, I can see why you haven't got on that well here.

Catherine I am from very close to the Oxfordshire/Northamptonshire border where the crossover is often barely there. My cousin lives in a Northamptonshire village but their postcode is an Oxfordshire one. My family has lived in the Oxon/Northants/Warwickshire area forever (well the family tree goes back only as far as 1860 something). Well except my Granny who came from Wales circa 1930.

And you are insulting all of us from your own experience, I'm just saying we are NOT all like that, I don't think I'm the one who needs to get over myself.

I have worked in Rugby, Corby and Northampton. Rugby is lovely with good school's both private and state. Towcester and Olney are also great.

Oh and the answer is I lived there my whole life until 12 years ago (except for 2 years in Warwickshire - although only 20 miles up the road and a small time in Essex but I was a baby so I don't remember that).

@Mrsoh39 Bore off!

@bookmum08 so quite vague then. Why do you refer to Oxfordshire as your home town then as in your prev post? Surely Northamptonshire is your home town?

Catherine my home town is Oxfordshire but essentially on the border. My mum grew up in an Oxfordshire village but essentially on the Warwickshire border. My mum has relatives in the village whose children go to Warwickshire schools because they are nearer. My Northamptonshire cousin has a child who goes to college in Oxfordshire. Another cousin lives in Oxfordshire but both him and his wife work in Northamptonshire and their children go to Northamptonshire schools. His ex wife lives Warwickshire so his eldest child went to school in Warwickshire but now at college in Oxfordshire. Other than who you pay your council tax too the three counties all blend together. (and all these family members are all within about a 15 mile radius of each other).

It would be a bit like me saying how I hate London and the people who live there, based on just a few people, yet I wouldn't, because I know that not all of them are like that, and besides my Nan was from Battersea.

@bookmum08 I honestly don't mean to be rude but you say your family are from this and that border etc. My great aunt was the tea trolley hostess at 10 Downing Street
and served Winston Churchill his brew, don't make me Prime Minister though does it! I think anyone posting on this thread should have real world current experience of actually living here now, before offering advice to an OP who is about to uproot her DC's and make a significant change in her families life.

@Mrsoh39 Yawn

Bloody hell, someone here has a grudge against Northants! Who shat on your cornflakes, Catherine? I simply cannot understand why somebody as friendly and non-judgmental as you struggled to find people you liked in an entire county. Baffling. 🤷‍♀️

FWIW, I'm from Kettering and if I was moving back to the county I'd move to one of the villages as some are bloody lovely. I can't say that I've found people any less friendly than anywhere else I've lived (and I've lived all over the UK as well as in Sydney), but then I'm relatively personable and get on well with people!

@NoWordForFluffy not just me luv. There a quite a few of us up here from within the uk and the commonwealth with the same experience. Maybe we are doing something wrong. We are all the diff and the one common dominator is this county. Your right, it's defo us!

@NoWordForFluffy sorry, say that again ? "If you were moving back"? You mean
You don't live here anymore?

And there are many who don't have the same experience too. You have anecdotal evidence. That doesn't make it fact!

Catherine I spend as much time as I can 'back' in Oxfordshire or over the border in Northamptonshire where husband's family is (he is the only one who left). I follow news of what is happening in both counties. I am interested in life there and what is happening there (both cultural and political). I may not live there but I have more links and history there than I do in London.
Anyway I am ending this now.
OP if you decide to go and you have support of family and friends then you will be fine.

It sounds as if you haven't visited the area you are proposing to live in? You need to visit ASAP.

Northampton (like most cities) has its challenging areas, although some would argue it has more than its fair share. You should also do some research on crime rates as Northampton is not the safest of areas.

Do you research, VISIT, make an informed choice.

Do you have a problem with your reading comprehension? If you want to read it again, scroll back to the post you're seemingly confused about.

My family is all in Northants / Leics still. I'm well aware what it's like even now! Or at least, I have as much anecdotal evidence to hand as you can muster!