To be unsure about living in Peterborough? I mean, it looks ok, but we don't need to be there

[Eatcabbage]

We are looking to buy a house over quite a wide area, and have a decent budget as we are blending families and combining resources.
We've seen a few on Rightmove that we like the style of in the Ortons of Peterborough, Brimbles I think, Chisenhale and Vetchfield in particular.
It looks nice around the area, lots of greenery and well kept gardens.
But, I've read so much bad stuff about Peterborough. I used to go into Peterborough to meet up with friends, but the centre seems to have died a death and a lot of it looks quite miserable.
Are we being daft considering buying a house in the Ortons area, if we'd then spend most of our time outside the house leaving Peterborough rather than going into it, assuming it is that bad and not improving any time soon?
Should we just cross it off the list and look elsewhere?

It didn't have a great reputation 20 years ago and I'm not sure things have improved to be honest although admit it's been a while since I've been into the centre. Lots of new build estates the Ortons have been established a lot longer though. Pretty sure it had the sad title of Rape Capital of Britain in the nineties/noughties and the City Council was named as one of the poorest in the Country for a time.

What about Bourne? Grantham? Stamford is lovely but very full of people who have made money from selling their London piles and moved in and house prices are higher

I lived there years ago, and surmised the best thing about it was being on a fast train line so could leave easily 😉

It may have changed but I found the endless estates soulless, having to drive into town or the big tesco to do / get anything a massive pita. The locals seemed weirdly insular given how close it was to London, possibly driven by there only being a few big employers at the time so most ppl knew each other. If you need schools, I’d be investigating the options as they were variable

Stamford is wonderful to be near to.How about somewhere in Rutland near Oakham too?

Orton brimbles is a v. nice area, especially around Nene park/ferry meadows area. Traffic can be a nightmare though because if the secondary school just up the road.