Thinking of moving back from Florida to UK ((Newark perhaps)??

[Floridagirl4]

Hi there, my husband and I and our 5 year old daughter are planning to move back to the UK. Hubbie will be working in London but we want to live in one of the commuter towns in the midlands.
Looking at Newark and Grantham, but now shortlisted to Newark.
Love West Bridgford but too expensive for us.
Is Newark a safe place to live? Is there much to do with kids? Safe clean playgrounds, parks efc? I love the cafe culture of some of the towns nowadays, does Newark offer this?
Thank you in advance for any advice!

This may be better over on the Local boards of the areas you a looking at as people living in Newark most likely won't be looking at a board for Living Overseas.

Worth looking on Facebook for local community pages perhaps

I grew up in the general area of Newark. It was a dive. Southwell is very nice though.

Iirc Newark station isn't very central to the town. Has a nice castle and canal area but not sure I'd do the commute regularly. Any particular reason to choose it?

Thought of Newark only because of more housing for our money, "nice" market town and direct commute to London.
I could be wrong though!
Hubby wants to be not too far from the train station as he feels the commute to London would be long enough :)

Wouldn't live there if you paid me.

Fernwood near Newark is a nice estate. Southwell is likely to be as expensive as West Bridgford. Bingham is nice, good schools - you could get train or drive to Grantham from Bingham to go down to London. Cotgrave is "up and coming".

Presumably you've looked into cost of commuting/parking vs cost of housing nearer London. Whereabouts in London would he be working as that may add to the commute.

Christ no. Grantham is a shit hole. Went to a wedding there once. Free parking on a Saturday. Says it all

Cot grave sounds interesting! What's it like in terms of raising kids, shops proximity to railways etc?
I'm shocked at people saying how bad Newark is lol :)

Fernwood has come up on my rightmove searches, does look nice

Cotgrave is no better Imho! Close to A46/A52 but nearest station a good 10-15 mins drive, not sure about parking, then local line to Grantham or Nottingham, at least another 20 mins. You really need to be looking along the Eastern mainline.

Thanks, that's what I was thinking. So I guess villages around Newark would be better?

Check out Stamford / Rutland and surrounding villages - beautiful market town and comfortably commutable. Pricier than Newark / Grantham but not so expensive as home counties. Regularly tops "best places to live in the UK" type lists. Also worth looking at Bourne which has a v well regarded grammar school (thinking ahead), although no train station - would mean a drive to Peterborough.