North Cambs - good areas?

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Hi -I'm new to MN and am relocating to Cambs due to a new job in Cambridge. trying to get a feel for good areas within a 10 mile radius of Cambridge itself (have looked at other threads re the usual suspects of Milton, Histon, Impington, Ely) but wondered if anyone had any views on Willingham, Cottenham, Over, Fen Drayton?
Looking for nice community with good state school catchments. Not a massive budget (up to about £400k) but looking for 3-4 bed family home....any thoughts gratefully received....thanks!

Ps: I have 2 DS (3 and 17 months)

I have a look at houses in Cottenham and it seemed nice. I guess they are all a bit further out - depends where your job is and how you plan to get there whether that is a big problem - re schools as far as I could see all the schools looked fine - and all the villages also had a good community feel - your budget would certainly be fine in my view

Soham or Haddenham would be worth a look. Witchford has an excellent primary as well. Witchford secondary recently got an outstanding Ofsted, but from what I know of it, it has some serious faults and so my DD isn't going there in September. I'm in Sutton, and although the last ofsted wasn't good, I still think its a good school, with a good head. £400K would get you a decent 4 bed in any of these villages (in fact, £250K would!)

thanks for this MovingandScared and MaryBS - the job is a couple of mins walk from the station so ideally i'd like to get a train but would consider bus. ideally don't want to leave stay-at-home dad hubby stranded somewhere without a car! we did wonder about Haddenham and Witchford but were put off by the stories re Mereham and proposed new town being built nearby - do you know what the latest on that is?
we're planning to visit the area over the weekend so will add them to the list of places to visit!!

location location - you will NOT want to drive in if you can possibly avoid it - traffic is horrid -and parking could be tricky too - my DH just started work just beyound the station and he cycles - loves it - if you are thinking train -waterbeach could be an opition -we looked at it - and maybe this summer the much delayed guided bus will open so you could look for places on that route

where did you end up moving to (and where did you move from), if you don't mind me asking? agree re train or guided busway - thats why I was wondering about Fen Drayton and villages along that route. decisions, decisions!

IIWU I'd think longterm and make sure close to a good secondary, not just a nice village primary (of which there are many).

Also if you're new to Cambs, you might not know just how horrifyingly flat it is up round Over way. Area visit definitely recommended, if you're used to somewhere with 3D geography.

Milton - but we are renting and we found a nice house to rent there - and had a school issue ie needed to find one with a place- it feeds to impington village college though which is ok -
moved from northeast

and there is a long thread on chat at the moment about places west and south of cambridge in case you havn't seen it

The last I heard on Mereham was ages ago, that the application had been turned down, and I presumed that was pretty much an end to it. Certainly the protest petitions that I used to see every week in Ely haven't been there for quite some time. Google doesn't reveal much either.

If you are working near the train station, I would definitely go for Ely, rather than the villages, as its about 15 mins into Cambridge by train, and the houses are very affordable.

thanks again everyone. I'm trying to get a viewing lined up on a house in Milton for the weekend but will be heading over Ely way too. Park & Ride at Milton seems like it could be a good option..not so sure about cycling to work!

we live in bottisham and my neighbour cycles to an office within a minutes walk from the station. there are cycle paths all the way.
it is only 5 miles from cambridge, good primary and secondary. choice between camb or newmarket for shoppiung.
Come here it is great!!

as someone said on another thread the downside of Ely - at least in Ely itsefl is that the schools are not as good - just to put something in the mix what about looking at Cambridge its self -

Can I just add that Cheffins is a crap estate agent, we had no end of problems with them when we wanted to view houses and we were living out of area - like turning up for viewings and they'd claim to have cancelled them but "hadn't been able to get hold of us". If you get a choice of agent to view with, avoid them like the plague!

The A10 is crap in the mornings. DH hates it and plans his work times around it, even getting to the park and ride site can be a pain, use the train if you can.

Lots of people in Ely with secondary aged kids bus them into Soham Village College, but City of Ely is improving as it's had a new head in the last few years.

well, we had a good look round over the weekend and have narrowed it down to Ely (possibly although shame it hasn't got a few more 'decent' shops), Histon/ Impington, Girton, Fulbourn and the Shelfords...we'll see how we get on.
all comments/ thoughts have been v.v. gratefully received!

shelford is lovely but expensive... but you can easily cycle to cambridge

Fulbourn is lovely, we found houses there that we loved but couldn't afford and houses we could afford that we didn't love.

Happy shopping!

not sure how realistic we're being re the location/ budget ratio but time will tell ;-) also like Linton although not sure how commute to Hills Rd near station would work without driving (at least to Park & Ride). does anyone have personal experience of the bus service?
also, if we were to consider Cambridge city, where would you recommend? if there's already a thread on this, I'll happily be directed to it. seen a couple of houses off Huntingdon Rd but not sure whether this is ok.

fab. thanks rubyrubyruby. this really helps! will formally add Linton to the list....

One within your budget in Whittlesford here which has a (frequent, quick) train service to Cambridge -- not sure which is the local primary though

Linton has a really good bus service to Cambridge and Haverhill, there's also plenty to do for kids in the village. DD used to study at Hills Road, during her free peroids she'd hop on the bus and come help out at the school I work in in Linton.

The guided busway from the south will go straight to the station from Trumpington when it opens (eventually). Unlike the north bit which will go through the city.

Swavesey is great! Two 'outstanding' Ofsted rated schools, cheap house prices, a good handful of shops and on the guided busway. Also right by a nature reserve, so you can fool yourself you're in the proper countryside. Swavesey swavesey ra ra ra! [waves pom poms & jumps up & down]