Possible move to Cambridgeshire

[vat2012]

Hi all,

I am new to this forum so hope I am putting this thread in the right place?

I could do with some advice please. My hubby currently works in London but there is a strong likelihood that he will move to head up a team in the office in Cambridge. If this happens then we will have to move that way because currently we live on the South coast so daily commute wouldn't be possible.

Hubby's office is near Milton, in Cambridgeshire and we have seen some nice properties in March area. Is this a good area? If it's not then can anyone recommend any nice areas please? Our budget for purchasing a house would be £200k max but we would also consider renting until we get to know the area & are better settled.

We have a 19 month old daughter so want to be near good pre-schools and infants for when she starts next year. We also would like to be near parks to take her places. We are not too concerned about having a great social life, that's not a priority now, just concerned about giving our daugther a good life.

I would like to add that I am white British but my husband is Indian. You probably wonder why I added this comment but I just didn't want to move to an area where he/we may be subject to an excessive amount of prejudice so somewhere were there is likelihood of a mixture of cultures/colours would be wonderful.

Look forward to receiving your responses and getting to know you all better.

Thanks

I live near Portsmouth.

Over? My eldedst dd and her bf just bought a three bed there for £220,000.

Milton itself or is that too expensive?

There are places like Stow Cum Quai and Waterbeach near Milton, although you still might struggle for something at £200,000

There is a place called Red Lodge that is slightly more in budget and not heard anything bad about that area. Lots of Americans live there.

Cottenham is lovely and you won't get racial prejudice there. Here's a house in your budget in Cottenham.

He use to travel 6 hours a day to and from work but now he stays up in London during the week which isn't ideal when we have a little girl. That's why a relocation to the Cambridge office seems sensible. We could stretch to more on the budget but ideally don't really want to have to get a bigger mortgage as I don't really want to have to go back to work immediately, at least until our little girl is at pre-school. I will be leaving all my family behind if we move so am anxious about it and so want to be in a good family area, where hopefully I can make new friends (with toddler groups etc).

Histon and Impington are nice. I lived there for a while. Nicer than Milton but only a bike ride/5 min drive from Milton. Good school at Impington. Few nice pubs and shops.

I have heard that Ely is lovely. We don't mind the type of house, old or new. It has to have good schools though and be a family orientated area.

I should add that hubby is happy to do up to 1 hour 30 mins commute so that could broaden our search area.

In general many places nearish cambridge have very good schools and have people from a very wide range of countries - and also family friendly and used to new people arriving - so friendly
Impington would be out of your budget in my view -
I like milton -and there is a quite a lot of rental normally - not a lot on the market to buy at the moment - good school and secondary opitions good too
Ely - primary ok less sure about secondary - A10 is a pain but doable
Bury would well worth a look at - and not too bad a commute - I go the other way Not nearly as diverse as places near Cambridge though and I think that would apply to March as well - also commute would be a pain from march
Haverhill would be a real pain to commute and not very nice to live in my view - I would rule it out
Have you looked at Cambourne there is a lot for your budget -good schools too -
this is in waterbeach -also think is a nice place to live
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-35990057.html

I'm in Ely - I love it here (and commute to London daily). We have v good primary schools. For secondary you are looking at Ely, Witchford or Soham colleges (Withcford and Sohman currently being either good or outstanding - I forget), or otherwise going in to Cambridge (loads do it). Alternatively there's a great private school if you want it.

You can get a nice house plus garden here on that budget. The city is growing quite fast at the moment and there are plenty of options to choose from.

On the diversity point - Ely is becominghas become more diverse over the 5 or so years I've lived here and we don't seem to have any particular problems (the only news reports re: race issues that I recall date back about three years now and revolved around a white south african lady with an unfortunate drink problem who would scream at 'the fucking british' -while inebriated - they banned her from all licensed premises and she has now apparently moved away). I've noticed more people who are asian in origin and also possibly afro-caribbean, and there are a surprising number of languages spoken in the marketplace on a saturday.

Thank you everyone for your replies. I will look into the areas you have mentioned and school ofsted reports. Will let you know how I get on.

We did look as far over as Norwich but think maybe Bury St Edmunds is the furthest East we would go. What about Thetford, does anyone know that area? Seems to be an area with lots of parkland?

I've only driven through Thetford - v beautiful. It was heavily wooded, which is lovely (there's a lack of trees on the Fens).

Thetford? A no in my opinion. Thetford and Haverhill both expanded massively in the 1960s when the East End moved loads of people out of London. Whereas Haverhill has benefitted from being close enough to Cambridge and so has improved in recent years Thetford is still quite run down and depressing.

Bury St Edmunds gets my vote as an alternative to Cambridge. There's a new shopping centre and improvements over the past few years.

Cottenham, Histon and Ely are worth considering but I'd personally give Cambourne a miss as its pretty soul-less. In Cambridge itself you may struggle on that budget. Perhaps rent somewhere like Chesterton for 6 months whilst you get to know the area?

Thanks again everyone. I have the following:

Avoid: Haverhill, March, Chatteris
Good/Ok areas: Ely, Bury, Cottenham. Soham, Newmarket, Burwell, Thrapston, Oundle, Linton, Milton, Histon, Waterbeach, Bury St.Edmunds.

Can anyone add anything?

I have a friend in Cambourne who loves it - school good - and a reasonable amount going on - it is all new build -I wouldn't rule it out - you would probably want to run 2 cars whereas some of the places you might be able to get away with one
you also might want to factor in commute costs versus more expensive housing and also get an idea from collegues in your DHs new office how long the commutes wouled be
Renting may be a good idea

You might want to have a look at St Ives and Godmanchester as well.

Some lovely villages around Helluvahole Haverhill. You can get to Cambridge along the back roads and avoid the traffic.

Thanks again everyone. That gives me quite a large area to do more research on. Will let you know what we decide. Thanks for all your help. Xxx

Cambourne is nice and has good schools, good ofsteds and very family orientated. Lots of toddler groups about.

Lots of smaller villages surrounding too that have good schools, depending on what kind of place you would prefer to live. Bourn, Elsworth, Comberton, Coton, Madingley, Papworth Everard etc spring to mind. Good luck with your house hunting.

Ely is very nice too (just visited there today!).

A very good friend of mine is, touch wood, soon to move to Impington with her partner and toddler after having been looking for somewhere there or in Histon for a while (they had quite specific requirements) -- apparently there is lots of stuff for kids going on there. And if you can get somewhere in Histon on your budget you're only a half-hour bus ride from the centre of Cambridge, which just has loads going on for everyone and might suit you if you want to start socialising again when your daughter's a bit older.