More moving to Cambridge

[BoredCommuter]

Sorry, yet another topic on this. It looks like DH might be offered a job in Cambridge (north side of the centre). From I thread below I've gathered the following.

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

We've got a three yr old, so primary schools will be important, any other tips? We quite fancy a village or small town around Cambridge, budget probably around £400k for a 4 bed.

How easy is it to make friends in Cambridge? We don't really know anyone there?

At the moment I work full time, I'll probably end up looking for another full time or almost full time job, how easy is it to find childminders or after school clubs if we need them?

Thanks
BC

Don - care to elaborate what you mean by that?

Do you know how lovely BH is to live in? To be able to walk a totally traffic-free route to school / docs / library / post office / shops from anywhere in the village? To have superb sports facilities at the heart of the village? To have ample employment opportunities on the doorstep, yet away from the houses? To have strong village social life, if you chose to join in?

Those who do not know BH see only the Tesco... those who live there know far more.

Ely commute to science park is possible but will take a while -depending on time of day and driving would be best -I think somepeople park at the park and ride at milton and then get the bus to sceince park - you could in theory get train to waterbeach and cycle from there

• if you do live in Ely - get a nursey place there - I know there are good ones - otherwise your DD will be doing a lot of commuting

of the villages you mention I know Swaffham Prior well (as I live here).
Very small village, no shop - Have to drive to Burwell (co-op, stop&shop, budgens) or Swaffham Bulbeck (small corner shop) which are both a couple of minutes drive.
Primary school is lovely, and I am impressed with the new head that started in Sep. Small school with intake from Swaffham Prior, Reach and some from Burwell. About 120 kids at present, with mixed classes which are currently Rec&yr1, y2 & y3(part), y3(part) & y4, y5&y6 but this changes depending on the specific year sizes (the current yr 4 is a big group which has led to changes in the traditional structure as they travel through the school).
Active church community, which I expect all villages have.
Village pub which does food.
Nice village hall with a toddler group, slimming club, village gardeners, WI and various other groups.

And that's about it!

Ballet - friend's in Burwell have girls at various ballet groups, one in Cambridge and one in Wicken. Were at Burwell one but neither rated it.

Swimming - Bottisham pool do lessons, as do Newmarket. Both seem fine. The you can go into Cambridge, Seals are very good but more expensive. The swimming teacher who comes into school to do the lessons there does 1-2-1 at Impington.

I use KU on the Science Park and have done for 5 years. Generally I'm very positive about it and it has improved greatly under the new manager (appointed c.18 months ago?) Do PM me if you'd like further details.

If you're still looking PM me if you want more info on Milton. Awesome childminders (way more flexible than I thought possible), country park and only 10min cycle to the science park. There's usually plenty of rents - try russells, tucker gardner or haart.

Bar hill was created from scratch in the 1970s and has a giant tesco store as its epicentre

Picturesque/ characterful it is not - just to put a different pov.

Thanks for all the help. The big news we had today is that DH got the job and the move is on, not quite sure when but we need to start planning. Barbara" i will PM you soon about Kidsunlimited, the first thing I need find out is if they have space. Lab* will also PM you about Milton, I do fancy it, I'll look at those estate agents direct.

I've been doing lots of online research about primary schools. It looks good, the schools are not as over subscribed as where we are now and are generally smaller. My local primary here has 3 form entry. I think the short list is:
Girton
Histon
Impington
Hardwick
Comberton
Milton
Waterbeach
Cottenham
Bottisham

Dh wants to be within a 20 min drive of work. We need to be settled before the primary school application deadline

Girton is fab! Only 20 min cycle to town and no crossing A14 junctions. About 25 min to station tho. Very village atmosphere although practically a suburb. Good coop, couple of pubs, post office. 8 min to the tesco at bar hill. Nursery opposite the school (scallywags) plus about 3 childminders that do school drop/pick up too.

Tucker Gardner seems to be the estate agent of choice.

Have you considered Cambourne? We're just taking the plunge and moving out of the city to there having not found anything we liked/could afford in the north villages that we were originally looking at (seemed to be a shortage of four bed houses when we were looking)

Godmanchester is lovely.
Easy commute to London, not too bad to Cambridge, easy back routes to avoid A14. Community School good.

I lived in St Ives from the ages of 8 to 18, then moved back for 5 years between 20 and 25.

Although the town centre makes it look small and quaint, the north half of the town is basically a massive housing estate. The St Ivo School gets good ofsted's, but for a shy child it was far too big for me. Westfield Primary was good though.

In the day time the town centre is nice, and there is a good recreation centre and corn exchange. No cinema though, you have to go to Huntingdon, Peterborough or Cambridge for that. When I lived there they closed the youth centre down, so far too many kids on the streets. Sat nights in town were pretty unpleasant some nights.

Some people I know who live there still like it. I would never go back. And I life off Mill Road, so I'm not that fussy!

It looks like 2 nurseries I contacted both have spaces, I think it helps that we want to start just after all the 4 year olds start school.

I've found 4 properties I like the look of and are in budget, in Girton, Milton, Hardwick and Bottisham. We'll have to come up very soon and have a look. I think we have the priorities clear, I've been looking at primary schools, DH has been looking at broadband speeds!

I'm getting worried about getting a job, I've just realised Peterborough is a lot further away than I thought it was

I don't need to work in Peterborough, there's just more work there in my field.

Just looked at Girton again and it looks like you have to go right into Cambridge to get out again to the Science Park, and round the houses a bit to get onto the M11 going South, is this right?

Nope
easy access to M11 via huntingdon rd
can go to science park via a14 if you wish

M11 south from Girton does involve going across to madingley road jxn, either via storey's way or lady margaret road if you are a wimp who does not like width restrictors like me. You can also get south via oakington but not directly at Girton jxn.

Science park is easiest via histon and A14, or can go via huntingdon rd and histon road (if cycling, or again don't mind width restrictors, there are short cuts via oxford rd).

Well, it's all getting closer. Hoping to line up house viewings this one, one in Milton, there is also one in Histon or one in Girton. Also need to line up nursery viewings. The criteria for the property is growing:

• 4 beds
• garage
• good primary school
• good broadband speed
• Ocado delivery area
• reasonable access to M11

RIght, things are being narrowed down, I think we will be in Milton. LabMonkey I'll be in touch :)

Does anyone know anything about The Wendy House nursery in Impington? I'm having doubts about Kids Unlimited and this looks like it might be more us

My friend has her DD in this nursery which is nearer than Wendy house - and likes it

www.ofsted.gov.uk/inspection-reports/find-inspection-report/provider/CARE/EY261361

There is a good toddler group on a monday and friday in Milton if you are not working those days

I'm also in the vicinity, am happy to answer questions.

Sorry, me again.

DH has decided he doesn't like the type of houses we could get in Milton/ Histon/ Impington. I've been looking again and we could get something amazing for our money in Haddenham/ Willingham/ Earith area. How awful is it commuting into North or Central Cambridge from here? DH is going to go up one day to see the morning such hour traffic. Where we live now its dreadful, it's 5 miles from my house to the motorway, in rush house that easily takes at least half an hour, is it that bad?

Thanks, and thanks for bearing with me

Central Cambridge approx 1 hour plus in rush hour imo, expect longer on Friday nights. When houses near Cambridge are cheaper there is generally good reason for it. For a test drive bear in mind that the private schools are already on holiday so the traffic is correspondingly much better now than in term time. traffic also worse on rainy days.

Histon/Impington is civilised/more urban, Haddenham/Willingham/Earith is fenland, only a certain type of person would like to live there imo. I wouldn't want to commute to Peterborough from any of these places.

My recommendation would be go city centre close to the station and opt for a smaller house.

Thanks for that. Don't think we will be near the station, DH will be based in the Science Park, so don't need city centre, but may keep focussed on Histon etc

Histon great choice imo