Speak to me about Great Chishill...

[hatinghousehunting]

So despite initially saying that he really wanted a village with some shops and a train station, my husband has fallen deeply in love with... Great Chishill. I have to admit, I really like the feel and look of the place, but have some practicality concerns. Can anyone tell me about village life down at the southern end of Cambridgeshire? My particular burning questions are:

1. What's the traffic like in rush hour heading up to Cambridge?
2. Any activities etc. for toddlers?
3. Catchment area school is Fowlmere Primary, which seems quite far away. Can you choose to send your kids to one of the closer schools across the Hertfordshire border instead?
4. How are buses into Royston/SW/Cam? I have visions of my daughter cursing us in 10 years time for being stuck in a little village when all her friends are elsewhere...

Great Chishill is VERY small. And no real facilities although IIRC it used to have a very nice pub. I knew someone there many years ago who sent her DC to Chrishall school (in Essex, about 4 miles away from Gt Chishill but you don't have to cross the A505 to get there...). The DCs then went on to Newport Grammar near Saffron Walden. Don't know about Hertfordshire schools. You would only get a place at Chrishall or Newport schools if they aren't full for your DCs year as not only are you out of catchment, you're also I a different authority (Gt Chishill is in Cambs, Chrishall is in Essex).
It's pretty, but I imagine teenagers would be quite bored. Don;t know what the commuting is like as I live elsewhere in Cambridge - but if you're heading to the South side (eg Addenbrookes area) then the new Addenbrookes Road has made a huge difference to the traffic there. It would be very easy to get to Royston for commuting to London.

After much deliberation, we decided against the Great Chishill house, and instead went for one in Meldreth. Sounds like our future teenager will thank us for that decision!

The HUGE advantage of Meldreth is that it has a station. 10 minutes into Cambridge. Your teenagers will definitely thank you for that!