moving

[sellup]

Hi all,
Moving to Suffolk, my job is in Bury St. Edmund's. I am looking for a small village/town within a fifteen mile radius. If anyone can recommend places but more so places that may need to be avoided! We will be renting for the first while. I have noticed it is very hard to get a 3 bed for under 700pm, :-\ and really 600/650 is our budget. Brandon and thetford seems reasonable price wise but is there a reason for this? Thanks in advance for any help.

Hello Sellup

I live in Bury St Edmunds and it is a great place to live with loads of lively and pretty villages clustered around it. Many villages have little primary schools so if you have young children, they'll be very happy in one of those.

Bury St Eds is very expensive and you will struggle to find what you want for the budget you have. Thetford and Brandon are cheaper because they are a little run down and some of the schools have had issues BUT there are some lovely areas in both towns and you have so much choice for shopping in our many market towns. Old Thetford, near the river is gorgeous. Yes, there are big local authority estates but you'll find those in every town and they don't necessarily mean anything bad. You can also get a lot of house for your buck if you rent an ex local authority. the post war properties tend to be spacious with decent gardens.

You could look at Botesdale, Ixworth, villages such as Barnham, Ingham and Stanton, the Bury to Stowmarket corridor- Haughley and Elmswell or Thurston and the Sudbury to Bury corridor- Sudbury is 17 miles from Bury along a main road and house prices and rentals are cheaper there. Sudbury is a lovely town.

Also consider the villages between Bury and Lakenheath and Mildenhall- USAF have bases there but they keep the local economy up, add local interest and there is a lot of rental property about. You'll need to be quick to strike if you find a good one though and avoid the actual towns themselves as the rental allowance given to USAF folks means rents can get inflated above market values.

Clare is a little town and you might find a rental there; it is about 17 miles away from Bury- I used to travel between the two each day and it took no more than 25-30 mins. Haverhill is within 15 miles of Bury and is growing very fast.

I can also recommend joining this Facebook group to meet even more BSE mums.

Brandon to Bury is an awful journey and Thetford to Bury isn't much better. The more remote villages have cheaper rents so if you drive go a bit further out. Don't forget that village roads can be much slower to travel and traffic getting into Bury is awful in the mornings so 15 miles out could take well over 30/40 minutes depending on where you will be working

I agree that the commute from some areas can be a pain. Bury is getting very clogged now; we spent fifteen minutes stuck on Parkway down to the Southgate double roundabouts today. Any journey that can avoid main roads helps.

Thetford to Bury does get clogged up and the road is quite narrow along the A roads and busy along the dual carriageway. What are the back roads like POTC?

The route from Bury to Sudbury gets a tad congested along Sicklesmere Road as you hit the town limits but you can turn off at Hawstead/Nowton Park, use the back roads and come out at the roundabout that takes you up past the hospital- but this still gets busy because of the schools nearby and hospital bound traffic.

Fact is you won't be able to avoid the jams unless your working hours are non traditional and avoid the school run. Bury does have lovely schools though. We are lucky in that although we will be affected by the transition from three tier to two tier.

Small villages like Risby, Barrow, Gt Barton, Saxham, Lidgate, Sturmer, Hartest, Newton Le Willows, Gedding can be quite pricey BUT you can also find some gems if you are prepared to travel a bit. I would also suggest Felsham, Gt Welnetham, Cockfield, Little Welnetham, Brockley Green, Hawkedon (on the edge of your mileage), Stanton and Rougham.

Villages along the Bury to Diss road like Ixworth & Stanton are good as that road doesn't seem to have as many accidents causing delays and they are due a bypass at some point in the future. It also doesn't flood quite as badly! There are lots of tiny villages between that road and Thetford that might be more reasonably priced.
I often get stranded by flooding in Beyton, doesn't come near the house but does cut off every route out of the village!

Have you looked at Stowmarket? Much like Thetford (well, anywhere really!) it has good and bad areas but is generally good and the A14 makes it much easier to get into Bury, plus it has good bus and train links too. I drop off at school in Stow and get to work in Bury (although not town centre) within 15 minutes.
Downside is schools being in the process of changing to 2 tier but worth investigating

Foulden is a lovely village if it's not too far out for you
www.homes24.co.uk/to-rent/details/32504733
And Needham Market is really lovely although you'd have to be okay with trains!
www.homes24.co.uk/to-rent/details/33333787

Cockfield has a very small primary school but a great community.
www.homes24.co.uk/to-rent/details/33406522

Am shocked at how much rent has gone up since I lived in town!

Yes Stowmarket is a possibility and yes rents are horrific in Bury St Eds!

Hi all,
Thanks for your replies, has been a bit hectic here and haven't had chance to get on.
You have all definitely given me food for thought, thank you!
I have been looking at houses on right move but is there more rural ones advertised in shops etc?

Your best bet is to look at the website of local agents and also the house pages of papers like The Bury Free Press and the East Anglian Daily times (although the latter is more Ipswich orientated). The Suffolk Free Press has decent housing pages too.

All have lettings alongside house sales.

Hi OP, did you find anything and have you moved here yet? I just moved to a village a few miles from Stowmarket a month ago with my husband and 3 kids. Love Bury for shopping, loads of stores in a small area and so pretty. Well, a lot of places in Suffolk are really pretty:-)

Sorry but a bloke here. Don't know how current/relevant this comment will be . Just dipping my toe into my first post. Not sure how popular we (blokes) are on here though. I agree that driving in to Bury in the morning rush can be a real pain and times can be very un-predictable especially if using the A14. I would suggest avoiding this and looking at villages that give you a varied route into town. We live in Badwell Ash about 15 minutes out (depending on how you drive) but, if you are imaginative, we have many routes that can be used to get in to town which may not be any quicker than the alternatives but at least break up the tedium of driving the same route every day. But they can involve the use of some creative local knowledge which will be gained over time. But one word of caution. We have been here for 11 years and until last year we always had at least 4 days of snow which made the roads difficult - the back roads which provide said alternatives are generally the last to be cleared. So if you really have to be in work I would suggest you look at Elmswell. Yes it is right next to the A14 but might give competitive rents as there has been loads of development there in the last decade.

Just reading this thread, and am looking at Bury as an option. Is Badwell Ash a nice place to live?