Where to live in Cambridge

[Squidge458]

Hello lovely mumsnetters! This is my first post on mumsnet.
My husband has recently been offered a University job in Cambridge, working in the centre of town and we are now needing to decide fairly swiftly, where to live as we will need to apply for school places for our older son (3yrs) this nov-jan! I am wondering if you lovely mums of Cambridge can help us.

Important factors for us are:
A good sense of community and plenty of other families with young children.
Good opportunities for play locally - play park/toddler groups.
Able to get a 3-bed for around £300, possibly a bit more.
Local amenities - such as a help-I've-run-out-of-milk shop and post office.
As close to town as possible - ideally bus as well as walkable (up to 2 miles).
Decent school/nursery for the boys who are 3rs and 7wks respectively.

I know this is a big ask for any area but we were tossing up the merits of cherry hinton vs chesterton and wondered if no gone had experience/advice they could share with us. To me cherry hinton seems pretty pricey for what you get but has good schools. Chesterton seems visually and situationally nicer but has a worse reputation and not as good schools as cherry hinton.

I would also welcome any opinions on arbury and abbey (haven't heard good things but one to being convinced otherwise).

So, if anyone's lovely enough to give some advice to a desperate and sleep-deprived mother of one grumpy baby and one energetic toddler, who is entirely daunted about the prospect of moving her entire life 200 miles away from family and support network who are currently on the doorstep, I would be eternally grateful!

Thank you!

Hi

Welcome to the cambridge page!

When you say £300, do you mean £300k or £300 (per week?). For £300k you could get a 3 bed in Chesterton, arbury or kings hedges, but most likely an ex housing association house (not that there's anything wrong with that!) or one that needs work.

You are right when you say that cherry Hinton is more expensive for what you get, and that is possibly due to its proximity to addenbrookes, the train station and it's village feel. Schools are generally good here, but there are quite a few so you would need to check what your catchment is.

Chesterton area is lovely though (I live near here, so slightly biased). It is close to town, lovely walks along the river, traffic not as bad as the south side, new train station opening in 2016 with direct links to London and airport, and a lovely cycle along the river to town. Houses prices are going up in this area. The schools are also good. A brand new academy primary opened in 2014, and the existing school, the Shirley was rated 'good' (I believe).
Arbours is also fine, with good schools (arbury primary is outstanding and the grove is rated good).
Chesterton has lots going on for families, including a children's Centre, community centre and church groups. Also a few play parks. There is also quite a few private day nurseries in the area (much more than in cherry Hinton) if you needed one.

Hope this helps! Good luck with the move!

Thanks Tid1 - that's exactly the report about Chesterton that I was hoping for so that's fantastic news! Thank you. I have to say I am instinctively far more in love with Chesterton than with Cherry Hinton and the prospect of the new train station is also appealing both in convenience and potential price increase. £300 is £300k so yes, looking at the housing association type stock in Chesterton. Drove through Chesterton on Saturday and fed my younger son on a bench in the sunshine by the river - so lovely!
Thanks again for your reply. Keep them coming ladies!

We live off Milton Road, so pretty much between Arbury and Chesterton. It's a nice area. My son starts at The Grove primary in two weeks, which is our catchment school, but I know families with children going to all the local primaries and they are all happy. There is also a choice of 5 or so good nurseries, all very locally (get your name down ASAP though, as most have long waiting lists!). From what I have heard about the schools in Cherry Hinton, I certainly don't think the ones here are any worse! All of Cambridge is a slightly mixed bag, but I don't think any of the primary schools are terrible.

We like this area and I walk (30-45 mins) or bus into town regularly. I think it's closer to walk than Cherry Hinton. My children are 2 and 4 and I can promise you there are tonnes of parks and loads of baby/toddler groups!

Oh yes, and I can think of 2 Tesco Express and 2 Co-ops within 5-15 mins of our house, plus Chinese, fish and chips, butchers and a super children's shoe shop!

And 2 post offices!

Thank you so much ladies - looks like my heart is definitely in chesterton rather than cherry hinton. Now for the task of finding somewhere to buy, or rent whilst we find somewhere to buy...

So... Looking at a house on Cam causeway in Chesterton. Love the look of the house but have heard bad press about the street. Any advice ladies?

Oh - and Lizardc, I hope your little one got on well at school for the first time!

Thank you Squidge! I don't know anyone who lives on CC in particular, although it does look a bit scrappy when you walk down it I guess. I know people who lives on nearby road though (Greenend Road, Mortlock Av) who seem happy enough.

I live in CB4 area, school is Mayfield. We are happy here. I work for the University and my partner too. If your partner is a postdoc or researcher, I recommend visiting this place for any information/support.... www.opda.cam.ac.uk/

It tooks us three years to find our house. We rented for nearly two years. We couldn't afford it now, just a few years later. In my area you can still get a 1960s house in a close, they are quite pretty the closes here, this is where my rented semi was. We moved a few yards away as we wanted to keep Mayfield as a school. We are also quite close to Chesterton, which is a secondary school.

Sorry I forgot to say that the University has an accommodation service, they have own properties plus deal with private landlords. When we moved we were not connected to the University so we had to find a place to rent ourselves and it was not easy.

Thanks Mayfield - that's good to know. We are certainly finding the house prices in Cambridge eye watering, even more eye watering than the current (expensive) city where we live! Thanks for the link to the opda site - do you know if it's still available/relevant to lecturers?