Advice on Saffron Walden & surrounding villages

[Expatmama1987]

Hi everyone, we are looking to move back to the UK after 7 years of living abroad in Gibraltar (we are originally from north London) , and have been looking at Saffron Walden and a few villages surrounding it. We have a 4 year old, an almost 2 year old and am currently pregnant. Can anyone give any advice about the area, I have heard the schools are very good however it can be difficult to find a space! Is there lots to do with young children in the area, and can anyone tell me about great Chesterford in particular as it seems like a lovely village, has a great school and the train station. I have been looking on rightmove for property however hardly anything seems to come up and if does it seems to go very quickly! Thanks in advance for any advice anyone can give me x

Hi there!
Saffron Walden is a lovely place to bring up small children, the schools are great and there is lots to see and do here, plus links to London and Cambridge. My husband cycles from town every day to Audley End for the train to London.
Great Chesterford is also lovely, I have friends who live there and they love the primary school...beware though if you intend your children to go to our brilliant local state secondary school (County High) - in a few years the Chesterfords might just be outside the catchment area. as the town is growing fast. I moved here to town from a small village when my youngest was 10, I love the independence they have, and the country walks on our doorstep, the cinema, the concerts, the market, events on the common, the list goes on..and an easy place (I've found) to get to know people. Beware of moving East of the common, there are a lot of new build estates, and the roads are becoming quite congested. Good luck!

You might want to try posting this on the Cambridge local board as well - it seems many of the SW parents post there as generally Cambridge is seen as the nearest big town.

Saffy's given a good summing up though and I'd second the caveat about the County High - the catchment is growing ever smaller. This year even fewer of the surrounding villages got kids in and to add insult to injury they've now been hit with an increase in bus costs to get to the allocated schools. There is a new school opening up in SW from 2017 I believe which will be operated by the same group as currently runs SWCHS and Katherine Semar Schools.