huntingdon locals and villages

[kiwibella]

we're coming up on Tuesday to look at property and Hinchingbrooke School for dd!! I'm so excited .

How exciting kiwi!

Hinchingbrooke is a good school, if we're still in the same place DS is likely to go there.

Yep _ I too have heard good stuff about HInchingbrooke SchooL!

We loved, loved, loved Huntingdon(shire)... it was brilliant to be out of London, surrounded by green spaces, see kids on bikes, curtain twitchers yadda yadda yadda. We would take one of the places that we looked at but have time on our side (it's not available to January anyways) so will keep looking.

We also stumbled on Barratt Homes development (Genesis) and fell head-over-heels for one of their homes... the key was in the door so we went in for a nosey!! Unfortunately the sales office was closed so we will follow that up. The estate is behind the secondary school - which we adored.

I'm so confused now... the plan was Brampton. We looked at one place which was nice but I wonder whether we shouldn't head closer to Huntingdon. Am I going to feel constrained by a village?

Having moved out of London a few years ago and now living in a village in Huntingdonshire, I would recommend a village For the sense of community, the security the kids feel of being part of a group (they know most of the kids of their age in the village), and just the quietness of it. You don't have all the facilities of a town but I don't miss them.

Brampton is a lovely village - I lived there for 5 years (well my parents did)
Hinchingbrooke is a good school My brother did his A'levels there.

Brampton is nice, and it is very close to Huntingdon.

Depends what you want. When we moved here I initially wanted quiet and remote, having lived in Wimbledon for a few years.

We actually ended up in a villageish, big village/town, and I have shop, doctors, chemist, hairdressers for DS and couple of restaurants all within walking distance, but retain the community bit. I am very pleased about that. Coming from Wimbledon I would have felt more isolated if I'd not had those amenities walking distance but also would not have been happy nearer central Huntingdon.

flowery... your wish-list sounds like mine. I'm intrigued now tho, wondering where you are since I'm presuming you are in the catchment for HB?

Any opinions on Stukeley Meadows? We liked a property there but wonder if it is out on its own amongst the superstores / business parks.

thanks Dad... it's good to know that you don't miss the facilities.

We're in Godmanchester. Actually thinking about it I think I've posted that before so not revealing anything too much. It's technically a town but feels more like a village.

Stukeley Meadows, don't really know it very well I'm afraid. Handy for Homebase...

I'm fairly certain Stukeley Meadows area would be St Peters catchment rather than Hinchingbrooke if that's important.

have just found this on the Hinchingbrooke site

The catchment area includes the catchment areas of the following primary schools: Brampton,
Buckden, Brington, Cromwell Park, Godmanchester, Offord, Spaldwick and St Anne?s
Godmanchester. The catchment area also includes part of the catchment areas of the following
schools: Huntingdon Junior, Thongsley Fields and St Johns detailed as follows Huntingdon
to the
south and west of Ermine Street (except the Stukeley Meadows Estate), Cromwell Walk; Brookside
and Nursery Road; Hinchingbrooke Park Housing Estate, and the following streets from the
northern part of Huntingdon Surrey
Road, Richmond Close, Kingston Close, Kent Road, Dover
Close, Deal Close, Maple Drive, Sycamore Drive, Sapley Square, Essex Road, Nene Road, Thames
Road, Norfolk Road, Sapley Park, Medway Road, Foster Court, Lucas Court, Lavender Court, Garner
Court, Armstrong Court, Beale Court, Gimber Court, Tomlinson Court, Godeby Court, Judson Court,
St Barnabas Court, Selby Court, Cotton Court, Hazelwood Walk and Coneygear Road (even numbers
4062).
Although the whole of St John?s catchment area is not located within Hinchingbrooke?s
area, the school itself is.

On this page of Cambridgeshire CC website there is a downloadable set of maps of catchment areas for secondary schools in the county.

thanks BTPOGS and FBB... that info is very useful.

the website for Godmanchester is lovely. Funny, I didn't even notice it on our travels yesterday .

There are areas of Huntingdon where I would not want to live.. however there are great schools and its central location means you can get to most places in the country easily. I live in Cambridge now but Mum and Dad live in a little village on the A1 about 5 miles from Huntingdon.

BTPOGS do you mean that there are areas in Huntingdon that you wouldn't live because they aren't nice areas / not nice people / no amenities? It seems so small to have pockets of "good" and "bad".

oxmoor was awful a few years ago.. not sure if it still is but houseprices always used to be about 30% cheaper there but it was for good reason.

thanks for asking grey skull (on another thread )

Frustratingly, we didnt get to visit Hinchinbrooke School because they couldn't see us. We were hoping to go back up tomorrow but I have been phoning every day but still not had someone return my call to make a booking!!

We saw three properties... Brampton, St Neots, and Stukeley Meadows. Of these, we would love the house in Stukeley Meadows but I suspect that it is not in HB's catchment.

Same deal-i-o with St Peter's and their response to my calls!!

Surprisingly, we stumbled on the Barrat development and loved a house there. We are now trying to sort things out to consider buying... seem to be stumped by our visa status... but we should become permanent residents in December (or however long the Home Office takes).

Last night hubs found a property at Comberton and insists that we have a look at the village school (you'll know why). It's not on a train line for hubs to come back for work... but that's not stopping him .

I'm undecided whether we come back tomorrow... it's all in the too hard basket atm .

make a booking???? I mean an appointment.

Comberton VC is a very good school, so well worth considering. It also gives the opportunity for your DCs to go on to Hills Road 6th Form College if they are very bright (though there have been plans to establish a sixth form at Comberton).

yes, I certainly see that Comberton is a fab school. However, I don't know whether it makes the 10 mile to a train station journey any more do-able?

Depnding on which train he goes for roads can be very clogged up - 10 miles takes me half hour for the 0813

thanks Dad!

Stukely is nice, I think we looked at some houses there a few years ago. The prices tend to be higher because they are near the RAF base so the houses are in demand. You mentioned about your visa, are you from the US? If so, you'll be right at home, there are tons of Americans round here

If you want any other info just ask, I've lived in Hunts for about 5 years now and I grew up in Peterborough so I know the area pretty well I dunno about schools though, my little girl is only 6 weeks

congrats on your beautiful bundle sweet!!

Thanks for the reply re stukely. We are back up tomorrow and have appointments to visit HB and St Peters. Dd and I already prefer HB - from prospectus and phone calls with staff. It will be interesting to see for ourselves.

If you know of anyone with a rental property looking for tenants let me know. We are a fab KIWI family thinking about renting for awhile first. Tho, if a mortgage gets approved we would love to buy our own piece of paradise!

we have bought a place and hoping to move next weekend!! I can't believe it really.

Thanks for all your help during our search .