Move from London to Market Harborough

[KateShine]

I moved to market Harborough from London with my partner and three preschool aged kids recently. Before moving I was endlessly searching for online articles etc on market Harborough as a place to live and didn’t find many.. so I thought I’d do one myself now that I’m here to help anyone else whose looking to make a move.

so we decided to move here as our family are in the midlands and north and having had three children in just over two years (including twins) we needed to find more affordable childcare, a much bigger home, and be closer to family for support while also being in a town commutable to London (for my partner’s hybrid job as well as opportunities for our children’s work etc in the future).

Pros:

1. truly an extremely friendly town. As a northerner I thought I’d seen ‘friendly’ but this town is just great, people talk openly with you (strangers), they are kind, helpful, people put in town chat to eachother - very warm friendly place.
2. Houses are big and affordable mostly.
3. Town is walkable distance from most estates
4. Extremely family orientated town, many baby and toddler classes throughout the week, excellent schools, plenty of nurseries
5. Being a smallish town most estates / roads are close to the station. Here in little Bowden where we live it’s 15 min walk. Everywhere is a short walk or very short drive away.
6. Parks, green spaces, canal walks, nice villages all on your doorstep, also lots of national trust places within an hour drive away
7. The town centre is just lovely. Quaint, lovely architecture, loads and loads of independent shops and bakeries/cafes. Some chains but all up market like Jigsaw, White Company, Mint Velvet etc
8. the big supermarkets are all positioned together and join up to the town meaning you can just walk from the supermarkets into town for other shopping. This means the town centre is often very busy with a nice hustle and bustle about it unlike many town centres these days (outside of London).
9. Lovely combination of being a market town, but surrounded by countryside (absolutely stunning rolling hills) while also accessible to London in under one hour
10. Train to London is under an hour (55mins with just one stop at Kettering). The line is currently being electrified which I understand is going to bring the journey time to 45 minutes.
11. Being in the midlands you are in easy reach of lots of different towns and cities

Cons:

1. Train to London while very quick, is currently suffering some delays and cancellations due to work on the line (electrifying it).
2. train to London costs a lot during peak times (cheap outside of peak). You could easily pay £100 return during peak hours
3. I find council tax is very high, (but we have a 5 bed house so this will affect it too)
4. Harborough suffers flooding regularly as it’s positioned in a valley. Be careful to choose your location wisely and ensure flood reports are accurate and enhanced!
5. It’s not London. So don’t come with the view that it’s a mini affordable london. It’s a normal town, everything is smaller and a bit underwhelming compared to the big and lively London. ( you get used to it fast though). The peace, ease and friendliness and quaintness of the town will win you over straight away

In summary I’d 100% recommend market Harborough for anyone looking to move out of London or otherwise. I haven’t regretted our move one bit and feel very happy here, as do my children and partner!

In Leicestershire 2020 was meant to be a high birth rate (surprising I know) yet my daughters reception class will be just 20 (despite it having capacity for 30). I’ve heard this is the same for most other local schools. I’m not sure if this is the norm being so low but I know that generally the schools are Under subscribed. my twin boys will go to the same school in 2027.

I’m speculating here, but my assumption would be that, if there was a high birth rate in Leicestershire, that would be concentrated in the city rather than affluent middle class Harborough. Demographically, they are on different planets.

p.s loads of people do walk around with prams and stuff, most places you live here is walkable to town and the massive brilliant park is in the town centre, however driving to places is obviously more common here than London.

the great thing about living in a town this size is you’ll find yourself bumping j to neighbours and other mums etc constantly so you’ll just get meeting new friend that way

I NEED to find a house that works! You’ve sold it to me!

Stamford is also nice but maybe too far north for you.

Also Olney( home of pancake race) in Bucks buys it’s pricey and smaller than those towns.

I don’t think you’d regret it. I also moved here without anyone from my various maternity leaves. You’ll still be in touch with old friends but have the benefit of a new chapter to meet new people too. I think moving with primary age kids is common. Way more common than in the past due to remote working , places quickly becoming unaffordable etc. so you’ll find you’re one of quite a few in the same boat. I’m not sure if you are into running etc but there’s a social runners group, there’s a women’s netball and football club etc so plenty of options to get out and meet others in a different way to just school mums etc x

The only real negative I have seen, and I don’t know if it is even still an issue, is that there was trouble with county lines and some violent and anti social behaviour connected with that, especially in Little Bowden and near the park and school. This was from 2020/2021 so I don’t know how much it has been resolved. I know crime is nevertheless well under the average rate so that is good.

I’ve heard or seen nothing of this. I imagine county lines is a risk in any market town connected to London! Comes down to adequate curiosity and supervision/observation of parents I guess

Yes I think it probably is a semi hidden issue in a lot of places. Glad to hear you’ve seen no problems.

👋🏽 Hi. Just saw this. Looking to potentially move to Market Harborough by the end of next summer. Do you know much about nurseries? As our baby will be 18 months by then, I think I saw a comment about nurseries getting full. I may have to just start researching nurseries now and register him with the best one with a view to starting next September. Also any advice on schools, both primary and secondary would be really valuable. Education and healthcare are our two biggest concerns (able to readily get GP appointments, good hospitals etc). Thanks in advance 😀