*Moving to Saffron Walden, Essex , in August - does anyone live nearby?*

[SaffyCat]

I am moving from Surrey to Saffron Walden in mid-August with my husband, 7yr old son and 1yr old daughter. We don't know anyone in the area yet and I would love to meet other local mums (am happy to drive a few miles) and also to find out about toddler groups/recomended family activities.

[englishspringer]

just checked today as bored at work and can't believe the thread is still going
i am in regular contact with Milarkie - we meet regularly but apart from that we have been here over 2 yrs and not made many local friends - very bad as well although am working mum - going on mat leave again in Dec so hoping to have some more free time for coffess and playgroups

[laurasmiles]

Congratulations englishpringer! I hope the pregnancy is going well. Do post on here and tell us how it all goes - it sonds like you have a busy christmas ahead of you!!

[HFH]

We moved out of Cambridge 2 and half years ago - to a village about 7 miles from SW, my children moved to the nearby school (then end of years 1 and 3), Ashdon, where they have thrived. I have made more friends in the last two years than I made in the previous however many in Cambridge - came from London to Cambridge and quite honestly found London more friendly. I love the area there is nothing you can't do - SW typical market town, seems a bit oldy - but scratch the surface and I think you'll be surprised, similarly with what appear to be the sleepy local villages - get in there and you'll never be short of a night out - company for the kids or something to do. Anyone moving to Cambridge area avoid having to commute into Cambridge on the A14 north of Cambridge - makes M25 look like a sleepy country lane. East - towards Royston is good for commuting Audley End/Royston and M11 west less commutery so a bit more 'country' although plenty of people still commute. My husband often goes to London from Cambridge and complains all the time about how packed the commuter trains are - apparently he read somewhere they are some of the worst in the country!

[ClareL]

I posted on here a while ago as was trying to sell my house but have (after 18 months) finally sold it and due to move on 24th July... have today visited 3 schools - KS, Newport Primary and Ashdon Primary. My DD (9) loves Newport and my DS (5) loves KS. I am a very confused mum now so would appreciate anybodys' knowledge on these 3 schools. I have reread this thread over and over but nobody seems to mention Newport...

[Millarkie]

Well I mentioned that we had looked round Newport and liked it - but our kids didn't go there in the end Several of our neighbour's children go there and they are very happy with it.
Congratulations on selling your house! Hope it all goes smoothly and you'll be out here in no time
And BUMP in case anyone has children at Newport.

[ClareL]

Hi thanks for the reply and the info. Typical that my DS and DD like different schools. Need to decide between the 2 - we will be living in SW itself so KS seems more appealing to me but my DD has chosen Newport....

[mouseman]

I believe that they both feed into different secondary schools - KS to County High and Newport to Newport Grammar. This may need consideration.

[Millarkie]

Mouseman - is secondary school criteria totally dependent on primary school then, or is catchment taken into consideration?

[ClareL]

Do you think secondary applications are more down to your address rather than where they attend primary school. We will be living in SW but have had to look at primary schools out of the area due to lack of school places. My DD prefers Newport -so at the moment mulling over what to do.

[ClareL]

Just thought I would post this info in case it helps somebody one day but have spoken to the Headteacher at Newport about the Secondary School catchment etc. and she informed me that if you live in SW and send children to school in Newport they will still be living in the catchment of SW County High - but if living in Newport the children will prob not get into SW County High due to being out of catchment. Hope this helps... still haven't made my mind up about schools but the Head at Newport Primary School is a wonderful lady - very informative and very very friendly.

[Millarkie]

Thanks Clare - I was wondering about that too after comments further up this thread about primary 'feeder' schools - I have friends who are looking for a house in the SW area at the moment and are going through the same issues with schools that you are.
I was impressed with the Head of Newport when we looked round too!

[loopsngeorge]

Hi, just wondered if anyone was around to give yet more advice on moving to Saffron Walden? I've got loads of useful info so far from this thread!

We have seen a property in Little Walden which we're interested in so I thought I should do a bit more research. I'd love to hear anyone's thoughts on -
Stansted - I know SW is not particularly affected by noise etc at the moment but are people worried locally about the further expansion planned at the airport? Or is the town outside the area that's going to be affected?

Development - I did read something about a housing development planned near Little Walden - don't suppose anyone knows anything about it?

Commuting - DH would have to get the train to Liverpool St but says he would get a scooter to get him to Audley End. Just wondered how busy the roads are through SW to the station at peak times? Is there a long waiting list for the car park?

SW sounds a lovely place to live but it would be a massive change of lifestyle for us to move to a quiet village so it feels quite scary! Thanks in advance for any advice

[ClareL]

We are moving from south Essex to North Essex and are very nervous. My DH will be commuting to Liverpool St. We noticed that people also park in a lane by Newport Station. My DH had decided originally to get the bus from SW to Audley End but this has made him think again. I can't help you anymore with regards to your other questions.

[Millarkie]

What do you mean about a waiting list for the car park? I haven't parked their since last year but it used to be just turn up park and pay! And they have just got planning permission to at least double the size of the car park!
At the moment you can also buy a car park space on the bearwalden business park on the other side of the station - tickets from the newsagents at the station.
Clare - only half the trains stop at Newport and those that do are the slower stopping service hence the popularity of audley end.
Stansted - we looked into it when we moved but the expansion is on hold for now and since SW isn't on the flight path yet (except for rare occasions when the wind is in an unusual direction) and since we used to live in London on the Heathrow approach, we really don't worry about it.
No idea about the Little Walden development.
Traffic from SW to the station - never seen a traffic jam if that's what you mean..but the roads are fast and windy (apart from Sparrowsend hill route which is just fast ) so I would be a little concerned if it was a low powered scooter. There is pressure on the council to create a safe cycle route from the town to the station (it's madness that there isn't one) but they keep doing 'studies' and then dismissing the idea

[loopsngeorge]

Thanks very much for the replies! That's really useful to know about the journey to the station - just imagining DH struggling along on a little scooter .
Where we are at the moment there are a limited number of season tickets for the station car park available but there's a two year waiting list to get one. Doesn't sound like it's such a problem in SW!

[ClareL]

Would be interested to know the cost of parking at the business park if anyone knows, plus can you only buy daily tickets. We will be moving on a fro and DH back to work on Monday... Have still not made our minds up about schools due to finding out about the catchment. Could send DD to Newport and she could end up with none of her friends going to SW county. It's such a confusing time.

[Millarkie]

A good few children from our village go to Newport Primary and they are in County High catchment.
County High is so big that even if you go to a small primary where all of the children go to CH you might not be in the same class as any of your friends.

[notjustanumber]

Hi loops if you are still there. I dont think the Little Walden development is happening now, but I dont think it was very big anyway. I live on Little Walden side of town and I love it...

Hi englishspringer I went on mat leave again in December and have just gone back to work. I have 2 sons also, 2.6 and 6 months. I've lived in Saffron Walden for 10 years or so and feel very lucky. I think its a great place to live...

[ClareL]

I found out that the children who live in Wendens Ambo can either go to Newport of SWCH - most chose SWCH. Our problem was that there was only 1 other child (a girl) from Wendens Ambo - so the chances of my DD and other girl (who might not even be friends) being in the same class were very low. We chose KS in the end. I couldn't bring myself to unsettle them twice. I thought they had more chance of having more friends around them at SWCH rather than Newport. Plus, the drive from SW to Newport was going to take a while and my DD leaves in 2 years and I would therefore still have to do the drive for another 4 years.... depending on where we end up buying a property as we are renting for a while. They both have a taster day on Thursday - so open the floodgates!!

[Millarkie]

Glad you've made a decision Clare Hope the kids enjoy their taster day.
Who told you about the kids in Wenden being able to choose their secondary school? - I'm in Wenden and it's not the impression I have from my neighbours (my kids are primary age still). I know one neighbour who had to push hard to get her son into Newport G rather than SWCH (because she felt that Newport would suit him better)..
The parking at the business park seems not to be available any more - I'm guessing that they were season tickets that were on offer and now they've sold all the spaces.
Good luck with your move - have you found a rental house yet?

[ClareL]

The head from Newport told me about the secondary school choices for Wendens Ambo. She said most people living in WA choose SWCH.
We have found a rental house nr The Little Walden Road, we wanted to be sure that we were all settled before committing to buying.
3 wks until the move.

[viksters]

Hi all,

Sorry for butting in - I'm new to the netmum thing but saw this thread as we are hoping to move to Saffron Walden - we love the place. We currently live in Chingford.

Have two boys - nearly 9 and just turned 3.

Looking on Rightmove there doesn't seem to be much change - do houses get snapped up really quickly or do people just not want to move? Bad time at the moment anyway I suppose.

Are there any areas to avoid - it all looks lovely to me but it's really hard being an "outsider" trying to find the right place.

Would be grateful for any advice. Thanks x

[Millarkie]

I don't think places get snapped up - I think there is a lack of property on the market (have been looking regularly because we have friends who want to move here), even when we bought in 07 we had the choice of only 2 houses.
I haven't come across any no-go areas (not like London anyway) but there are some estates and in general, homes on estates here are not as sought-after as those which are non-estate. Since you have a 3 yr old it is worth looking into school catchments (but all but 1 school are ofsted 1/2 so most places ok for that too).
By the way - Netmums is a different website so it's not a good idea to get the spelling of mumsnet wrong!
We moved to a village - not something we were necessarily thinking about, would have been just as happy with a similar house in SW but now we are here I am so happy that we ended up in the village because the sense of community is so strong and there are lots of things to get involved in.

[viksters]

Whoops! Sorry about the mumsnet/netmums mistake!

Thanks for the advice - the reason we are looking at SW as opposed to a nearby village is because I don't want to be getting in the car for everything. Are there any larger villages where you can walk to shops to get your day to day bits and pieces?

Thanks for any help.