Can anyone help with advice about Milton Keynes/Beds/Bucks/Northants areas to live, schools, quality of life etc? Thanks!

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Help! We may be moving - I can't do much more than research unless and until we've got a written job offer but it's looking likely and I have NO idea about the area, having commuted to it but not lived there for the last while. The job would be in Milton Keynes so where we live will need to be commutable to there. So, my questions are:

Where is the nicest but not prohibitively expensive place which is commutable?
Is Buckingham as nice as it looks?
Does it have decent schools?
Why is Towcester so cheap?
Ditto Brackley, is it horrible?
Newport Pagnall, yes or def not?
Where else should we consider that's nice with good schools/nurseries?
Northampton, horrible or nice?
Flitwick, too far?
Someone recommended Ampthill, anyone know it?
We need to rent somewhere where we will be happy to buy in a year or so dependent on jobs/happiness etc - i.e. I want somewhere nice but not so expensive that in a year we won't be able to live there when we buy.

Are there any mumsnetters who are happy for me to CAT them for advice?
Our main criteria are a decent school for yr3 ds and a decent nursery for 2yo dd. They need to be closeish together if out of MK. Or they could be in MK and we could live outside. I'm fairly sure I don't want to live in MK itself.

Any advice terribly welcome, I am completely blind here and it's a big step and one I don't want to get wrong. I feel like we f*ed up moving from Devon tbh and I can't do it again. I have a Buckingham paper here and a MK one from last week so am sorted for estate agents but any other advice or links to sites would be really helpful. TIA. I will unashamedly keep bumping this too, hope no-one minds.

My sister lives near MK but in Northants (MK is on the border). Pretty villages - hers has got a very good infants school and nearby primary is good too. Don't want to name the particular village on here but if you look around Stony Stratford (very pretty itself) you'll get the idea. Northampton the town is, sadly, a bit run down. Apparently has an awful council which does horrid things like get rid of the very good market so it can hand land to the developers.

I like Buckingham very much, it seems to have decent community facilities and shops (big Tesco but hasn't killed off the town centre (yet)). The schools are pretty decent I think (Royal Latin Grammar, Buckingham School is the secondary), don't know about primary schools. The only downside (for me) is that it doesn't have a station. Milton Keynes has fantastic facilities but I'm not sure I'd want to live there, I think I'd live outside (but I'd definitely check the commute as some of the roads can be terrible). You need a car to do anything (and probably a 4x4 if you live in a tiny village ).

You probably need to give thought to whether you want the grammar or comprehensive system if this could be a permanent move.

I have family who live round that way - I'm happy for you to CAT me so I can be more specific .

Hi, I moved to northampton 9 years ago from Scotland so can tell you what it's like from an incomers pov!! It's not the friednliest town and it took me a long time to egt settled, but since moving to a new estate and having children, I can say that i feel settled and happy now. The town itself is fine , decent shops, parking OK, roads get a bit nightmarish at peak times. It's great for accessability - handy for the M1, A14 etc etc and close to quite a few airpors, train stations etc. Avoid the eastern district though - anything with an NN3 postcode. It's traditionallly the rougher end of town and although they ahve built nicer housing there recently, the schools are not the ones I'd choose for my kids!!

We live in Wootton which is great. On the Newport pagnell roadand close to the M1 but not too close! near Salcey Forest for fab walks and adventures! Handy for town (you COULD walk it if you really wanted to, only 1-2 miles) but the schools in the catchment area are fantastic (Wootton, Preston hedges, Caroline Chisholm, hardingstone). people are fighting to get their kids into these schools. Secondary is fab and there are some really good nurseries around.
Don't know why Towcester is so cheap to be honest, it seems like an nice enough wee town. We didn't look to buy there, don't knwo why! We needed to be close to the M1 for dh's job - suppose you would too. Don't knwo if you want pret villages or not. Lots of new estates going up - some are having new schools built. All in al, I am quite happy to be here, really chufffed witht eh school choice we've got and I'd be happy for you to CATme although I don't know how to retrieve messages so feel free to email:
[email protected] yes I do work at the local uni!

Thanks calpo, and fn, I will email or cat you both. Grammar prob, so where does that mean?

sorry, thanks edam too!

I live in Leighton Buzzard, about 10 miles from MK in Beds. Nice town, very friendly, all lower and middle schools decent and two upper schools which are both acceptable.

I live in NN3 in Abington right near the park, and is one of the most desirable areas of town but yes the Eastern District is to be avoided at all costs. Northampton is quite run down and sadly does have a very backward conservative run council, however the surrounding villages are quite stunning, and with them come great schools. Towcester is a lovely little town, not newport pagnell though don't like at all, also lots of lovely villages near towcester, greens norton etc and some good schools too. I personally wouldn't buy in MK itself as it is quite expensive in comparison to areas a stones throw away. Northampton to MK trains at least twice hourly, takes about 20 mins to half an hour, if you need any extra info feel free to contact me

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Thank you giddy, Katef, mykidsmum too. We are going to do some research into this during this week. I can't get online during the week so apologies in advance to anyone who posts then that I don't reply to. I may well have more questions when we've done some more research. mumsnet is marvelous for things like this, upmystreet.com just can't fully give you a flavour of somewhere like someone who lives there.

Calpops seems to live very near my sister - Salcey Forest is indeed lovely and I hear has a new treeptop walk which is buggy accessible.

Abingdon Park is nice too, my mother had her wedding photos taken there so always feels special to me (was born in Northants but only lived there a few months).

Only thing that would get me about it is that the landscape is so flat, but that's because I grew up in the Pennines and yearn for hills! None where I live either but Northants is quite astonishingly flat. Lots of very pretty villages though with lovely stone cottages - is known as the county of spires and squires due to the landed gentry having hung on to all the acres!

stony stratford - lovely. quaint old style market town. couple of good schools. good access points bit pricey though.

Bucks is grammar school system.

We lived near MK and now live in a village north of Northampton. We moved because the MK schools system is awful. many of their schoold are in the bottom of the league tables. The Bucks system is separate, and the Nrthants schools are also good.

I would avoid Newport Pagnell, not for any particular reason but there is just not much there. Any of the villages in Northants are good, though not sure about Towcester. When we moved we didn't look there, but I'm not sure why!

It doesn't take long to get to MK from Northampton, about 30 minutes. Northampton itself is not brilliant for shops but does have 2 good theatres and some good places to eat. It seems to have more 'soul' than MK. It has a great range of independent shops away from the centre.

Although it is nice to have MK close for the facilities, I am glad we moved away from their school system.

Oh yes, and Northampton has Northampton Schhol for Boys and Northampton School for girls, both secondary schools and both selective but not private.

Thank you maggie and fnose and Mfat, fab stuff, all very useful.

Mykidsmum! Sorry about the postcode bit! I thought NN3 as just the eastern district - thought Abington fell into NN1. Sorry - didn't mean to slate your area! Just know that all the estate agents sent me round the eastern district when I moved down, obviously thinking a stranger wouldn't notice the burnt out cars and the obvious remains of a bonfire in the bedroom of one of the not so desirable homes they sent me to! Frightened me off an NN3 postcode after numerous waste of time trips to dodgy places! Sorry!

I was about to type the same question and then I saw this thread! WWW, we are also thinking of moving to that area when we leave Brux (sob) this summer. I will need to commute to London but DH will probably work locally to MK.

Any idea what rents are like as we don't particularly want to buy in the area? (She asks, shamelessly hijacking thread.)

He he no worries mate, i actually live in an ex council house in Abington but even for a council estate its lovely, lots of trees and stuff, estate agents always try that trick!!

I'm interested in this thread too. We're moving to that area when we sell our house, we've been looking at Brackley, what's that like?? No one has mentioned it so far, is that good or bad??

I don't know Brackley too well, but my dad wants to move there to be closer to his offices in Oxford, and he has good taste!

Some nice areas in Bedford too which is only 16 miles from MK. The commute there is pretty horrendous I must say as MK is just off J14 of the M1 so lots of heavy traffic.

Good schools; lower, middle and uppers. Two good private boys' schools as well as 2 private girls' schools.

Lots of lovely villages surrounding Bedford too. You asked specifically about Ampthill which I think is best described as a quaint little town with good local amenities - not too sure on the schools provision though. 20 mins drive from Bedford.

Know what you mean Edam, I come from the west coast of Scotland near to the sea and now live in the most land locked place in England!!! Billing lake doesn't quite have it somehow!And the Northampton lighthouse ain't that exciting!

Dunno about Brackley, one of those places you always just drive past!! been to the wee town centre which was OK, not very exciting. Good thing about Northampton is that there's loads for the kids. 3 - 4 indor soft play areas, sports centres, Salcey forest, 4 public pools, (other private pools in schools etc - we go to one for lessons) Sixfields with the football, bowling, restaurants etc, northampton Rugby, lots of parks, Brixworth country park is lovely and has reservoir you can cycle round.

Oh, and there is also Billing Aquadrome (heehee!!) with a Mystic meg type person who has read the Queen's palms (and also princess Di's) apparently...!

Renting - from what I've seen, a 4 bed new build house is about £850 - £1000 a month ish. Think we've still got the local paper can check if you want and let you know tomorrow.Let me know if you want me to post it to you

To buy, a 4 bed starts in the £200K region and goes up and up depending on how villagey you want to be!! 2 houses in my street are up for sale - 4 bed single separate garage £235,000, 4 bed double garage , study and conservatory £285,000. They're in the catchment area of good, oversubscribed schools. Friend just bought in Upton/Dustomn area for £225 4 bed, integral garage (slightly bigger than the £235 one).

If you are looking in northampton you may also want to check out the new Upton Grange development, it is stunning, nothing like any new development I have ever seen before, all eco friendly housing in terms of energy saving etc. New houses but very old fashioned, high ceilings, stone built etc, really is worth a look. prince Charles came and vivited it the other day, if i had a bit of cash i would live there. Definately plenty to do in Northampton

Sorry Upton One, stick it in google and you will see what I mean, may not be your thing but worth a look

Calpops, it seems you are talking about where I was born, in a small (was then) village backing onto Salcey Forest. I used to play & hide in there & have great memories of playing with my dad there!

Eastern N'ton (or parts of) is a dive, isn't it? I grew up there from 8-13 and it was such a lovely area. Went round there a while ago after visiting my dad & was very shocked by what I saw!

Am in Leighton Buzzard, so ditto KateF!