South Cambridgeshire - where would you live ?

[yellowrose]

hi everyone

we have been living north of cambridge for a few months now (we love it !)

a friend is living abroad at the moment - she is a lone parent of a 3 year old son and would like to move to cambridge too to be near me and other friends

as i don't know the SOUTHERN area of cambridgeshire at all, nor much else around either as i haven't been here long myself, could you please recommend nice areas that have relatively affordable housing for a small family (being near train stations or M11 would be great too as she will eventually be commuting to London for work).

she is coming back to the UK in a few months time, so i thought i might talk to some estate agents for her to get more info. but any first hand knowledge any one on MN has would be even better !

many thanks.

South Cambridgeshire is more expensive than north of the city. Are you thinking of places such as Sawston, Linton or further west - villages such as Melbourn etc? Great Shelford is very nice and you can get a train from the village station down to Liverpool St - but it is an expensive village. Whittlesford Station is the next stop down - near Sawston, Duxford and Whittlesford itself, but not easily within walking distance of any of these. Most commuters have to drive in and park. Linton, Hildersham, Balsham and the Abingtons are a bit further away from the station/M11 but lots of people commute from there. Again house prices are high (those who need a cheaper house have to go to Haverhill - further away from Cambridge and a long way from a railway station). If your friend intends to commute, she might be better off being west of the M11 and near to Royston on the Kings X line.

I can recommend Cambourne, we've lived here for almomst 2 years now and love it. We moved from London for a better place to bring up the kids. St Neots is close for a main line into Kings Cross which dh used at first until he got a job in Cambridge. Nice and quiet here and lovely schools. Isn't the cheapest of places but there is a variety of housing available.

just looking at the net it looks like sawston and linton have slightly cheaper housing, but are they nice ? are they considered peaceful, ok for a child, etc ?

sorry, i still have my london cap on (lived there for 15 years) so always worry that cheap means bad - is this true of south cams. ?

yes, she defo. wants south of cambs, rather than north like me, just so that she can be nearer to london.

Not exactly south cambridge but we lived in Waterbeach for 2 1/2 years and although my DH was in the army there and we lived on camp, I quickly integrated into village life and really liked it. It's literally across the A14 from the city and a newer 3 bed is going for around 225000-229000.
It's really close to Ely and the Fens but only 10 mins from cambridge city centre and the main London train line and the M11 is only a short drive away.
In the pretty village there are 3 pubs, a couple of shops, butchers, bakery, hair dressers and pharmacy etc so a good range of local shops without having to go very far. There's a lovely country park a couple of mins away and a big Tesco 2 miles away.

I grew up in Linton and my parents still live there - IMO it's a great village - loads going on

would def recommend it - let me know if she does decide to move there as could put her in touch with people

thanks everyone - liz that is very sweet - i will defo. let her know - she doesn't have internet at home abroad which is why i am doing this for her - hoping i can make life easier for her when she gets here, esp. as she is getting a divorce

thanks lucie - i have driven past waterbeach several times on my way to ely ! i know where it is roughly, but think it may make the commute longer than living south ?

Hi

When we were looking to move to that area the only two villages we would consider living in were Fulbourn and Linton, Linton was slightly larger and it would have to be the north side of the A road. There seemed to be very little in the way of 'village life' south of it although there is Linton Zoo there. Fulbourn has the soft play place and also we had a lovely lunch in one of the pubs there. Both places seemed to have a good sense of community and also the schools were good.

Would your friend consider north Essex eg Saffron Walden which is lovely........

All just my opinions, hth

B

I used to live in Sawston, for a short time, whilst doinr my thesis. I worked in the pub in Great Shelford. God what a lovely place Shelford is. If you could afford it, I would live there !!

Shelford is in a totally different league to Sawston.

Linton is considered a better area than Sawston. It has a beautiful High Street and lovely conservation areas. There are also several estates that have been built on post war, some of which are nicer than others (e.g. Linton Heights has nicer houses of all sizes than some other estates. There are quite a lot of local authority/housing authority propertieson the north side of the village many of which are now in private ownership. You can commute to the City from there in around 1.5 hours - nearer 2 hours door to door to the West End.

I don't think that there is anything wrong with Sawston though, or am I missing something.
I know Waterbeach is north, and it does depend how she plans to commute, but Waterbeach is on a train line into cambridge and is only a few mins - so can be quicker to do that then get a train to london than to drive to a station in another village and get the train in. We are just north east of Cambridge and dh often works in london, his cambridge office is very near to the station and his commute door-to-door is about 2 hours - 25mins drive, 5 mins walk, 45-55 mins train, 20mins london side.

The Kings X line is far faster into London than the Liverpool St line. The 7.55 "fast train" from Whittlesford (on the L'pool St line) gets into London - on a good day - at 9.04. If you get a Kings X train from Cambridge the journey can be as little as 47 minutes (i.e 22 minutes faster).
Your friend will have to consider schools as well. Most villages have their own primary schools and some also have village colleges (11-16).

wow - this is great info. everyone thanks - yes she will be working in the City - so the train info. is invaluable thanks !

i hadn't really thought of north essex - that is interesting - she knows me and two other very close friends in cambridge which is why she is keen on cambridge, but will defo. suggest essex to her too !

There is another thread running on Saffron Walden that will be of interest if your friend is also interested in that area.

Hi, we live in a village between Saffron Walden and Cambridge and its great - fantastic community, loads going on and a super school. We have a station into Liverpool Street and are 3 mins from M11!!

hi mouseman, without giving away your exact postcode - lol - can you tell me the name of your village please ? sounds great

thanks to lily as well !

I think so- (whispers) Gt Chesterford.

thanks - never heard of that one ! will be coming down with a hoard of visitors/tourists soon, bus loads of us ! just kidding, don't worry great info everyone, thanks again.

Hi we are hoping to move to cambridgeshire or norflok & would love some advice on some of the areas we have 2 horses so would ideally like to have them with us so would need a bit of land & stables also have a 5 yr old 16 yr old & 19 yr old so would like to know what the primary schools are like too if anyone has some advice on good areas & areas to be avoided that would be a great help thank you x