CAMBRIDGESHIRE..................advice needed.

[emmatmg]

Hello Girls, me again.

Our move possibilites have broadened further as DH can transfer anywhere in the country.

On investigation we found that we can get soooooo much more for our money in Cambridgeshire, making it high on the list of possibles.

Which areas should we avoid? or consider? we'd like semi-rural so advise on that would be great.

Thanks in advance.

Hi emmatmg, I'm not sure where else you have been considering, but I am in Cambridgeshire. It pretty much depends on where in Cambs you are considering. The city is very expensive, and a lot of the Southern part of the county is too, but there are exceptions. I think if you go up around Ely and that area the prices are cheaper. I think there are a couple of mners up that way who might be able to give you more info on that part. If you want semi-rural, there are some beautiful little villages around Cambridge and quite a bit of countryside so that shouldn't be too much of a problem. Let me know if I can help any more.

We have just moved to Papworth Everard, just outside Cambridge. We only moved from just outside Ely way to be closer to M's work. Its lovely here,3 parks plus paddling pool for the little ones, brilliant shop,cafe,hairdressers and library. Situated in countryside 10-15 minutes max from St.Ives on the river(lots of ducks,boats & nice shops), Huntingdon and St Neots and of course the lovley Cambridge. Just far enough away to avoid the high house prices in Cambridge. Dont know many people yet,but all so far very friendly.(Must not forget the famous heart and lung hospital here too)Avoid the Fens, long drives to major places.

We are 15 miles from Cambridge just over the border in Suffolk - there are some lovely villages on this side of Cambridge and it takes about half an hour (on a good day) to get into the city.

It is a lovely part of the country and just a stone's throw away from Cambridge, London and Stansted! always handy for holidays! major motorways are very easy to access too.

depends where you are working - would you need to be close to Cambridge, Peterborough, major roads ? Pretty much the south is expensive - the north much cheaper - and the more remote the cheaper still !

Places to avoid - Wisbech !

We're in Cambs too. As Throckenholt says it really depends on which area(s) you want to be close to. I don't know much about the Cambridge area but dh knows a fair bit about the rural/semi-rural areas around Peterborough.

I started a thread on Ely not so long ago emma, but cant remember where it is. Anyway everyone was really helpful on here. I know Papworth and it is lovely, but no-where else.

Is he relocating within his company emma? We are having to relocate AGAIN too.

Dh is a train driver so we'd need to relatively near a depot (not station nessessarily), say within 10 miles. He's waiting for a call back at the moment to tell him where the depots are.

Tholkenbolt, I was going to ask about wisbech as there seems to be quite afew houses for sale there..........maybe they all want to get out. Whats bad about it?

Thansk so far for the info, keep it coming

Fio2, Original plan was to transfer within the company but that means going to the south coast and although that's the ideal for us we'd be going from one 3 bedroom house to another, rather than moving up the ladder. So he's thinking of changing companies all together purely beacuse some of the properties with seen on the internet are only 10-15 thousand more with tonnes more land than the 3 bed terraced house we're in now. It seems ridiculous not to go really.

so has he got the job in cambridge or is it just a possibility atm? Sorry I am being really nosey! We moved from Staffs to Kent (so you can imagine the price difference!) but managed to get ourselves a bargain that needed renovating. Now we are moving to Dorset and the houses are even higher than kent (think we will be selling some of our furniture, although I do have an obsession with hoarding, so most probably this is a good idea!)

also emma you will have to go to all these different places and see if you like them. Sometimes downgrading in house size is a better investment if you have a better lifestyle iykwim

Sorry to be nosey but Wisbech ok, but typical Fen place people not so friendly (in my opinion), roads get v busy there as it is on the seaside and Kings Lynn route.
Yaxley getting v popular which is couple of minutes from Peterbough lots of new houses at good prices, sits just off the A1 with massive new Tesco and shops called Hampton.

Fio, believe it or not we only made the decision to move about 4 days ago so we are a long way from actually saying "yes XXXXX is the place we want to live"

There are 3 depots we can choose from on the south coast Barnham, Brighton and Eastbourne. Dh dosn't want Brighton, for Eastbourne it can take uo to 2 years to get a thransfer. So that leaves Barnham which is near Bognor Regis. We're going down there on Monday to have a look around and register with some estate agents. DH was just surfing the WWW last night and showed me the houses he's found in Cambridgeshire so I've put it to the wonderful MMers to get some info.

I'd love to go to Dorset or Devon but MIL lives in dorset and I would fear for my sanity if I lived within 50 miles of the witch!

Doody, fen place? is that another area?

we're in Peterborough - Hampton is a huge new township so have new primary school, library, doctors etc (secondary school opening Sept 2005).

Fen place, is the Fenlands, its the very rural areas of Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire and Suffolk. Lots of flat farmland, you can see for miles in some areas.Great for drying your washing. Spalding is very nice and thats classed as being out in the Fens, they grow loads of lovely flowers and veg all around the area. Very agricultural.

I grew up near Wisbech - it isn't really that bad - but it is a place that seems to have lost its way (although I haven't been there for a few years). There was a major redevelopment of the town centre (paving etc) but many of the shops closed down. It seemed to not be able to compete with Kings Lynn and Peterborough.

Generally Cambridgeshire is 2 parts, the Fens to the north and the normal bit (for want of a better word) to the south of Cambridge. The Fens are very rural and agricultural, with villages approx 3-5 miles apart rather than the 1-2 in the rest of the county. They were drained from marshland. 2 types - peat fen - around Ely and Whittlesey - very black soil - to my mind very bleak. Silt fen - vey fertile brown soil - not so bleak. Both are very flat - can be beautiful in summer, can be very grim in winter. Prone to strong winds.

Don't know much about the south - very typical English countryside, pretty, very expensive because commuter land for London and Cambridge. The fens mainly have small market towns spaced 10-15 miles apart - eg Ely (nice cathedral), St Neots, Ramsey, Chatteris, Wisbech, Whittlesy. Then there is the Fen edge - just as it starts to get bumpy again - Huntingdon and Peterborough. Peterborough has expanded a lot in recent years and it now a big busy place.

Main roads are A1 (the Great North Road) on the west, M11 going up to Cambridge, and A14 going east-west via Huntingdon and Cambridge.

Train lines - east west - Peterborough - Ely- Norwich, north south Peterborough - Huntingdon - London (main east coast), King's Lynn - Ely - Cambridge - London.

Many of the towns and villages have lots of new development I think because land was/is relatively cheap.

Hope that helps.

forgot to mention - I heard that they were going to turn the old marshalling depot at March in to a big depot for repairing all the tracks in East Anglia.

Whitemoor prison is also in March, built on part of the old marshallling yard I think.

excellent info girls..........Thanks a million

throkenholt - Places to avoid - Wisbech!!!
Lol!! I grew up there too!!

Fyi I lived in Chatteris in the fens and loved it, library, doctors and big co-op within walking distance there is a wonderful mums group within the church and the libray run lots of events as well. There is also a priamry and secondary school and the local college is about 1/2 hr away.Theres an adult education centre within the town and buses run about every 45mins.
Although we left 1yr ago I am desperately missing it still and would go back instantly in fact we still own a house within the town.
Just a word of warning though the fenlanders who have been there forever can be a bit odd.

Dh has an application form winging it's way to us as we speak for the train depot in Cambridge so it looks like full seem ahead!

Now where's that wall paper stripper and those paint brushes.........

jrsmum, at you 'odd' comment.......We'll look out for them if we end up there.

at YOUR odd comment.

preview preview preview woman!

We moved to the Fens near Wisbech (just over the border in Lincs) in the early 70's. Not many incomers then. Locals had at that time rarely gone as far as Peterborough (15 miles away), were very rural, very inter-related (rumours of extremely interrelated ), and someone who had moved from 20 miles away 20 years before was still a foreigner!
We used to say anyone who had any get up and go had got up and gone years ago .

My mum is now one of the longest resident people in her area - not sure where the locals have gone!

Now, I think it has probably come into the 20th century (at least) because lots of new building because of cheap land, and people moving out from the southeast - not sure where they all work though.