Moving to Bedfordshire, does anyone know it well?

[MovingBeds]

Hi, I am new to mumsnet and have problems navigating the topics section, let alone starting athread, so please bear with me I have been offered a job in Bedfordshire recently which involves relocation. My contract starts end of September so I need to get a move on with finding a rental property (though I hope to buy eventually witgh the sale of my current property) I have school age children so there is alot to consider.

What is Bedford town centre like as a place to live? Are there any areas that a nice (as in safe, not posh) and what are the areas to avoid?

What are the surrounding villages like also? Which ones are okay, which ones not so okay? (or are they all okay?)

Job is south of Bedford itself.

Many thanks for any input. I really do not have a clue!

[DramaAlpaca]

Harpenden isn't in Bedfordshire, that's probably why.

This is a 7 year old ZOMBIE thread, so I expect OP has decided where to live by now.

[BlueButTrue]

I’m surprised no one has suggested Harpenden!

[namitababe]

my parents live in Stopsley, and they hardly hear planes. most of the town isn't (at the moment) under the flight path.

[IhaveChillyToes]

We have friends with children in Ampthill and Flitwick

Think about airport noise if you go near flight path of Luton - don't know about stansted flight paths

[namitababe]

avoid Luton, i'm from there, and it's a dive. Bedford is nicer, though Beds is too quaint and quiet for my tastes. Dunstable is OK, and there are numerous small towns which are nice enough to live in, but boring.

[autumnbreeze17]

Is Silsoe a nice place to live or ruined by new housing estate ? Thinking of moving there...........

[MovingBeds]

Really sorry to hear that Drusilla Are you based at Millbrook then?

We drove up over the weekend and I thought it looked nice and I felt very at home. We managed to get a house at Ampthill :)Thanks for all your help guys

[Drusilla]

We moved to S Bedfordshire a few months ago due to DHs job and so far I hate it :( We are about 10 miles south of Bedford, which as others have said is bit of a dump. Their are plenty of shops/retail parks within in easy driving distance, but they are all in grim towns. My experience of the area so far was summed up by a visit to Letchworth and seeing the UKs first roundabout The countryside is flat and intensively farmed, and pretty uninspiring. DS is in a village lower school with an outstanding from Ofsted, which is living proof that a good Ofsted is not everything. DH is in the Army so I'm used to moving, but this move has broken me! Weare buying a house elsewhere and DH is going to weekly commute!

[FoghornLeghorn]

Blimey

Need to get in there quick Moving and view any you like ASAP.

Also - Silsoe is lovely, might be worth a look

[MovingBeds]

oh bugger the agent has just rang and the one in ampthill has gone already

[FoghornLeghorn]

Great Fingers crossed it's what you're looking for ...

[MovingBeds]

Hello everyone, I am going to view a house in Ampthill tommorrow and one in Cranfield. I will let you know how it goes

[LifeOfKate]

I went to Sharnbrook too, how exciting

[MovingBeds]

edam, I have two other children who will be in mainstream schools

Thank you everyone for all your help, it is very useful 9and i feel less anxious)

[moonmother]

Edam - I'm in Dunstable, and yes I'm a visitor to St Albans for shopping too (most frequently in TkMaxx), and H (I might add) on the odd Summer Evening for a drink

[nagoo]

Thurleigh is in the catchment for Sharnbrook school, which people who live in Bedford sell their grannies to get in to. I went there. Tis Good.

There are lovely villages round there.

Don't know much about north Bedfordshire.

There's a bypass round clapham now so it's easier to get through Bedford north to south.

[edam]

oops sorry just realised you aren't interested in mainstream schools.

[edam]

Moving, my sister lives in Milton Earnest which seems jolly nice to me (and her). Village school is very sweet.

Moonmother - ditto although I'd add Welwyn and St Albans to my personal list of shopping locations. Wonder if we are almost neighbours? I'm in H in Herts. not far from Luton but worlds apart!

[bumpybecky]

The family I know who have had children at Oakbank (the school for older ones in Leighton) were very happy with it, but their younger child left at least a year ago now

the family with the at the school in Dunstable I don't really know very well at all. They mentioned in passing about the transport service. I've no idea whether they're happy with the school to be honest.

It's very difficult to get a good picture from the Ofsted reports isn't it We're looking at relocating from here to the Southampton area and trying to find good schools is a bit of a minefield!

Is there any way you could come and look around the schools once they start back next month? I'm sure it must be easier if you speak to people face to face rather than looking online

[moonmother]

Dunstable isn't like Luton at all, as a born and bred Lutonian, that moved to Dunstable 5 yers ago, I can honestly say Dunstable is nowhere near as bad as Luton.

Yes it is very near Luton , but other than that it's very different. The majority of schools in Dunstable are great, with a couple of exceptions and with quite a few schools in a smallish area, you can usually get into another school anyway(lower school wise).

Yes the traffic is bad going through the town, but if you work out of Dunstable towards Bedford it shouldn't bother you too much, and people who live here figure out back street ways through town.

Like other small towns in the recession we have a lot of empty shops, but things slowly do seem to be picking up.

I do all my day to day shopping here, and any other shopping ie clothes etc, we go to either London or Milton Keynes.

Between here and Bedfor way there are also nice little villages Toddington or Harlington spring to mind. Harlington has a train station and is on main line between Bedford and London.

[MovingBeds]

bumpybecky, how do they find the school? Is it a good school?

(will look at link)

The problem with the school in k is that they have stopped taking children from the Central beds region even though it is the closest school

[GypsyMoth]

or wilstead?

[GypsyMoth]

if its the school in kempston,then how about cranfield,or houghton....(i know rush hour short cuts lol)

[bumpybecky]

better get a move on if you need to move by September!

there's a special school in Leighton too, but for older children

www.ofsted.gov.uk/oxedu_providers/full/(urn)/109747/

I know of one family locally who send a child to Dunstable to special school. There's a transport service that collects and drops them off each day.

[MovingBeds]

bumpybecky, i haven't sold my own house yet