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!

[FoghornLeghorn]

Good Although I do second that the river area is lovely, you can hire a boat and lots for the kids to do

[MintyBadger]

The Panacea Society think Bedford will not flood when God tries to wipe out evil next time round. Apparently Bedford is slightly raised. They have a house called The Ark, and everything.

arts.guardian.co.uk/critic/feature/0,1169,1160457,00.html

(No help at all, sorry, but I always smirk when I think of Bedford.)

[NoahAndTheWhale]

Sorry to have introduced any confusion on Bedford and Central Beds .

Herts has more expensive housing - we were in Letchworth and moving 5 miles to Henlow meant we could afford a lot more house for the money.

[NoahAndTheWhale]

It has to be said that if you stand on a phone book in Bedfordshire you get a view

[MovingBeds]

lol @ that article!

So is the general consencous (sp) that it is better to rent in the south of bedfordshire closer to job, rather than live in north bedfordshire?

[GypsyMoth]

is it a 9-5 job.....there are only a few routes through bedford.....all of them a nightmare i have found!! so north to south would be a personal worry for me......you could even live over mk way,imo,and be just as quick a commute...

[LifeOfKate]

I grew up in Bedfordshire (would move back in an instant if DH could find a suitable job there and we could get a similar house for the same money as up north!).

Agree with others, Bedford Centre is not a great place to live. Surrounding villages are great though. I grew up in Harrold/Turvey/Carlton (north of Bedford) and they are all lovely. I worked briefly in Hitchin too (South of Bedford), there are some nice villages that way too, although possibly more expensive as closer to London.

From your list, Clapham and Kempston are ok, but really just suburbs of Bedford (although Clapham is a lot nicer since they built the bypass). Thurleigh is ok, but really out of the way, so can seem a little bleak and a bit boring.

As for the school system, I moved when I was 12, so did the last year of middle school and then upper school and I really enjoyed that system. I know others may have a different view, but it made the upper school feel a bit more cohesive as the age range was 13-18, so the students seemed to have more in common, compared to an age range of 11-18, where it feels like a much bigger difference between the needs/wants/likes/dislikes of 11 year olds and 18 year olds, IYSWIM.

[GypsyMoth]

we love the 3 tier system kate....it was going,we had fought(parents) to keep it,but we lost.....then with new government cuts we found out 2 weeks ago its staying!!!! hurrah!!!

my dc thrive in 3 tier!

[LifeOfKate]

x posts. I do sort of agree that living south of Bedford would be better for commuting, but having lived in the lovely North Bedfordshire villages, I would be loath to say not to live there! Also, you would be in catchment to a fantastic upper school - here

[LifeOfKate]

Hehe, x-posts again! I loved it too, Tiffany, never mind changing it to 2 tier, they should change the rest of the country to 3 tier! I would certainly love that for my DC

[MovingBeds]

Hmm yes, I have looked at Sharnbrook and a friend of frinds children went there and they are all wax lyrical about it The houses look lovely round there aswell

I really am not that bothered about the three tier system. I live in a heavily grammar populated county at the moment and that is FAR more of a worry than a 3 tier system tbh.

Thank you for all your help. All i need to do now is find a rental house that will take dogs

[MovingBeds]

Can I just ask aswell...what is Dunstable like? as it looks like my eldest will have to go to school there if we move into the Central Beds authority

It is a shame Luton is awful as this house looks nice sigh

[FoghornLeghorn]

That area is actually quite nice Moving - there is a huge park on the next road down, I take my girls there regularly when I'm back in the area. However, there aren't many positives to Luton so I wouldn't find a reason to move there IYSWIM.

Dunstable is pretty much the same as Luton really - they run into one another.

[FoghornLeghorn]

How old is your eldest ? There is a lovely village just outside of Dunstable, on the border of Luton called Caddington, that's nice. My SIL's mum lives there

[LifeOfKate]

I'm glad Sharnbrook is still a desirable school; I went there and it was brilliant, although I did leave 10 years ago, and I know they have had a new head since (possibly on their second actually), so I wasn't sure if it was still as good.

I wouldn't want to live in Dunstable personally. Although the Dunstable Downs are quite nice

[MovingBeds]

She is nearly 11 but will be in a special school. The one in Bedford looks lovely but if you live in Central Beds area you come under the school in Dunstable which doesn't look as nice (it might be fine though!)

Thank you everyone for all your help, it really, well, helps!

[bumpybecky]

I'm in Leighton Buzzard. It's OK here but they are building so many new houses and there isn't really the infrastructure to support them. Parts of the town are better than others

You can buy my house if you'd like. It's not on the market yet as it's too messy! I'd knck £1000s off if I didn't need to declutter it before it went on the market!

[tooproudortoostupid]

My friend lived in Flitwick, that's quite nice, as is Ampthill.

[MovingBeds]

bumpybecky, i haven't sold my own house yet

[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.

[GypsyMoth]

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

[GypsyMoth]

or wilstead?

[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

[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.

[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