Move to Lincoln or Nottingham, advice please

[MonsterBookOfTysons]

Hi I am looking at moving from Northampton to Lincoln or Nottingham next year.
What area's of Lincoln or Nottingham should I be looking at moving to or should definately avoid?
I have 2 young dc so good schools are a must :)
Sorry if in wrong section, I do not usually come out of chat :o

Ha ha at Lincoln being flat! Have you ever been there? It's built on a huge hill!! The fens are very flat (South Lincs) but North Lincs includes the wolds which definitely aren't flat.

Virgil Northampton is awful too tbh, no shops, dh has an hour walk home at 10pm and cost of housing is much more than up north due to London being 'close'
I have no family here and it is 3 hours and a £56 return on the train to my mums and it is only one hour and a £12 return from Nottingham, I am lonely as dh is always at work :(
Petal I did at that.
I have not been to Lincoln to be honest but like the look of the christmas market :)

LadySybil, thanks for explaining that, yes I would just do History then.

Oh yes, the Christmas market is lovely! Lincoln is very pretty too in the uphill part near the cathedral. My dad and inlaws still live close to Lincoln in nearby villages and I was brought up there.

Have you thought about any of the villages on the Sleaford side of Lincoln. I'm not sure about the central Lincoln primary's reputations currently.

Nottingham Trent is an old poly. Nottingham uni is a Russell group uni so v v good.

Lincoln uni do criminology.

I remember threads on here a couple of years ago moaning about lack of primary places in west bridge ford area. It was a real problem with kids not getting school places so make sure that's not still the case.

Southwell has a good secondary school, Lincoln also has one very good secondary school. Have you thought about Grantham? Grammar schools. Easy access to sleaford and Nottingham as kind of between the two.

Well I'm from Northamptonshire so You'll get no argument from me there. But seriously, if you have no connections with Nottingham then I'd think carefully. Lincoln would put you much closer to Sleaford and is much nicer than Nottingham. Property is also cheaper.

Oh and bishop grott college in Lincoln has a very good reputation for pgce.

Ok so I think I need to visit both areas in person, I hadn't considered Grantham so will look into what is there too.
I do think Lincoln seems the 'nicer' out the two but I think my university dream would never happen. 45 credits at merit levels for my access is really high and getting into uni is the only way to move up from privately renting for us and I really want the security of buying a house eventually :)

I grew up just north of Lincoln and now live in Nottingham and I don't really think the two places are directly comparable as Nottingham is far far bigger than Lincoln.

Do you want to be somewhere where you can stay put or are you expecting to move again after uni?

In and around Nottingham gives far more scope for jobs etc. afterwards than Lincoln which is out on a limb somewhat

Where did you grow up spoons? I'm from just north of Lincoln originally too!

How about Sheffield? Nicer city than Nottingham IMO, two unis. Good train access to sleaford through Lincoln.

Well if you are really set on giving Nottingham a go try some of the middle range areas, mapperly, Beeston, Wollaton, woodthorpe.

How about Newark?

I don't think schools are very good in Newark. Some good primary schools but secondary schools have a dire reputation from what I hear. Tux ford has a good secondary school so if you are in a village slightly north of Newark you'd probably be in the catchment for tux ford.

I don't know about the schools in Newark at all - it just came to me that it might be good for Nottingham-Lincoln-Sleaford (and has a Waitrose )

I first looked at Sheffield but the trains said 3 hours to Sleaford which put me off, maybe i need to put Lincoln in rather than Sleaford, I do like Sheffield.
I want to stay put, I moved 14 times around the country as a dc and do not want my dc to go through that too.
I will look at Newark, don't really know anything about that one :)
Virgil I will right move those areas, thank you :)

X post but like the waitrose :o

Sheffield to Lincoln is probably about 1hr10mins, maybe less. Sleaford must only be another 30 mins but I suppose to allow a change then yes could be 3 hours.

I suppose it depends how often you want to visit your mum. If its every week then it's probably too far. If its once a month it's doable.

Lincoln has a waitrose as well.

Oh and criminology is a fairly crap degree for job prospects, I think it tops the league of most unemployed graduates. I have a criminology degree and it never did me any good, though it was interesting. History would improve your job prospects more.

Once a fortnight I think, she moved from Northampton in April and I have only seen her twice since then. She could visit me once a fortnight too so would be fair on cost.

x posts, Criminology was not very thought out tbh, History is the only subject I have ever really enjoyed and excelled at :)

I would just do history then. Much better thought of, sounds like you'd enjoy it more and you'd have more chance of jobs in wider areas as well. I'd love to do history, wish I could do it now.

Thanks Viva, I do enjoy History and I know I won't get bored of it :)
This thread has been very helpful, I have more googling to do :o

If you don't want to move around too much you might be best moving somewhere you could afford to buy when you leave Uni and also somewhere you can stay to do your PGCE. All towns/cities have their good and bad parts so if schools are your priority go with that along with travel distance to your mum's - this of course may not match with your Uni choice. Think this will be a really hard one to solve and you'll need to do loads of research if you have a hope of getting everything right. Good luck wherever you settle.