Relocation advice: Your thoughts please

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Hello all,

We have been living in Brentwood, Essex for just over an year now.
We are now considering moving to somewhere else (where, is the big question, of course),
I would be grateful for any suggestions/tips/advice/places to avoid ...

Thanks a lot

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1. The key trigger for moving is that it is hard to get value-for-money in Brentwood, as it is in the London commuter belt.
   DH works in Basildon, Essex and am SAHM at the moment; So, proximity to London is not a criteria at the moment. We pay 950 for a
   tiny two bed flat and even pushing the budget upto 1250 doesn't take you too far.

2. We are looking for 3 bed accomodation in a decent, safe locality, not too far from town/city centre. To rent,
   initially and may be buy in the long run

3. Want a wider choice of activities/play school for DD, who is 19 months now. In particular, looking for Montessori/Steiner
   type of schools to start her off, when she turns 2.

4. In terms of places, DH is happy to commute upto 40 mins; he travels away a lot for work anyways.
   THe places we are considering: Cambridge, St Albans, Bishops Strotford;
   Equally, we are also considering places like Guildford, ...

I know, I know, ..

It is just this thing of wanting to give up the nomadic life that we have been living and have some semi-permanency or some semblance of that :-)

We have lived in Cambridge and BS, in the past. And as such, like Cambridge better. But, that was from the eyes of a student and not as a parent.
So, would love to hear parent's views on Cambridge as about
any other places that you can think of and/or have experience of

I live in Cambridge and think it's lovely. It would certainly tick the boxes in terms of schools and activities for your DD. However, there is nothing cheap about living here! It is a commuter town too, I commute into London for example. Public transport is expensive as is parking. If you want to live within walking distance of town you will be paying more than you are currently in rent.

All of your choices are commuter towns and I would guess will be more expensive than where you are at the moment, perhaps you should widen your search area. What about other places in Essex?

Thanks a lot for your reply, skibeck32.

I agree about the commuter town bit in my list and the consequent prices.

We are considering Cambridge, for another reason, for jobs for myself , in a few months time..Think: programming, research..that sort of thing;
And commuting local to work seems more practical, to me;
In the past, i have done crazy commutes, like 5 hrs rountrip, every day; but, with a kid, i think, a local commute of 20-25 mins seems more realistic, to start with, at least. This is our first child and this whole thing of balancing job-childcare will be new territory.

So, in some sense, though the trigger for the move has been value-for-money, its not the only reason, i should add.

For a 3 bed, with small garden, in decent location (style of house etc doesn't matter), not too far from town centre, how much do you think i should expect to pay, roughly..
I did check on rightmove, but it is hard to get a sense for areas etc from there, hence my Q.

What do you think about the villages ?
When I was studying, I used to live in Chesterton road, so, sort of in the city; so, absolutely clueless about the villages.

And we aren't buying straight away, only renting..so, if it doesn't work at all, we could move back, may be to Brentwood itself :-)

Btw, what other places in Essex are suitable do you think?

Thanks a lot

just looked at journey its 1 15 min to basildon from cambridge - and traffic can be bad
you could get more for your money that you have currently - there are is a steiner school but you might want to do a search on steiner on here...

have you thought of chelmsford - might be nicer/cheaper than brentwood? Anglia Ruskin univeristy is there as well - which had at the moment quite a lot of jobs going