South Suffolk, north Essex?

[ZolaBuddleia]

Posted this on chat to no avail, hoping this is a better place for it.

Have had Manningtree, Saffron Walden and Hadleigh suggested. I'm looking for a small town with a sense of community and good schools. A bit of a boho spirit wouldn't go amiss as me and DP are arty types.

Any ideas?

If you can come a little further north, Woodbridge has very good schools (state and private), and a lot going on, has a cinema/theatre, good range of independent shops etc. Also on a lovely river and near coast. Do you need a station with trains to London - Woodbridge has station, but not many direct trains to Liverpool Street, would often need to change at Ipswich (or drive to Ipswich station).

I like Hadleigh as a town, but do not know anything about schools.

Again further north into Suffolk, Framlingham has good schools and a nice feel to it, but is a smaller town.

Manningtree is very lovely to look at, being on the river, but I don't know what it's like to live in. The high school is meant to be excellent and I think it's a 'transition town'.

some lovely vilages between subury and halstead. also catchment for the colchester grammers which are the best in the country!!

Thanks for your ideas.

What does a 'transition town' mean?

Can't go any further north really, as we need to be driveable to Loughton. I'm happy to be corrected, but I don't think there's an overland anywhere near Loughton and going all the way in Liverpool St to get the tube back out doesn't make sense to me.

Sadly I don't think we'd have the money for Woodbridge!

It would be great to be within walking distance of a primary and secondary, DD is only 2.7 but I'm already dreading being a taxi service when she's a teenager!

i think although could be wrong the nearest mainline station to lought is romford then a bus to loughton ( from memory!!) my sister lives near there. we live in north essex right on the border with suffolk.. Do want a town with a mainline station in it? or rural village etc? Also do you have any other parameters?

Saffron Walden is lovely and has great schools, also Thaxted is great.

yes agree saffron walden very nice , although not so keen on thaxted. north Essex has a postcode of CO9 so you could try typing that in to rightmove or co10 for sudbury area. some geourgouse villages around here but can be isolated depends on what your after op.

Definitely don't want a tiny village, want to be able to walk to local shops, bump into neighbours, find playmates for DD etc. A station would be handy (particularly if kittycat68 is right about Loughton being busable from Romford!) but we won't be commuting into London.

I'm hoping this will be our forever house, so good schools at both primary and secondary are essential.

I love the look of Manningtree and Hadleigh, I like old architecture. Does Saffron Walden have good train links?

Manningtree has a good high street, three primaries, a high school. I love its position on the river and it has a little beach and a sailing club. It has a small leisure centre and a playpark plus children's activities such as Brownies etc.

I also like Wivenhoe but it seems more of a commuter town with a much smaller/less practical high street than Manningtree. It has some lovely houses though.

Transition town is a name for a community that is considering options for a post-oil economy - in reality it means it has a bit of a hippie vibe going on eg, guerilla gardening, allotments etc - thought it might relate to you as an arty type.

The station for Saffron Walden is a couple of miles out of the town centre, at Audley End. Trains go into Liverpool Street and take about an hour at peak times.

Saffron Walden is a friendly town and the schools are good, both primary and secondary.

wivenhoe.

wivenhoe isn't a commuter town at all, although there are some. its very arty and community ish especially old wivenhoe, the lower part.

also rowhedge which is the opposite side of the river is getting more going on in that respect but rowhedge is still more boaty than arty and wivenhoe has train links, which makes it a bit more expensive but its got a real quirky middle class in a nice hippy boho eco kind of way feel.