Family living in great notley??

[Mandylou2]

We are looking to move to this area from Wiltshire as my husband has a new job at Stansted. Can anyone recommend places to live that are family friendly, have good schools - pre school etc. we have two girls, currently 3 1/2 years old and 6 months. My 3 year old is very active and currently goes to gym and ballet classes so I would be looking for these locally as well.
Hope somebody can help!!!!

I'd be looking more at Colchester than Great Notley

Hi fingeronthebutton,
Can you expand?? Why Colchester? Don't know the area at all so any views are welcome.
Thanks

Great Notley is quite small and part of a district called Braintree which is OK but not huge. I don't know about schools in that area. Colchester (where I live) is bigger and def has the child classes, ballet etc. and quite a lot of high performing schools. It's 50 mins from Liverpool Street on a fast train, 1 hour on a slow.

Having reread your post about where your Husband is going to work, I would suggest you look around Bishop Stortford and the villages in that area.

I know Great Notley a little as I have to go there sometimes for work. It seems quite nice and very family orientated, although completely purpose built as far as I can see ie. just lots and lots of modern houses, a Tescos and a couple of pubs. But I might have just not seen the proper centre of it!

If you need to be near Stansted, personally I would look at Saffron Walden. It is a really lovely town and Clavering, Newport and Hatfield Heath are nice villages in the surrounding area although probably not cheap. There is loads of info on Saffron Walden if you search the threads on here.

Thanks for all the pointers, we are going to the area on friday so will head to saffron walden to have a look.

I would second looking at Saffron Walden, it's a lovely town. Much better than Great Notley imo.

If you are happy to look at villages rather than towns, then I would look at some of the villages nearer to Cambridge along the M11 corridor. Cambridge has a huge amount to offer families in terms of museums, activities, sports opportunities etc, so it would be great to beveithin easy reach.

If you are considering villages, then I'd look at villages like Duxford and Whittlesford as well as Saffron Walden.

Dont forget op that some of these lovely villages will be in the flight path of stansted airport.

I lived in Black Notley 10 years ago. It was nice but never felt like home.
I used to go to Great Notley to a toddler group and use Tescos.

I found Braintree town so depressing. Freeport was good for shopping though.

I also grew up in Colchester and the crime there worries me.
My eldest son still lives there and it seems to be on the news for all the wrong reasons recently.
huge drinking problems in the town at night.

Great Dunmow is a pretty village, worth looking at.

I live in White Notley 25 minute drive from Stanstead. We have a fabulous school and mainline trains to London. It is a village but Witham and Braintree are both just 3 miles away and offer lots of activities for children. With Colchester and Chelmsford both about a 20 minute drive away.

Our house is up for sale we are moving to Scotland come have a look.

My ds did his reception year in white notley primary!

ooohh when?

10/11 years ago.
He is a yr 10 in secondary now.