Anyone moved from London to Bedford?

[Greenskills]

With a family?

We have 3 children, would like a smaller mortgage. We're heading for Hertfordshire but then Bedford has caught my eye.

Are the upper schools good? If we scrimped and saved we could afford private secondary.. are they well thought of?

What's the community like?

Are kids happy growing up there?

Husband would commute to Blackfriars. We need more space and would like good schools... the age old dilemma.

Is Bedford a wise move? Or would we regret it?

I live in bedford. Perfectly commutable. There are some lovely areas and some not ( as with anywhere). Same with schools. Some good, some not.atne look at a visllage just outside it though.

Yes, it was a good move. Commute on Thameslink means you can get to Blackfriars direct from Bedford. We actually live in a village. Lovely community, caring schools, rural feel and 10 minutes to the station. Most schools are currently moving towards primary/secondary instead of 3-tier. Private schools,especially Bedford School and Bedford
Girl's School have a good reputation. Bedford has most things you want on a day to day basis and Milton Keynes isn't too far away when you want a bit more variety and excitement.

Thanks both. Which villages are the best considering commuting and schools? Thank you for this!

Milton Ernest, Sharnbrook, Oakley and Felmersham are nice villages north of Bedford. They all have lower schools. Sharnbrook has an upper school with a good reputation. Oakley has a good middle school. Both of these will become secondary schools next year. Oakley is the closest of these villages to the station.

Depends on ages but yes these villages are nice. Lots of new builds happening if that is your thing. I used to work in London Victoria and good thing anbout bedford is you can have option if fast train with midland mainline and slower one (and with a definite seat) on first capital. Lots of people commute

Oakley, Milton Ernest pavenhsm felmersham all great with excellent school catchment :) easy for commuting trains or driving :)

All the North Beds villages are great for families if you want rural, with good schools too. My kids love that they can walk 5 minutes and be in fields watching red kites, buzzards, foxes, deer, etc. and can drink milk from cows they can shout "'moo" to. The Bedford Harpur Trust independent schools - Bedford School (boys), Bedford Girls School, Bedford Modern (coed), Pilgrims (pre-prep) are exceptional. I'd second the usefulness of having both fast (East Midlands) and slow (Thameslink) train lines - different tracks so if one is delayed/shut then the other is usually still running.

Thanks everyone! Whittling it down to Bedford, Harpenden or Bishop's Stortford. Ahhh!

Harpenden is v expensive, but if you're moving from London it might not seem it. Personally I find BS a bit isolated, geographically. There isn't much around it other than the airport, and it's a bit of a pain to get to as lots of windy A roads.

I agree Sharnbrook is nice, and there are plenty of good parts of Bedford too.

BS has great schools but lots of pressure on places. And whilst the surrounding countryside is really pretty the actual town is a bit bland imo. But then I'm a funny one and need either small market town or proper full on big city!

I'm looking to move to Bedford too.

Seen some new build homes in Biddenham and Kempston. Is anything bad in this area?

Check the plans for changing some of the early fast trains, might make commuting difficult assuming they go through.

Have you looked at Harlington on same line as Bedford. Great village community and outstanding schools.

Harlington means no need for a car to commute to station, really lovely pubs lots of community clubs , 20 min to Bedford, 25 to mk. Outstanding schools in village . Don’t want you to overlook it!!

Thank you all , Harlington way overpriced for our budget , I need to find out what is wrong with Biddenham and Kempston its only 8 min drive to a station , beside that I only need to travel to London 4 times a month.

I presume there is only one outstanding school , what about crime rate drugs and things like that , any one know ,please reply.

Fair enough, I only mentioned it as it’s a lot cheaper than Harpendon that was on your short list. If your looking at Kempston there are some nice villages close by. Have a look at wootton and wixams, both have lots of new housing and good schools. From what I know though Kempston is nice as well, certainly not somewhere you need to avoid.

Biddenham is lovely as is Bromham, both are better than Kempston.

However Kempston and Kempston Rural do have some lovely bits.

We live in one of the villages in north Bedfordshire. Best decision ever. I drive to way down south (3 hours each way) DH drives to London