What are Thetford/Brandon like to live in?

[katymac]

Any & all information appreciated (not about schools DD is 19)

Thanks

Mother (recently widowed) & daughter (not yet independent)

So I may well end up doing every other weekend with them

I work in Finance and there are jobs available in Ely, Waterbeach and Cambridge. All easily commutable either by car or train. Trains a lot easier if going into Cambridge. There's two stations in Cambridge so job options available in north and south of the city. When I worked in Cambridge I commuted by train for £115 a month from Ely. Nice quick 15 minute journey. I work in London now and miss my old commute.

Also you can book train tickets to London for £7 in advance and stansted is 50 minutes on the train. I actually got rid of my car because I found the public transport so good I just wasn't using it.

Ely is a long way from Great Yarmouth though, I wouldn't fancy driving there regularly.

That's true takes about 1 hour 40 on a good run for us. We have family over there.

At the moment I am doing yarmouth to basildon several times a month which is 2 & 1/4 so not quite 1 hr 40 is much better 35/40 mins less

Diss would possibley be better tho or Sudbury

I wish Rightmove had a more sensitive mapping system

Katymac Zoopla do a driving distance advanced search, you could try that for both locations and then cross reference to find suitable locations?

Swaffham always looks quite nice when I drive through. Thetford isn't great. I used to live in Diss, it's ok.

Diss is more "between" Gy and London than thetford is. Diss is really nice, although it's slowly becoming rougher like everywhere else really. We've been here 10 years after moving from South London - when I say rough I mean the occasional burglary - not south London type rough!

My dh used to live in thetford. It's about 20 mins in the car from Diss. We go there for a McDonald's (our nearest one) and a browse round the shops but I wouldn't live there. Way rougher than Diss etc.

Norwich is lovely if you can afford it but obviously it's much pricier. We have a lot of days out in Norwich, it's our nearest main shopping centre / malls etc.

Ooo exciting (think I am approaching a sad level of excitement about new technology)

We could afford Sprowston I guess

But I think we wanted it to be easier to get to the west end theatres (or more realistically get home more easily)

Unless you've got your heart set on Norfolk, Ipswich is well located - straight down the A12 takes you to the outskirts of London, you can park at Redbridge tube really cheaply which is literally at the end of the A12. In the other direction the same road takes you as far as Lowestoft so only a few more miles to Yarmouth.

Ipswich is weird as fuck. It's like you've gone back in time.

Sprowston and you're basically in Norwich; getting out by car in the morning takes HOURS. Swaffham or Dereham? They both have perfectly lovely bits.

But longer to London from those two I guess what with them being A47 rather than A11, but good for Yarmouth.

TBH I really wantto leave Norwich/Norfolk

Ely is possible I'd rather go to London than Yarmouth, so is Ipswich (although I can't get a handle one it really - it has always seemed unusual to me), or Bury St Edmunds & Diss, but Manningtree, Colchester, Braintree & Sudbury seem more likely somehow

Braintree isn't the nicest town and Colchester is full of drugs and a lot of drinking in the town at night.
Colchester also has the most aggressive drivers if ever encountered in my life
I prefer the A14 to driving in Colchester!

So basically I can't live anywhere.....

Are parts of Ipswich nice?

Ipswich is fine. It was a bit closed off but now there's a university and lots of regeneration and a nice waterfront it's not a bad place. East Ipswich a bit nicer, some of the surrounding villages are lovely as well. Grundisburgh Woodbridge way.

You could do worse than Felixstowe for a seaside town, I get what you were saying about Clacton but again, Thorpe and Frinton are both nice areas.

Brantham is heading slightly more Essex way but is nice and close to Manningtree for trains to London.

Agree with everyone else about Norwich, it's a lovely place to live.

I've PMd you OP.

Sorry just saw you have ruled out Norwich. Ignore me. Happy for you to pm with any questions OP, I'm fairly well acquainted with Ipswich Colchester and surrounding areas.

Thanks all - I'll keep looking

The only thing Brandon and Thetford are good for is dogging. Totally not joking.

If you would like to know what thetford has today & not wen ppl used to live there...
There are family pubs & restuarants,
A cinema (which u can drink in)
Cycle paths
High lodge just outside
Tescos/ sainsburys
Town Center
New look
Costa
Peacocks
Argos
3x museums
Sports Center
Healthy living Center
Dentist
2x doctor surgerys
Library and other things iv prob forgot lol
One side of town has 3 council estates & the other is more private owned.
Its really worth just googling it, theres so much history if ur into that sort of thing aswell.