Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Property/DIY

Join our Property forum for renovation, DIY, and house selling advice.

Boston lincs....really that bad?

174 replies

mklanch · 14/07/2020 13:16

hi all, i have been on my house search for over a year now!
we have a budget of £325k (possibly 350k for perfect property)
we want a house/bungalow with around 1 acre of land to continue my small holding.(more that 1 acre would be a dream) we don't have an area preference and are willing to relocate as my husband works from home.
we have 2 children (11 and 8) so schools must be good.
we cant find anything! every time we see something we like it sells or they are not willing to accept offers.
so i have seen a few houses in boston, lincolnshire that seem perfect but having had a look through a few previous forums on here i get the impression its not a great area, nothing to do and smells of cabbage!
can anyone give me either advice on boston or advice on other areas that are nice where we can get what we want on our budget.
(husband has said no to rural wales, scotland and yorkshire)
thank you :)

OP posts:
VeniVidiWeeWee · 03/05/2021 20:25

I suspect that the op has either moved by now or given up on the idea.

Bluesheep8 · 04/05/2021 06:43

Um no. I would not recommend east anglia as a place to live. There is a reason the houses are cheap.

East Anglia? Boston is in Lincolnshire. It'd be bleak, desolate and miserable though, whichever county it was in.

CurlyChenille · 04/05/2021 06:50

@Bluesheep8

Um no. I would not recommend east anglia as a place to live. There is a reason the houses are cheap.

East Anglia? Boston is in Lincolnshire. It'd be bleak, desolate and miserable though, whichever county it was in.

Lincolnshire is a county, East Anglia is a region.

I grew up in Boston - what a depressingly true thread. Confused

mklanch · 04/05/2021 10:49

@VeniVidiWeeWee

I suspect that the op has either moved by now or given up on the idea.
nope lol!!! im still searching!
OP posts:
mklanch · 04/05/2021 10:57

@VeniVidiWeeWee

I suspect that the op has either moved by now or given up on the idea.
covid hit then house prices went crazy!! i got priced out of Lincolnshire! every house I've tried to get I've had someone offer something ridiculous over the asking price! my budget is now £400,000 but i still cant find anything! i need a minimum of 1 acre....willing to relocate anywhere (other than wales, yorkshire or scotland)
OP posts:
Bluesheep8 · 04/05/2021 11:48

...willing to relocate anywhere (other than wales, yorkshire or scotland)

I was going to say that your budget would get you a beautiful property with land in West Yorkshire but then saw that Yorkshire's out....

Allthatechoes · 04/05/2021 12:15

Some areas of Cheshire are nice OP, have you tried there?

MeanderingGently · 04/05/2021 12:18

Personally, having been acquainted with Lincolnshire in the past, I would give it a miss. It has some very cheap housing and yes, it's countryside, but it's flat, bleak and depressing. Truly, it really is.
For about a month in the year it's sunny and quietly rural, for the rest of the time the flatness is awful. It's farming country but very arable, so yes, the fields are full of cabbages and potatoes, muddy for much of the year....not so many animals (eg. nothing like the lovely sheep filled hills of the Cotswolds).

Because the area is flat, the winds whip in and it can get very cold, even in the summer. Facilities are few and far between so the hospitals are poor, you have to drive for miles and miles for shops, for things for the children to do or just for the kids to see friends. Small children are bussed to school in the remotest parts from age 5 and so have very long days.

Boston itself is dreadful. It's run down and there is a lot of crime. The local people are very traditional and don't like change, there isn't a good population mix. However, there are overseas workers who come in for the farm work, and there have been clashes between them and the locals who don't like "foreigners". In addition, there is a high proportion of mental illness in the area. This is because Boston hospital is the only large facility for miles around so all the problem cases are sent there. They are then housed in the surrounding area to be near to the hospital and this causes an imbalance in the health of the local population.

Spalding isn't much better, it is another remote and bleak area situated in the middle of the "fens".

Lincoln itself is slightly better. The cathedral and original town buildings are picturesque and sit on the only high spot in the county. As one previous Bishop described the city : a nice cathedral sitting in 1000 square miles of bugger all !! Lincoln also has has a surprisingly high rate of drug usage, owing to it (and the county) being served by the A1as a drug trafficking corridor...rural 'county lines' drug problems are rife.

You will get cheap housing all over the East Midlands, Nottinghamshire is good (but watch out for some areas and there is crime and a high student population in the city itself) Leicestershire is utterly beautiful countryside although I would avoid Leicester itself and the A46 corridor.

Emilyontmoor · 04/05/2021 12:48

Just as a matter of interest why absolutely not Yorkshire when you are leaving Lincolnshire in the mix? If it is distance from London then it is the same journey time by train, two hours to Doncaster / York by train and not a great deal longer in time, aside from when there are traffic delays, by car. Is Lancashire not similarly beyond the pail?

From what I gather the Covid factor has sent prices upwards there too so it is probably academic but there actually are many things to recommend many places there that would make them attractive for your needs and worth contemplating. I wouldn’t hesitate if I wanted land in a rural setting. I have actually studied in London with someone who travelled down weekly from a North Yorkshire village. I cannot imagine ever contemplating a move to Boston 😨

Bluesheep8 · 04/05/2021 13:08

Just as a matter of interest why absolutely not Yorkshire

I'm wondering the same.

ActuallyIveGotDental · 04/05/2021 14:01

Wow... some of the comments on this thread! People can be so nasty!

I grew up in the Boston area, went away to uni, came straight back there when I could. Officially my village comes under Sleaford rather than Boston but it's lovely. We have fantastic facilities, amazing schools, travel for hospitals but it means it's easier to get varied referrals.

I'd never go back to city/big town living, love large villages.

mklanch · 04/05/2021 14:02

to answer all the yorkshire questions.

i actually love yorkshire and think the countryside is lovely. my husband would prefer to not go further than about 2-2.5 hours drive from bedfordshire. As all our family are there. also i have a friend from yorkshire and she said that anyone children in school from down south are bullied alot.
my eldest has struggled alot already with bullying so i wouldn't want to stress her out more.
i wouldnt mind areas of suggestion though. or property suggestions.
is new york, lincoln a decent area?

OP posts:
userchange856 · 04/05/2021 15:27

OP tread very carefully getting location recommendations from MN, I know people mean well but postcode snobbery is rife on MN, if your priority is a small holding then a lot of what people don't like about some areas probably isn't applicable to you. I'm from near Stamford, it always gets mentioned on threads like this on this area, it is a beautiful town but I wouldn't live in it for anything, traffic is an absolute nightmare, secondary schools choices are quite limited (unless you can pay private) and you then have to pay at least £100,000 more than other houses in the area just to live in a town with cobbled streets. To me, it's completely not worth it (but lovely to visit). I ended up moving to a town MN hates, if I name it, it would get the same vitriol as Boston, but it has excellent schools, all the amenities I require, a really friendly community, it's well located and housing is cheap here comparatively. It's just not very pretty, but we are quite happy to jump in the car on weekends to find pretty places! Covid made us reassess our lives, so long as schools and local transport are good, we know we can make anywhere work (we've moved around a lot) so it made total sense for us to break the cardinal sin and choose house over location, because the house that we are in all the time.

I'm not saying move to Boston, I don't know much about it, but I guess I'm just saying ask yourself specific questions and then work out if an area works for you. If an area can tick your check list off, don't get pulled in by postcode snobbery.

mklanch · 04/05/2021 16:00

@userchange856

OP tread very carefully getting location recommendations from MN, I know people mean well but postcode snobbery is rife on MN, if your priority is a small holding then a lot of what people don't like about some areas probably isn't applicable to you. I'm from near Stamford, it always gets mentioned on threads like this on this area, it is a beautiful town but I wouldn't live in it for anything, traffic is an absolute nightmare, secondary schools choices are quite limited (unless you can pay private) and you then have to pay at least £100,000 more than other houses in the area just to live in a town with cobbled streets. To me, it's completely not worth it (but lovely to visit). I ended up moving to a town MN hates, if I name it, it would get the same vitriol as Boston, but it has excellent schools, all the amenities I require, a really friendly community, it's well located and housing is cheap here comparatively. It's just not very pretty, but we are quite happy to jump in the car on weekends to find pretty places! Covid made us reassess our lives, so long as schools and local transport are good, we know we can make anywhere work (we've moved around a lot) so it made total sense for us to break the cardinal sin and choose house over location, because the house that we are in all the time.

I'm not saying move to Boston, I don't know much about it, but I guess I'm just saying ask yourself specific questions and then work out if an area works for you. If an area can tick your check list off, don't get pulled in by postcode snobbery.

thank you for your reply. i didnt know postcode snobbery was a thing! i have noticed alot of peoples negatiives are having children in such rural areas as you have to drive them everywhere. that is not an issue for us at all. flat land also is not an issue. i don't want sloped land. i have to admit this thread made me question where im should be looking to live. its going to be our forever home and i dont want to make the wrong choice
OP posts:
jaundicedoutlook · 04/05/2021 18:45

I had to go there for work purposes a few years ago and I have to say I found it a truly discouraging place. One of the turnip towns of Brexitland.

CurlyChenille · 04/05/2021 18:50

COVID has hastened Boston's decline too - lots of shops have closed, including the independent department store which really made the town centre a destination.

I have a big soft spot for nearby Horncastle and Woodhall Spa though!

garlictwist · 04/05/2021 18:57

"Yorkshire" is a vast area - very diverse in terms of scenery, housing and travel links etc.

Fixitup2 · 04/05/2021 18:58

I’m in the north west and wouldn’t believe the bullying around accents from the south. I have a lot of family in north Lincolnshire and it’s ok. Quite insular, right wing and there isn’t much to do without a minimum of an hours drive. Is there anything in Lancashire? I know it’s further from Bedfordshire but it’s beautiful!

ConcreteUnderpants · 04/05/2021 19:09

I actually like Lincolnshire! There are so many good points, it really depends on what is important to you.
If you want the rural isolation, then why not Sleaford etc? Would it really matter that the buses are shit?
Some people on here would mark a town down if it had no NCT club.
You need to work out what you want, what you intend to do then go from there.

mklanch · 04/05/2021 19:23

ideally we need 3 bedrooms (with room to expand if we needed).
at least 1 acre (more woud be great)
good schools in catchment.
we have a car so transport is not a problem
but the internet has to be decent as my husband works from home and its all computer based. it doesnt have to be super fast though.

i love the Lincolnshire wolds but house there with land are out of our price range!

OP posts:
Pippin2028 · 04/05/2021 19:40

Lincoln is nice (I haven't been for a few years but from what I remember it's a lovely small city) Boston is just not the place to be, property is cheap for a reason. I've heard from Polish friends that even well known Polish Internet personalities in the UK have said Boston is just a no go area, which is quite funny but so true and depressing. I went through Boston a few months ago and it's like another land and world, that time has forgotten.

mklanch · 04/05/2021 19:42

@Pippin2028

Lincoln is nice (I haven't been for a few years but from what I remember it's a lovely small city) Boston is just not the place to be, property is cheap for a reason. I've heard from Polish friends that even well known Polish Internet personalities in the UK have said Boston is just a no go area, which is quite funny but so true and depressing. I went through Boston a few months ago and it's like another land and world, that time has forgotten.
what about the villages on the outskirts of boston?
OP posts:
Pippin2028 · 04/05/2021 19:47

I do have a close friend on a village about 6 miles outside of Boston, but her family is well known there, I get the impression you have to be local or well known to truly fit it to the area (again my perspective so I could be wrong). But it's not so friendly to outsiders, although from what I've seen some of the villages are idylic, but again Boston is like a forgotten pocket of the UK, and I think a few visits to the area and surrounding areas is worthwhile just to make sure its for you if you were to consider it

maryjosephandtheweedonkey · 04/05/2021 19:49

Baby Jake (CBeebies) windmill is in Boston :) I’ve driven through a few times and never got a good ‘feel’ for it.
Stamford is lovely but pricey in comparison to the rest of Lincolnshire. Bourne is cheaper and a good option imo. Market Deeping is a nice little market town but is more a part of Peterborough (just on the outskirts) than a ‘proper’ town in its own right.

userchange856 · 04/05/2021 19:55

Market Deeping is a nice little market town but is more a part of Peterborough (just on the outskirts) than a ‘proper’ town in its own right.

Eh? There's like 9 miles between MD and Peterborough, MD doesn't feel anything like Peterborough.

Swipe left for the next trending thread