Moving to DERBY from NORWICH

[MaverickTee]

Hi everyone,

My first post on here:)
My family is looking to move to Derby early Next year. DP will be working as a GP and we've got a 5yo DD and 1yo DS. We are mainly moving because of Diversity, being a family of colour, DD is struggling with not having a good mix of kids in her school etc, especially 'those that look like her' and this is starting to have an adverse effect. We are particular about GOOD SCHOOLS (especially Primary), family friendly, peaceful/quiet areas with good multicultural mix and facilities...

I hope we find nice places that tick most (or all) of our boxes.
Suggestions will be appreciated. Thanks in advance!

@Imdoingitnow

Spondon is quite pleasant in fact the villages near the a52 between Derby and Nottingham may be worth considering like ockbrook borrowash, draycott, breaston Toton etc

Derby has some real gems of parks - markeaton allestree park and Darley park.
Duffield belper Ashbourne are nice towns near Derby

Derby and derbyshire is generally a laid back friendly tolerant place. I've lived in several places including London and small towns too and I find it really accepting and welcoming

Toton generally is nice and close knit with a decent amount going on for the kids... schools are good and feed up into George Spencer who have a solid reputation.

I'd seriously avoid Ripley though - from what I hear the area's gotten worse since I worked out that way.

Oh yes and my usual proviso - check the HS2 route plans with wherever you're looking.

I'd avoid anywhere in the Spondon or Oakwood vicinity, too close to Chaddesden.

Langley Country Park is directly next door to what was once Europe's largest council estate, again I'd avoid. Full of boy racers and white van men. Quite rough too, you wouldn't want to be going into Mackworth estate to visit their pubs or shops.

Littleover and Mickleover both okayish but you might be better off in one of the nicer surrounding villages, most of the areas of the city itself are quite deprived and the city centre is half boarded up and verging on a ghost town.

Hi, I was just coming on to say apologies to the earlier poster, but advise you definitely avoid Ripley. It's affordable, and there are some okay bits but it's generally quite run down.

Agree with Belper for good community feel, not very diverse but a warm and welcoming town. Duffield as others said is lovely but pricey due to school catchment. Allestree fine, there are some lovely roads and houses but also very large areas of identical houses.

Spondon good for transport links, access to town, some useful little shops, but again, not very diverse.

Good luck, it is exciting but also must be quite daunting!

I think most areas are diverse.

The Drs that I work with live in Chellaston (the Bonnie prince Estate) Melbourne (beautiful village on the outskirts), Mickleover/littleover/Langley Country Park.

The consultants tend to live over Duffield, Matlock Bath way.

You'll get a nice house with that budget!

Allestree nice that house on memorial road is directly opposite a 500 house development. We live here. It's lovely. Good schools, good commuter links. Good luck!!

Also agree with derbyshiremama about the city centre and surrounding areas, I think she's said what the rest of us have glossed over...

Ripley is fine 🙄. It’s an ex mining town like the many others around here. It’s Belper’s poor relation. Belper is pretty and in a world heritage site but knowing both towns extremely well, Belper has its fair share of problems too.

Yes your right, it is Belper poor relation! I live in Holbrook and it’s a great village, it’s very slowly getting diverse so maybe in a hundreds years we will get there but there so many beautiful villages in the area I’m sure you’ll be spoilt for choice! Does anyone know how much the new builds are going for across from the old sunlight factory? They actually look beautiful for new builds

Spondon is more of aseparate village - but further out, whereas Litleover and Mickleover aer very close to the centre / train station so feel like nice suburbs.

and the city centre is half boarded up - do you mean like most large towns in (still) covid times? Just being in the centre last Saturday - busier than ever and it really is not half-boarded up, the SAdler's gate busy with all the indie shops, etc
Derby really is getting investment finally - do you know that they've just started building a mega entertainment venue in the city centre off Abbey St? Look it up - much bogger capacity music etc venue than the Assemby Rooms of the past.
Market Hall getting a several million redevelopment - will still bew a market but much more to it, more foodie etc.
They've opened hte large outdoor eating area near market place - haven't ben there bt they report that it's full on weekends.
Derby Museum is very good for a small city, and so is the beautiful, light Cathedral. Recently some artisan coffee shops have appeared (though not all survived covid). Yes, it's limited by its size

I'm just a but fed up of people dissing Derby centre as it's half boarded up - have you been there recently? For a small town it's doing better than many and now they've really started to invest. Also the derelict site near Community hospital is being built-up with new houses and that will have patk/cafe area too.
This is the time to buy because prices are low for housing in many areas, but they aer set to rise once all these new projects come to fruition.

And agree with a pp - there is a definite lack of GP's as it's getting busier, OP. I'd go for Littleover - charming and peaceful yet diverse, great school, and has a useful small High St. 10min to the centre by bus and hospital nearby.

*bit further out (Spondon)

I meant 'large town' not 'small', sorry for all other typos (too late in the night!)

Definitely agree that Littleover/Heatherton are very diverse. I often drive through when it's school kicking out time and the kids are all different races/ethnicities. It's a nice area and lots of new houses being built.

Yy Heatherton is a good shout, Griffe Field is a good primary school and the area has a good community feel and is ethnically diverse too

If I had £400k to spend I'd be in Littleover but I am biased as I grew up there

I went to Littleover Community School, it had a diverse school population even back in the late 80s as it has/had? a varied catchment area. It's been a consistently strong school for quite a while.

Derby is generally pretty diverse and welcoming and we definitely need more GPs!

smurfmonkey I did some nightclasses there back in the 90s and it was great, miles better than my own secondary school!

I don’t think Derby is that diverse? LCS is diverse due to its varied catchment but I wouldn’t consider that generally true of littleover. But it is considered a good school.

I think littleover, mickleover, duffield and allestree as nice places to bring up a family. It’s where we would be looking next!

I think Derby is very diverse. You only have to walk round the city centre to see that. However, I do think the most diverse areas are the areas OP will want to avoid, in all honesty, mainly due to a higher crime rate, drugs, etc.

Avoid Oakwood... lovely houses but no community feel. No secondary school and a single form intake primary school that only takes from about 20 adjacent streets.

Spondon is nice and has a couple of good primaries and an outstanding secondary. Mainly white, lower working class, Tory MP but not not diverse if you get me. No idea what PP is on about with it being further out - less than 10 mins drive into city centre and lots of buses.

Littleover, Mickleover and parts of Chellaston probably make most sense for you. Easy access to the A50 for Birmingham, Leicester and still not too far from Nottingham. Good schools. Personally Heatherton feels too "housing estatey" to me but there are nice houses.

Allestree is nice but quite an aging population and check if it's Woodlands or Ecclesbourne catchment.

Ooh now I'd disagree about Oakwood not having a community feel. The local residents association does some brilliant stuff, for example there was a scarecrow trail a few months ago and one at halloween. I think the community spirit has definitely improved since covid hit ironically!

But I do agree it's not great for the schools, they really didn't think that bit through very well!

Logging in to object to the Chaddesden bashing - I live on a lovely road in Chaddesden in beautiful house, great neighbours, we have a lovely park, my children go to a fantastic (reasonably diverse) primary school with an excellent head teacher and will go to an outstanding secondary school in Spondon so please don't tar all of Chaddesden with the same brush.

@Oldmrswasherwoman Chad and proud here too! But it needs to be the Cherry Tree end for West Park, Lees Brook and Da Vinci are still not great on paper. £400000 for a 4 bed wouldn't happen in Chad though, hardly any 4 beds are there?!

I grew up in Spondon. It's a real village (though expanded) unlike Oakwood which didn't exist until about 30 years ago.

My brother is still there. It's an easy drive into the city, but with a character of its own. It also has a really good range of houses of different ages. Some really lovely ones of you want a character home.

@FakeFruitShoot sadly not, you need to defect to Spondon for a bigger house...

Hope you find somewhere suitable OP.

I agree with Littleover, Mickleover and Allestree as great areas to look at. I’ve lived in Oakwood, Borrowash, Shardlow and the city centre and agree avoid Oakwood due to the school issues. Spondon has a good secondary but not that nice an area. Chester green is quite a nice area close to the centre but not sure which school catchment it’s in.