London to East Anglia, but where?

[BluOcty]

We've been wanting to leave London for a while now, and DH got a job in Cambridge, so we thought we would move there.

But since he accepted the job, the whole office has gone fully remote. He only needs to be in Cambridge for two meetings a month, opening up a much wider area. Which helps with our budget!

Any recommendations for areas for city people with within c1hour of Cambridge? Budget of £400k ish (£450k at a push). 2 kids at primary school that would need to transfer. Would love a garden.

We're leaving an incredibly diverse, busy area of zone 2. We're seeking a quieter life, but it might be a stretch to go straight to a rural location. Also I don't drive might take me a while to learn.

Thanks for any tips, we don't know where to start.

Cambridge is super expensive equivalent to parts of london. You’ve got options on the train lines plenty of small towns you want to look atPeterborough, Kings Lynn, Norwich lines.

You really need to learn to drive as soon as you leave London, a car is a necessity especially in east Anglia which is fairly spread out and to get anywhere you need a car. Your life would be extremely restricted without a car unless you live in Cambridge and can cycle but for £400k you won’t get much.

Either Cambridge itself or St Ives.

Lovely market town, great for kids, good primary school - secondary is going through a rough patch but other options are now available via the guided bus. Easy commute into Cambridge, easy journey back to London via Huntingdon.

Some current options

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/123777266

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/121979072

Bury St Edmunds

Ely is lovely

Norwich Stamford?

You could look at the villages outside Cambridge or Saffron Walden
Norwich is nice but over an hour from Cambridge

Ely - it’s always been nice but there
have been lots of recent improvements, plus it has good train connections so you could just about manage not being able to drive.

St Ives is a good call.

Bury St Edmunds

We recently made the move too. From 18yrs in a flat between zone 1-2 to a detached house with 1/3 acre garden in a coastal town in East Anglia. Not close enough to be within an hour of Cambridge, so I can't recommend places, other than possibly Ely? Although I don't know the housing market there.

The peace and quiet moving here and actually hearing birds is lovely. Quality of life has improved no end. We are, however, renovating a derelict property and living in a static caravan, but that is another thing!

One thing I have noticed though is the reliance on a car. In london, I used public transport everywhere and only used the car to visit relatives outside London where train wasn't easy. Our local train at the new place comes hourly for most of the day! I'm driving 90% more than I ever needed to do. I can walk to shops in 15mins- but they are local, express type stores. I could drive before, but I'd seriously start getting lessons, or looking for an area with excellent transport links. The move it with the upheaval though.

I have a friend who lives in Sawbridgeworth it's lovely. 40 minute drive to Cambridge or trains are easy. Simple trip back to London if wanted too.

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/124313720#/?channel=RES_BUY

You will mostly need to drive in East Anglia. I live in Essex now, PIL Suffolk, grandparents, aunt/uncle cousins in Norfolk. We've still moved out of London, you'll find most of your neighbours probably will have too! (Less so in Norfolk) Public transport even from North Essex up, is poor. Essex does have done outstanding grammars of that's a route you would look at an some of the villages mid/north are lovely

Another vote for Bury St Edmunds: good schools, lovely town, good access to the coast or by rail into London, and only 45 mins from Cambridge.

Another thing to look at is the transport for DH to get to Cambridge. From most parts of East Anglia- unless he drives, he'd need a train to go back to london, then back out again to Cambridge. Fine as the crow flies, but in practice- not easy at all!

The other corridor with direct trains to Cambridge is Baldock/Letchworth/Welwyn/Hitchin.

I drive from Shefford to Letchworth for the train (or get a lift) and walk to the office. An hour door to door.

Much as I love Norfolk I would think about your day to day lives and not get too distracted by lovely detached houses with beautiful garden.
We lived in a coastal part of Suffolk when the DC were tiny and it quickly became apparent that I would be living in the car and greatly reducing my work opportunities by living there ( we had moved for DH's job). Now the DC are grown up I would be very happy to live in a remote part of norfolk or Suffolk but whilst working I would strongly advise that you factor in every day life. At Ives or Bury sound lovely.

If dh could stretch to 75mins train from Norwich to cambs then Norwich would be good.
city vibes with lots of countryside surrounds. 30 mins from coast. Maybe you could try Bury St edmunds, thetford or Newmarket.
id avoid avoid kings Lynn or Peterborough though. Would be a bit of shock compared to London.

Came on to say Bury St Edmunds but see PPs have beaten me to it.

St Ives
St Neots
Bedfordshire
If you are used to the city then East Anglia may be a bit too rural, whereas these places have good public transport. There's a frequent bus from Bedford-Cambridge via St Neots, and there's a guided bus that runs along an off road track from St Ives to Cambridge.

East Anglia is a tough one if you're a city person (source: I'm a city person who grew up there!). You'll definitely want to learn to drive - even 5 miles out of Cambridge buses are infrequent and expensive. You could look at north Cambridge near Cambridge North station or along the guided busway? Public transport provision in the region is pretty awful. Ipswich would be fine - nothing fancy about it but it's quite liveable and convenient for both Cambs and London - and you could probably do quite nicely there for £400k. Bury St Edmunds is also fine but it is just a market town - not much happens there and it's fairly expensive.

Ely or Bury St Edmunds, the trains are better and more frequent from Ely to Cambridge though. None of my friend drive in Ely and they all seem to get in just fine. It’s a very walkable little city, so it won’t matter if it takes you a little while to learn to drive. The primary schools are all excellent and the secondary has improved loads in the last few years.

400k gets you this about a 8 min walk from the station.

Bishops stortford. Straight shot to London or Cambridge on the train. Lovely town in its own right. Absolutely loads of building going on outside and around the town there right now so you wouldn't have to move too rurally, though its close to some beautiful countryside. Bit more affordable than places like Hitchin currently buts it's going up. Schools there are
Excellent.

Ely is around 15-20 minutes on the train to Cambridge (1hr 20 to London) and a lovely city, although property is getting more expensive as people move out of London/Cambridge.

You could probably make do without a car living there. However it would restrict you to the city itself. Public transport to the surrounding villages and towns such as Soham is not good.

Other options would be Newmarket or, slightly further out, Bury St Edmunds. Commutable to Cambridge but not as good a train line to get to London. Bury is the more picturesque.

Bury St Edmunds

Given most jobs aren’t for life I’d make sure that the commute to London also works so the Cambridge to Kings Cross line or Cambridge to Liverpool Street.