Moving to Derby or Nottingham Area

[jetstopreston]

Hi long time reader, first time poster but hoping to get some urgent help from you kind people 🙂

We are moving to the Nottingham or Derby area from SE London and have been looking to buy a house or Bungalow (preferably detached) for around 270k

My partner is WFH and I need to commute to London 2 days a week (either drive or train) . No kids (yet) so don't need schools, etc. Would like a country, suburban life as done the whole city vibe in London.

We've been to Belper and loved it however our budget didn't seem to stretch that far there.

We are a mixed race couple so would ideally like an area that feels inclusive and not staring glances every time we walk down the road! 😂

As the clocks ticking (landlord has just decided to put property up for sale) any recommendations would be appreciated 👍

Looking at heading up at the weekend to visit any recommended areas.

Thanks for your help

I think that price in a decent area would be quite difficult. Especially for a detached bungalow.

I live on the Derbyshire/Sheffield border. 600k and above for a detached bungalow.

Take a look around the Newark area. Still well priced housing, and Newark Northgate has direct links into Kings Cross in little over an hour.

Yes we are finding alot of this! 😂 there a few fixer uppers but not much else!

A few areas that estate agents have properties to view in our budget are mainly Nottingham area. Carlton, Sherwood, Chilwell, Arnold Allestree, Woodford, Beeston.

Carlton seems to be the most bang for our buck looking at what's been sent through but not really heard for the place

Have to look over Lincolnshire way

Grantham>Kings Cross in an 1.10hr

Look at Long Eaton on the Notts/derbys border. It’s not the most exciting of places but has a direct train link to London and is just off the M1. It is also easy to get to Derby or Nottingham.

Look around the stations: alfreton; chestefield; midlands parkway, repton, sudbury and surrounds for derby and burton. Also think about macclesfield station - macc is cheap. We live in the middle of the peaks but can leave at 6.00 and be at work by 8.30. Ditto opp direction from tansley to alfreton.
And lastly retford has a fast train too and cheaper - bawtry area.

Detached I would try and forget, there is a nice corridor in south derbyshire that runs alongside the A50 (so good links for road and major stations) from castle donnington/long eaton, through aston on trent, western on trent, swarkestone, barrow on trent, stenson, willington, findern, repton, egginton, etwall, hilton, tutbury, hatton, some are more expensive than others e.g repton and egginton can be very pricey but i still looked there (and nearly brought in repton) when i was buying on my own with a budget of 225 post divorce so it can be done, most are country but good sized villages so also suburban with good links

You don't need 600k for a detached bungalow in that area unless you are going for some sort of high luxury. 300k will probably get you the lower end of detached bungalows in the area around East Midlands Parkway. Bungalows in general do tend to be more expensive for what you get.

People won't stare at you that much but country life in any place is not going to be anything like London or city centres in terms of diversity. You can check the ethnic distribution of an area on the web.

The suggestion of near East Midlands parkway I think is a good one - there is a lot of work in that area and also eventually HS2, although we might all be retired by then.

If you move to Long Eaton it is NOT diverse minded.

Look at Beeston - good train to London and near the university which is a pretty diverse community. there is a nice little high street and plenty going on

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/139933697#/?channel=RES_BUY

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/137932553#/?channel=RES_BUY

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/141772787#/?channel=RES_BUY

Op wanted country life ,suburban. Im not sure beeston is that

Long Eaton's hit and miss - some really shitty bits, but we're basically on the Long Eaton/Toton border and it's pretty chilled out around here.

I think you'll struggle for the countryside element for your budget OP realistically. In terms of transport links - I used to use the Beeston London train to commute down to Leicester on a morning and it was OK (think it's 2 an hour) and a fair few people used it to get to London, or Long Eaton station - but the worst thing about LE is endless roadworks and it jams up so easily, so I always tend to use Beeston for trains. Tram network runs into Nottingham with Park and Rides, or I can be on the M1 in 5 minutes from where we are.

I'd avoid anywhere up Mansfield way (massive pockets of deprivation and the transport links are really crappy), Beeston has parts that are very very student-ified, Chilwell is OK from the bits I know, Attenborough might be nice if you can find something in the price bracket (big nature reserve there). Some of the villages on the A52 between Nottingham and Derby might be viable - it's been a while since I looked (we were buying about this point last year). Other areas around the M1 corridor around here - Stapleford (hit and miss and people get a bit eugh about it but we lived there for decades and it was fine up the top end near the trams), Sandiacre (similar), Toton (bit of a pocket of posh/thinks its posh), Bramcote. My kids go to school up the Bramcote side of town and there is a mix of ethnicities coming in and out of school (kids are at the age where they'd die of cringe if I actually went NEAR the school - I'm purely relegated to parental taxi driver now).

Nothing to add but just came on to say I used to live in Stapleford through the 70s. Great schools back then (Fairfield and George Spencer)
Beeston, Chilwell, Bramcote, all good areas.

Hi ,
just reading your post that you are from SE London.
we are in Croydon and have family in Morton.
we could be mortgage free if we move up. But I’m petrified I’ll hate it !!!!
my daughter is 22, and she’s not sure either.
I heard Duffield has a few Londoners.
please help !!!

Unless you move to West Bridgford you will struggle to meet ex Londoners.

West bridgford is the best place to be IMO, I'm from SE London (Bromley / Keston area) and moved here to go to uni 25 years ago, it's full of professionals and some locals, great area IMO. Come for the weekend, explore the town centre and the surrounding countryside and anytt t hung else that takes your fancy. Nottingham city is large enough for there to be great stuff and shops but small enough to be easy to navigate by foot. Loads of different clubs and groups. Join Facebook west bridgford page and see what comes up. There's lots to do and loads of restaurants, bars, coffee places, gyms, walks and the countryside is on your doorstep here

Thanks for the info. I read the crime is worse than Derby. Would you agree ?