Moving to Woodbridge, Suffolk

[Kpa79]

Hi all,
Myself and family are looking to move to Woodbridge area from SE London. I grew up in Ufford and went to school in Woodbridge so it holds good memories for me but it was over 25 years ago when I left! I have a lovely set of friends in London and love being able to access good restaurants, theatre etc. but want to bring my kids up somewhere a bit calmer and safer. I know Woodbridge is a lovely place but worry I will miss the access to things in London and how easy will it be to make friends etc. Has anyone made the move? What are the restaurants, pubs like? Is there entertaining things to do on weekend/evenings etc.

Hi there, I work in Woodbridge and have a good friend who lives there.
I think it’s a lovely place, quite a few nice pubs, coffee shops and great independent boutiques. I find the people friendly and it doesn’t seem too quiet/ sleepy in the evenings, there is a nice buzz.
My friend absolutely loves living there, she‘s made several friends since moving there couple of years ago.
I also have the feeling there are quite a few people in Woodbridge who have moved there recently, often from London or other cities.
I could definitely imagine living there and I‘ve lived in cities most of my life.

Hi Kpa79, I just wondered if you had made the move to Woodbridge yet and if so, how you've found it?

I'm in the same boat....myself and my husband (and 1 year old son) currently live in SE London and have just received an offer on our house and are looking to move to Woodbridge. My husband has 2 teenage children who live in Suffolk and we want to be closer to them, and also have a safer place for our son to grow up in. I've been to Woodbridge a few times and it seems to be a lovely town, but I'm freaking out about relocating to somewhere so different to London. I've also checked and can't seem to find many baby/toddler groups so am worried in case there's not much to do!

@byelondon we moves to Woodbridge a few months ago. Previously we lived just outside Cambridge.

I'm a different age group as our dc are adults, but there are loads of baby and toddler groups going on that I've noticed, and I'm not looking out for them! There are four primary schools so loads of children's activities going on.

We love it here.

We kept a boat in the marina at Woodbridge. We also had a swing mooring on the Deben. It’s a fabulous place, I love it. The area around the Deben is truly beautiful.

@Manyandyoucanwalkover that sounds amazing.

@byelondon Woodbridge isn't going to be like London, but presumably that's part of the appeal? There's a lovely vibe here that suits us. Plus it seems to be on the "circuit" for speakers and writers. We saw Jarvis Cocker in December talking about his memoir that's just been published. Victoria Hislop also came as part of her book promotion. I didn't go because I'm not a fan of her books, but friends did and enjoyed it.

Obviously if you want museums, big shows etc you need to go to London but that's quite easy to do on the train.

Thanks so much for your reply. My main worry was that there isn't much going on for babies/toddlers but you've put my mind at rest there. I'd been looking online and hadn't found much but I should probably join a local FB group when we move.
Now we have the baby we don't go into central London too much so I'm not concerned about theatre/gigs etc but it's great to know Woodbridge has events on (I'd have loved to have seen Jarvis)!
We were in Woodbridge on Friday looking at a house and it had a great feel and everyone I spoke to was lovely and friendly. I'm feeling much more positive now....just keeping everything crossed we get the house we've offered on!

There are a couple of Woodbridge & Melton FB groups. I'm sure if you join those and ask about baby activities people will advise.

The library has quite a few events for under 5s including at least one singing group for babies as I was in there once when it was on. Melton Pavilion has a baby and toddler group one morning a week, I often walk my dog on Melton Recreation ground when it's on. There's probably loads of other stuff going on. As I said, there are 4 primaries in total (two in Woodbridge, two in Melton) so there must be loads of toddlers in the area to sustain the schools each year IYSWIM. Which will mean lots of baby/toddler activities.

Good luck with the house offer.

Hi, just wondering if your offer got accepted?

Yes it did! All being well we'll be moving in around 6/7 weeks. We will be about 15 mins walk from Woodbridge town centre. Just hoping it all goes smoothly and there's no issues with surveys etc

that's fantastic news! You'll love it here. We moved here at the end of 22 and its great. We are also about 15 minutes from the town centre, 5 minutes from.the river.

Feel free to DM me if you want to ask anything.

Thank you so much! And huge thanks for the groups you gave details about....I checked out the library and the Melton group and they look perfect

Sorry to jump on this thread but we are in the same boat! My husband and I are hoping to move from SW London to Melton/Woodbridge this summer with our 4 and 2 year old children. We're very sociable, enjoy getting out and doing things at weekends, and would love to know if there's a friendly community with lots of families/family activities?

We haven't yet moved yet as there's a problem with our buyer but we're keeping everything crossed we'll be in for summer 🤞I'm following quite a few Woodbridge business pages on insta and there's seems lots going on and quite a few playgrounds etc x