Bedford vs Milton Keynes – is Bedford basically like Luton?

[MNfamily]

Hi all,

Would really appreciate some honest opinions.

We’re a couple in our early 30s expecting our first baby and have saved a £40k deposit. We’re realistically looking up to around £400k and hoping for a detached 3-bed. We can afford more but we don’t have a bigger deposit saved.

The places coming up in budget are mainly Luton (which we really don’t want — I went to uni there and didn’t love it), Milton Keynes (which seems to have conflicting views), and Bedford.

Bedford looks quite nice on paper, but it’s so close to Luton that I can’t help worrying it might feel similar? That’s probably unfair, but I don’t know the area well enough.

My family are in London/Surrey and husbands are in Lincolnshire so we need somewhere not too far from both.

We’re after somewhere safe and family-friendly with green space and decent schools. We’re not bothered about nightlife or being in the middle of everything. We also don’t have family nearby, so somewhere that feels like a nice community would be nice.

If you live in Bedford, what’s it actually like day to day? Does it feel anything like Luton, or completely different? And if anyone knows Milton Keynes too, how would you compare them ??

Open to other suggestions as well if there’s somewhere we’ve not thought about!

Thanks x

Buckingham is a very nice place to live, family friendly and has decent schools - I can give you more info

I echo Buckingham, close enough to MK for shopping, theatre etc, but not MK which is a bonus. Slightly more expensive because of grammar school, but you’d definitely get a decent 3 or 4 bed for your budget. I lived there until recently.

Also have a look at Towcester or Brackley - as soon as you get into a Northampton postcode you get more for your money. Both nice small market towns with lots of green space and still easy access to MK, Oxford, Banbury etc. for shopping/leisure.

I would say Bedford is better located for Lincolnshire.

I know Watford very well but sadly can’t afford a 3 bed detached only semi. I’m quite sold on sandy and Leighton buzzard, also looking at Cambridge Caldecote and Buckingham!

Cambridge is very expensive OP.

If you were underwhelmed by St Neots , I can't see what Sandy or even Leighton Buzzard would offer you. Both Bedford and MK are proper sizeable towns.

Sandy isn't especially nice to be honest.

I have lived in Bedford all my life and I can assure you that it is nothing like Luton. We may be 'close' in distance but it is still 20 miles. Milton Keynes was purpose built as a new town 60 years ago and although I sometimes go there to shop, I personally feel it has no soul. Bedford Town centre/shops is embarrassing awful but the river and independent shops are good. We have a good community, quite close knit and lots of things to do.

No, it isn't.

Buckingham is fab! Fantastic Grammar school, lovely town centre and Stowe gardens near by… love it. You are really only a few minutes up to Milton Keynes though as well for all amenities. I personally really like MK even though I live over the border in South Northants. So many fantastic green spaces, the Parks Trust do great work and all the shopping/cinemas/theatre etc. obviously some areas are a bit rough but do your research and there are fantastic areas near Woughton on the Green, Caldecotte, Woburn, Bancroft and of course Stony Stratford. Good luck

Cambridge?!!! I'm guessing you haven't looked at the house prices yet 😅

Very different, not sure why anyone is suggesting Ampthill with your budget though. Not the place for first time buyers won’t get a detached anything for under £500,000.

Initially I thought Cambridge was too expensive, too, but I just did a Rightmove search for a 3+ bedroom detached within 3 miles of Cambridge, £300k - £400k.

It came up with 4 in Bar Hill and one in Cottenham. I have friends in both who seem happy there. There’s also a house needing renovation on Coldhams Lane in Cambridge, but I don’t think that would suit.

What about Hemel Hempstead @OP? not far from Watford and you'd probably find something within your price bracket. Lots of green space and close to St Albans etc for more green space but also not too far from London very family friendly.

I just put 3 bed detached, Hemel Hempstead, max £425k, into Right Move. There was one result. And that's marketed as 'offers above' and will almost certainly go for more.

Thank you! I’ll make a note! Woburn is lovely but I can’t seem to find anything within budget, might have to be MK :)

Woburn is very expensive and not part of MK. Woburn Sands has more new homes being built so is a bit more affordable.

Friends of mine live near Bedford - the villages are worth a look - Oakley, Bromham , Turvey are pretty also maybe Sharnbrook?

I have lived in quite a few of the places that are being mentioned, I would definitely avoid Flitwick and Kempston. Ampthill I find to be pretentious and I’m not sure warrants the price tag.

I agree that Buckingham is nice. And Olney might be worth a look. A bit like Ampthill, but much better!

There are lots of really lovely villages in north Bedfordshire. I think it depends what kind of house you want and what amenities nearby?

With Milton Keynes look at secondary school catchments. Oakgrove, watling, shenley, hazeley, denbigh and ousedale all have reasonable reputations (some of those have good reputations, I wouldn’t avoid any of them) Stantonbury, Radcliffe, Milton Keynes academy and Sir Herbert Leon are not well regarded locally. It’s a way off for you, but secondary catchments is quite a big deal and will impact you unless you are looking to move again.

Leighton Buzzard is nice, I think their school system in central beds is changing as currently they have a three stage system.

Dunstable is worth considering for a little more rural but I’m not sure about your budget.

Dunstable?? God, no.

My thoughts exactly. It’s a million miles away from rural.

I’ve lived in Luton, and have friends and family in Dunstable. I’d choose to live in Luton over Dunstable any day of the week.

I have quite a few friends who live or work in Dunstable, always seems quite reasonable! I’ll stand corrected.

Rugby can only be a 90 minute drive from Watford surely?

Consider:

• school systems

they vary A LOT accordingly to local authority and presence of private schools in Bedford and grammars in Buckinghamshire.

• rail links (to Watford?)

MK is on same line and also easy M1 drive. Bedford near-ish M1. Leighton Buzzard same rail line as Watford. Buckingham less well connected but nice itself.

• Jobs/commute

• Development land for the areas between MK and Bedford, including but not limited to the Universal Studios area.

There will likely be a LOT more housing springing up over the next decade between MK and Bedford.
Universal will have a tourism /hotel/ Air B&B impact but not sure what else. Will it be mainly be service industry jobs?

Research the school systems. Secondary catchments drive house prices. You won’t want to have to move for better schools in the future and pay more for the same type of house. You will probably not want to move once your child is settled in their primary school. Good secondaries end up with good primary feeder schools so look at the secondaries. MK secondaries are all comprehensive system. Agree with above poster that some are better than others and house prices vary a bit accordingly. MK council “moving up to secondary” section will have a map of the catchments. Ousedale (Newport Pagnell), Oakgrove, Hazeley are examples of good. There are a few others.

Bedford has the Harpur Trust -private- schools (Bedford Modern, The Beford School and Bedford Girls’ School). I am not sure what the others (I.e. non fee-paying comps) are like. Wootton would be one to look into. Van Dyke at Leighton Buzzard (LB is in Bedfordshire but some bits nearby are Bucks - the boundaries wobble around!) possibly also good?

Buckingham itself is part of Bucks school system which flows down to Aylesbury and then south Bucks, and therefore has 11+. Royal Latin grammar is great if your child gets in, not sure if they don’t. (Look at Sir Thomas Freemantle at Winslow and the non-grammar in Buckingham itself?)

MK lacks a compact centre but is -very- easy to get around by car, there is loads of parkland and it is still growing and big enough to support a lot of “stuff”. One thing it lacks (for population size) is a student population as no physical University, so this means a bit less quirky independent alternative culture, and you don’t have graduates coming to the area and settling like you do in towns or cities with a good Uni. MK is big enough to have loads and loads going on, but you have to search it out a bit. People who say it is soulless have missed out. The original design concept was sound. There are some lovely villages which got encompassed in some of the grid squares. There are some rough areas of course but -definitely- no worse than any town/city of a comparable size.

University of Bedford is not especially aspirational - don’t know if/how much it impacts the town in terms of economy / culture. Bedford does have some nice bits and historical stuff.

Villages can be lovely but you will end up taxi-ing your child(ren) around a lot.

Have you considered Hitchin or Letchworth? I know people that live in both and they seem nice. I think Hitchin is quite expensive though (not as expensive as Cambridge!). You could get a 3 bed in either (more choice in Letchworth) but looks like they are all semi detached in your budget.

Not sure where you are getting your info about schools from? I take it you aren't local to any of the areas. This sounds a bit AI to me.

Boots on the ground would have more useful info about schools than AI.

As someone pointed out, Beds is being reorganised bit by bit from 3 tier to two tier.

Wootton is smack bang next to Universal in the not so attractive bit of Bedfordshire . The school has had a few issues of late - it's good for some kids; terrible for others. St Neots has the Astrea Trust who are notorious. In LB there is also Cedars which is popular which is completely overlooked in your post.

Bedfordshire has decent schools in all the surrounding villages - Harlington, Redborne, Sharnbrook, Lincroft are all desirable but of course have their issues.

Bedford used to suffer a bit from the presence of the Harpur Trust but Goldington and Newnham (newish secondaries) seem to be doing OK.

Hitchin and Letchworth are £££££.
Watford itself is surely cheaper than those?