Cambridge property

[Mins]

Hi
am very new to this so not sure about all abbreviations and smileys, links etc. We have just received an asking price offer on our house in NW London and are looking to move to Cambridge. Ideally we'd like Histon/Impuington but not much is on the market there. Thinking about Waterbeach too. Does anyone have any info about any of these places? Or have a place they want to sell even???? Thanks for reading.

hey grendel, which village are you in?

IHTC - someone else mentioned Bourn to me - how does your husband get to Royston? Mine doesn't drive so it would have to be either cycle or public transport - is that feasible?

GM - thanks for the info on Jan at TG - interesting. Have just discovered some new builds at Waterbeach which is really not what we were after but they look like they're done in an old style so may call into their marketing office tomorrow. They are quite reasonably priced.

Hi Mins - sorry haven't read all the thread but have you thought about either north cambridge - we live near huntingdon which has lots of lovely villages and a fab train line to London - 45 minutes at rush hour. We are also on the guided bus way and can get into Cambridge easily enough.

Prices are also much cheaper than Cambridge. Our village has a fab primary school, a local shop & 2 pubs plus is cycling distance to St Ives.

Also, round Great Chesterford is nice. Good luck house hunting.

Mins,

The trip from Histon to Waterbeach takes 10 minutes by car, even in rush hour, really straightforward down back roads.

I can see your attraction to Histon, the people here are lovely and are incredibly engaged and active in the community. But, you pay for it, I think property is overpriced in the village, and you do get a lot more for your money in Waterbeach.

If you're looking at the Cam Locks development, make sure you negotiate hard, there's deals to be done there.

You say your husband doesn't drive, is that something that would change if you moved out of London? Otherwise I would think more seriously about being in a village with a train station.

as sundew says it might be worth looking north around Huntingdon and Peterborough. We live near P'boro and the train is under 50 mins to Kings cross! We can dip into cambridge when we want.

£300k isn't a big budget in Cambridge or Histon tbh. Histon has always been an expensive and desirable village. How about Ely?

The Cambridge commuter train is the worst in the country by reputation but if you get on at Ely you are more likely to get a seat!

Royston is a a bit rough & I think Ely is much nicer, and you would get more for your money than in Histon or Cambridge. Everyday living is notably cheaper in Ely than in Cambridge & Histon.

6 bed detached in Ely

Histon and Impington will be a lot easier for London commuting once the guided bus way is open later this year, though the part through the centre of Cambridge will be along the roads. I think that the peak time Cambridge - Kings X trains will have 12 coaches from May which should mean that they don't win the "most crowded commuter train" award in future

Thanks again to everyone for their comments. Had vaguely considered Ely but I think we'd really much rather be closer to Cambridge - even though I realise we will have to pay for that. Will look at north around Huntingdon & Peterborough and see what you can get for your money there.

Grendelsmum - as you know we went to Waterbeach today and thought it was quite a nice village but was very disappointed with the house we went to see. The EA told me it had no parking beforehand but failed to tell me there were double yellow lines outside and that parking on the road near was extremely difficult . House had some really nice character features but smaller than I expected and felt really cold - even on a beautiful hot sunny day. so that's no good - the smaller house we were going to see on the same road went before we even got to see it. Did also go and look at the Cam Locks development which was quite nice but not sure I really like the idea of living on a building site for the next 2-5 years while they carry on building. So we are back to square one!

Luubyluu - my husband can actually drive but chooses not to as the traffic where we live is horrendous and people drive like maniacs. Not sure if he may change his mind if/when we move but even if he did it would probably mean us having two cars if he was to drive to the station and then that's additional expense.

Ooooh this is so hard - it's so difficult to know what the best thing is to do. I'm thinking we can have most of this month to try and find somewhere but if we don't may need to think about renting even though we don't really want to do this but otherwise we may lose our buyer.

Ely is only 15 mins from Cambridge on the train - far closer to Cambridge and much nicer than Huntingdon or Peterborough although there are some pretty villages in those areas.

Ely is much nicer than Peterborough. The train journey into Cambridge isn't too bad. We simply couldn't afford to get a house of the equivalent size and quality in Cambridge.
Of course I am biased!

What happens on Eel day? Should I be taking the boys?

Info here - tea and cake at Peacock's Tea rooms by the river are recommended (and award winning too!)
Previous Eel Day

thanks

Happy Eel Day, everybody!

It's also Heart of the World music festival in Cambridge next Saturday - with a free world music tent, so older children might enjoy coming to listen.

if you're looking for somewhere with things to do, ely is good & has good train connections.

bourn is lovely, but no public transport.

hunt does have good train connection, but hard to get into cambridge.

st ives is lovely, but would be quite a bike ride to hunt station from there.

sundew - i also lived in a village with a shop & a pub & cycling distance to st ives. just trying to work out how many villages round there would fit that description.