Moving to Suffolk..desperately need help please,,,

[mrsblueskys]

We are moving to Suffolk this summer, need to be within 1/2 hour drive of BSE for college, any ideas of where to avoid and where is good? Currently we live in the north east, this is a big move for us and i really would appreciated any help from anyone who knows the area.

Walsham's very pretty, has a good butchers and some other shops and I think there are some new houses which have just been built. Not sure about transport links - tbh I shouldn't think any of the villages have great bus services, though Elmswell and Needham Market have train stations.

The Woolpit whiff is what is wrong with Woolpit, apart from that it's quite a nice village.

Walsham is lovely, but maybe a bit too far out of BSE for your older kids? (I'm thinking of their social life!)

Moreton Hall is a newish development on the edge of BSE. It's quite big so it's almost like a village of its own. There are shops and a pub and the transport into town is good.

Some nice villages on the outskirts of BSE:

Rougham
Fornham St Martin
Fornham All Saints
Fornham St Genevieve
Horringer
Barrow
Great Barton
Whepstead
Nowton
Sicklesmere

I don't know what the public transport is like though.

I wont be going to college, my dc will be, at least that's the plan, but this move has been planned for the last 2 years, we have been waiting for my ds to leave school, which he does this year. But although i have been house hunting on the net for all this time it's still too early to properly consider houses because we intend on renting for a bit first. So i had to let the dc tell me what they were planning to do education wise and then find a suitable college and then try and find somewhere to live within a reasonable distance. Where ever we move will definately need a pub! dh has worked away now for 8 years, coming home on weekends, we are bound to drive each other mad without some alcohol to smooth things a long. haha

On the whole I would say this. Generally, the villages that are right on the outskirts of town that have good public transport don't tend to have shops (as it's easy to go into BSE) but they do have a pub. The villages that do have shops and pubs tend to be further out of BSE so the public transport isn't so good. Saying that, some of the villages have a grocers van that comes round and it's bloody brilliant - loads of stock and a good price.

I live just outside BSE and I love it. I hope the move goes well for all of you

Woolpit is a very pretty place but the whiff is a big issue! I have a dear friend who lives at the less whiffy end and says it is ok but... I really wouldn't risk it!

Cotton has a very friendly pub with a pool for lazy sunny days...

Public transport is generally terrible in Suffolk villages. You will NEED a car... or to be comfortable even two or if your children drive then three - I know a few families with four which really isn't shocking at all!

Needham Market has true character, a lovely farm and a pretty lake. There are a few pubs. Even though it is, I think, further away from Bury than Elmswell I would definately choose it over Elmswell if you your teenagers want need a train station!

Kentford.

I'd suggest that for teenagers, living in Bury or very, very close is much more practical. It will make it much easier for them to see their friends in the evenings and weekends, rather than you having to ferry them around. I know parents whose social life seems to consist of driving children places, which very much takes the edge off village life.

If you don't like the local scenery (and I'm used to the Peaks and have never got used to even the Suffolk countryside, let alone the Fens), then living in a village rapidly loses charm.

The countryside to the south is much more attractive, but I believe correspondingly more expensive?

Bury is very sweet, not at all industrial, and I like it very much. I tried to encourage my parents to move there, that's how much I like it.

blimey, what is this whiff? who or what makes it?

Grendelsmum - I think your proposed plan is most practical and idyllic. I too tried to force encourage my parents to live in Bury but alas they refused !!! Nevermind, maybe I will live there one day instead!

Well, the thing which worries me with young people in the villages is the danger of them driving off the road into a ditch at night, etc. Probably silly, but scares the life out of me.

The Woolpit whiff is a farmer who makes soemthing (can't remember what exactly) by boiling up a load of foul smelling stuff and the smell passes through the village. It is rank. You can smell it from the A14. My friends mum lives in the village and sometimes her washing smells of the whiff

I grew up in Wickhambrook, unless the public transport has improved astronomically then avoid - I felt so so cut off.

Rigsby is nice, v close to Bury. Horringer, Chedburgh, Cheddington, all the villages up to there really on the A143 are all nice but I would second any opinion that for kids the nearer to Bury the better. The last bus back from town to Wickhambrook on a Saturday night was at 6.30pm - my mum was on her own and so I had very little social life.

Which schools will your DCs go to?

Oh I see they'll be at the Collich (as we used to say)

Also Hartest is very chocolate box and rural, well worth looking there if that's what you're after.