Looking for a village/hamlet near Cambridge

[Dina1234]

We are looking for a village to move to near Cambridge (within 30 mins drive). We want to buy a four+ b/room house in a village near Cambridge. Schools, shops etc. are not important to us although a local cafe/ nice pub would be a bonus. Our main concern is that the village is reasonably affordable, safe and has little or no social housing. We don't really care which direction it is away from Cambridge or how big/small it is. Any suggestions on which villages to look at/stay away from?

You may need to widen your search area a bit. Most of the prep schools are off Trumpington Road and it can take 45 minutes to get from the M11 roundabout to those schools on a normal weekday morning (on top of getting to Trumpington Road from wherever you end up living). For you to then get to the train station after doing a drop off would be an additional 20 minutes if you are lucky plus you'll have a 55 min journey into London.

Most villages in Cambridgeshire have pretty decent primary schools. You may be better off financially/timewise living somewhere on the train line and sending your child/children to the independent schools when they are old enough to get the train into Cambridge themselves. If you are really wanting 30 minutes into Cambridge in rush hour you will need somewhere very central or there are lots of new developments very close to Addenbrookes hospital.

Given they are new builds though that will include elements of social housing as all new developments have a percentage that must be allocated. Social housing in the UK includes people who are part rental/part mortgage on their properties so normal decent hardworking people - not drug dealers!!

To be more constructive - lots of villages around Cambridge are very nice but traffic is a real issue. I live south of Cambridge and drive to Royston to catch the train to London (a 10 minute drive with a 37 minute journey into London on the train). It has taken me over an hour to drive into Cambridge which is 11 miles from where I live.

If you want to be within 30 mins of Cambridge in rush hour then you really have to live in Cambridge. The traffic is awful. The new developments along Trumpington Road have signs saying "ideally located for Cambridge". It's a lie. The only place ideally located for Cambridge is Cambridge.

If I were you, I'd ditch the idea of commuting to a prep school and spend the savings on a bigger house. But then I'm not sure how you would feel if your DS went to school with children who live in social housing .

I grew up in Arkesden and I think it's beautiful, pub is good too.