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Rural living

Looking to relocate to the countryside? Find advice in our Rural Living forum.

Where to live in Suffolk?

80 replies

Stilldreamingofsun · 24/09/2016 08:09

Hi all,
DH and I , 2 year old and small baby are considering selling our flat in SW London and moving to Suffolk/ Essex. DH works in Canary Wharf so we want the commute to be no more than 1 hour 15. We need a family house and our budget is around £900,000. I have taken a couple of years off to be SAHM so would like a village or town that has lots going on. Would also be important that there are good schools nearby and nice countryside. We are very sociable and would like to be around similar minded people. I am not English so would like somewhere that is welcoming and not full of Brexit types 😊 We are familiar with Manningtree and Flatford Mill so that's the area we are focusing on but are open to other suggestions! Thank you!

OP posts:
Stilldreamingofsun · 24/09/2016 20:40

Learning loads here! Any info on Stratford St Mary?

OP posts:
DesolateWaist · 24/09/2016 21:21

Don't forget that if you go to somewhere small like Stratford St Mary then you will have to factor in driving to the train station into the commute.

Also, without wishing to sound patronising you might find going from London to somewhere where you have to drive to get a pint of milk quite a shock.
I grew up in a very small village and people would move there from large cities and leave fairly quickly after they found the couldn't buy a packet of fags in a 5 mile radius on a Sunday.

Stilldreamingofsun · 24/09/2016 21:28

Haha! I know! I grew up DEEP in the countryside so it won't be so much of a culture shock!!

OP posts:
Andcake · 24/09/2016 21:39

Suffolk is beautiful but a long commute...spent a lot of time going between Colchester and London for a while. Rent first please. Are you set on that area as Kent and Sussex have some lovely country villages ...

Stilldreamingofsun · 24/09/2016 22:00

Andcake- were the trains mostly reliable? Is the car park at Colchester station expensive? Yes, I agree re: renting first. Let's see if DH can manage it and also I want to make an informed decision about villages rather than jumping at the first nice house that comes along!

OP posts:
justicewomen · 24/09/2016 23:48

There is a very helpful website called www.commutefrom.com

It shows that from N Essex (Colchester/Manningtree) and Ipswich there are similar travel times to Canary Wharf as to many places in Kent with much lower house prices (though more expensive commute)

CoYoAddict · 25/09/2016 05:14

I know this area well. For a 1.15 hr commute you are really pushing it with Suffolk. Your absolute top stretch would be Ipswich station, they do lots of fast trains
but unless you want to live in Ipswich central, which by the sounds of things you don't, DH will still have a 10-20 minute drive to any of the nicer villages on the outskirts.

Woodbridge is fabulous but really not doable - don't go there because you will fall in love and think you can do it, but DH will be miserable. just visit it at weekends instead.

Hadleigh in Suffolk is a really lovely place to live and is a fairly straightforward drive to Ipswich station but not a short one, and that road can be a bit treacherous at busy times and is often full of thundering lorries.

My DH also works long hours in London and I would not recommend that you get rose tinted about how manageable some of these longer commute would be. It can be gruelling, especially in winter.

I think you would be ok looking at Manningtree station and surrounding villages and that is undoubtedly a beautiful area.

Sudbury is more tricky. He'd have to get the branch line into Marks Tey before he can get on the main line to London, which is a total pain. Always remember that you have to factor in the drive in all weathers from whichever village you choose to the nearest station.

There are lots of lovely areas within easy reach of Marks Tey station, along the road through Fordstreet to the Colnes, Bures etc. Or the other side of the A12 from the station, Copford Green, Messing, etc, all lovely.

The villages north and east of Colchester are lovely. Look at places like Stoke By Nayland and Horkseley. They all hover on the Essex Suffolk border. West Bergholt is really nice and very handy for Colchester North station. But it's more a large cluster of lovely roads and lovely houses that is attached to Colchester itself rather than a separate functioning village with its own facilities. Also being much closer to Colchester town centre may or may not be a good thing - depends on what you want.

I would also recommend highly recommend Coggeshall and the surrounding area, for which you would use Kelvedon station which is two stations closer to London than Colchester.

Most parts of north Essex and the Essex/Suffolk border are so nice I could be recommending individual villages all day but I'd say with a few dodgy exceptions you can pretty much look anywhere that is within a 15 minute drive of any station from Kelvedon to Manningtree, with Ipswich at a push.

£900k should get you something really lovely.

If you want to keep the commute more sensible but still get that countryside feeling I would also recommend you look at the villages a short drive from Hatfield Peverel and Witham but prices do go up quite a bit there.

Terling is beautiful, as is Wickham Bishops and Little Braxted. You could even or look at going to Danbury or Little Baddow from Chelmsford station. All these areas are very highly desirable and very pretty.

Be warned though, I don't know what you think the average Brexiteer looks like, but both semi Rural Essex and Suffolk is positively heaving with wealthy, well educated Brexiteers. I am one. I am also a really nice, civilised person, a welcoming neighbour and good open minded friend to have, regardless of where you are from, and in all of the areas I mentioned, so will most other people be. As I imagine would be the case in the more affluent parts of Devon or Cornwall or almost any area that is predominantly semi rural or provincial.

If you are the kind of person who makes over-simplistic value judgements a person based on whether they voted in or out then you would probably feel more comfortable staying in your smug London bubble of righteousness. Wink

CoYoAddict · 25/09/2016 05:18

Sorry just realised that you would indeed be quicker to get to Hadleigh from Manningtree station rather than Ispwich as I said.

CoYoAddict · 25/09/2016 05:22

My nanna lived in a tiny village called Assington her whole life.

Assington is absolutely gorgeous. All that area is.

CoYoAddict · 25/09/2016 05:25

Also remember that if you choose somewhere where you would commute from a large station like Ipswich or Colchester then you can expect to add on another 10-15 mins per journey just getting in and out of the huge car park and driving out of the busy town centre, compared to going from somewhere smaller and quieter like Hatfield Peverel or Marks Tey or Manningtree.

ProfYaffle · 25/09/2016 07:42

Re the trains, the Norwich to London line is notoriously bad (my dh uses a small portion of it to commute). They are doing a major programme of engineering works to improve it - works every weekend for 5 months of this year. Though the full improvements aren't expected to be complete for another 5 years or so.

devilinmyshoes · 25/09/2016 08:09

I don't think it's doable anywhere villagey from Suffolk, door to door, in under 2 hours. Any journey anywhere seems to take forever!

devilinmyshoes · 25/09/2016 08:24

my friends are selling their lovely house which is within v easy drive of the Norwich to London line (they will be living next door) www.fineandcountry.com/uk/property-for-sale/bury-st-edmunds-ashfield-road-elmswell/ip30-9hl/50057862

29redshoes · 25/09/2016 10:36

That house is beautiful Shock

They're pushing it a bit describing Elmswell as Bury St Edmunds though!

DesolateWaist · 25/09/2016 10:47

Yes, you'd need to drive into BSE for the train then it would be about 2hrs on the train.

ProfYaffle · 25/09/2016 10:53

Or drive to Stowmarket, think it's about an hour and 15 from there to Liverpool St.

devilinmyshoes · 25/09/2016 12:06

Elmswell has a train station! Dunno if anything ever stops there though.

gamerwidow · 25/09/2016 12:34

Ipswich used to be lovely but is becoming a bit of a shithole imo especially around the town centre . DH comes from there and there has been a definite decline in the last 20 years.
Woodbridge and Kesgrave are much nicer.

justicewomen · 25/09/2016 13:13

Gamer widow

Having lived in Ipswich since the late 80s, I completely disagree. Ipswich has improved hugely in terms of culture, community feel, development (especially around the Waterfront) and self belief. It is one of the safest towns in the country; and the massive improvement in educational facilities (university, Suffolk One, and there redevelopment of Suffolk New College) will mean young people will stay around and aid development further. We also have an influx of people from other places, London and further afield, which have brought new ideas and facilities.

gamerwidow · 25/09/2016 13:16

Just my opinion the family I have who live there think it has become a rough horrible area and couldn't wait to move their baby out of it.

Pipbin · 25/09/2016 13:19

I utterly disagree too Gamer.

I've lived in Ipswich for about 20 years and it has got measurably better.
Yes the town centre has had some shops shut but then so has everywhere.
The Buttermarket shopping centre has had a huge refit and has some new chain restaurants. There is a lot of support for local independent shops as well. We now have a Waitrose in the town centre as well as a John Lewis and Waitrose on the edge of the town.

20 years ago the waterfront was a working docks, now it is full of coffee shops, restaurants and bars.

Yes I will agree that Woodbridge is lovely and somewhat nicer but it is also a lot more expensive.

gamerwidow · 25/09/2016 13:21

Well it looks like Ipswich has civic pride going for it if nothing else Grin

Stilldreamingofsun · 25/09/2016 14:43

I think weighing it all up, we need to be within 15 minutes of the station in Colchester or Manningtree. They also have the advantage of being near Stansted airport which is hugely important so we can go for weekends to visit the grandparents and vice versa! Thank you all for the comments!

OP posts:
YellowPrimula · 25/09/2016 14:55

I am afraid I would agree with gamer widow, we have been here for 20 years and Dh is local and in my opinion and his Ipswich has gone downhill greatly in the last couple of years , the town centre has so many empty and boarded up shops now , hopefully the new cinema will give things a boost but really most people try to avoid the centre , many of the large employers have also moved out and by denying planing permission to retailers like John Lewis and pushing them into the suburbs people no have no need to go into the centre at all.

The surrounding area is lovely though , we are east of Ipswich on the coast and i love it.Also commute once a week , the line is not the most reliable but it's OK and as Manningtree is outer London children can get an off peak day return to London for a couple of pounds .

The only thing about Manningtree is that I don't think ( I might be wrong) that the schools are great unless you get into the Grammar in Colchester or go private , but as you only have a small baby you have plenty of time .

Desperatemummy1 · 07/02/2017 21:11

Both my sister and then subsequently my parents re located from London to Great Horkesley on the Essex / Suffolk border. 10 mins drive from Colchester station , my sister commutes to London. Her child attends a local private school. It's very rural, a couple of pubs, an alpaca farm , some fruit farms , a lovely garden centre with cafe and a village hall, but within 10 minutes you can be at the station and Colchester with all amenities. Variety of housing stock available my parents have a new build by Mersea Homes and my sister an older property set in 1/2 an acre. She finds the commute a grind but that's the trade off. Oh, and only 45 mins from Stansted on good roads as I'm based in Scotland so good for going back and forth.

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