Moving to bedford

[Cathyeatswell]

Hi all!

My husband and I are in our 30’s and we currently live in Hitchin. We love going to restaurants and cafes.
We are looking to buy for the first time and looked at Bedford as we can get a good amount of property for our money. However, the town seems like a dump and I couldn’t see many nice places to go and eat.
I was surprised as there looks to be some quite affluent areas, but the amenities didn’t seem to reflect that. Did I miss an area with nice restaurants?
We are also looking in Newnham area but don’t know much about this. There seems to be some flats as you enter by Wendover road and I wasn’t sure if this was social housing.
Looking for a nice base. If anyone wants to recommend an area, we look for a nice feel with places to go out and eat

Thanks

It’s not all bad ;) of I had to live in Bedford itself I would consider the areas around the Castle Quarter (expensive!), around Landsdowne Road, and the roads around Bedford Park. After lockdown take a weekend to have a good look around. Excellent schools, including independent Harpur Trust Schools. Open drug dealing on the streets, county lines apparently. Trains to Londen a bonus, straight into the city.

I don’t like South of Bedford much but Ampthill is nice.

But do consider the surrounding villages! Biddenham and Bromham is lovely, Great Denham has lots of new builds, the north beds ‘dormer’ villages of Pavenham/Stevington/Oakley, the other names escape me.

Also consider North Bucks which puts you smack between Bedford, Milton Keynes and Northampton, so lots of work and commuting opportunities. Have a look at Olney, Emberton, Sherington, Newton Blossomville and Turvey at a stretch.

When the virus has passed, take a weekend, stay at the red lion in Stevington (highly recommend it!) and have a good nosey around!

Good luck!

Must you? Bedford really is one of the dullest counties ever. Both in terms of landscape and architecture. I retain an impression of it as a place to escape from - there's a reason why you may find it cheaper than some surrounding areas.

Where do you work/study - and how far could you commute? Would you be willing to consider slightly less house for a more entertaining quality of life - going either further west or east? Take a drive around Somerset/ Wiltshire (for instance) and then think again!

I grew up near Bedford and have spent a lot of time there, although not recently since moving abroad. There are a lot of really good Indian restaurants in the area. I don't know if it's still there but behind the Embankment there was a cluster of restaurants. One of them was Higgins Pantry and it did some amazing Italian food a couple of years ago. That could have changed, but I loved it there. There was also a nice coffee shop on the High Street called Coffee with Art (I think?) which was a really lovely place to go for a coffee and to relax. Near the Castle area too there are a few pubs and restaurants that do decent food, plus there is a really good Thai restaurant called Rice near the town centre too. I think with Bedford you have to do a bit of digging but there are some gems out there. I don't mind the town myself, but admit it's not the most exciting place on Earth. But the surrounding villages are really lovely. There's lots of pubs that do good food in those villages too.

Sadly my MIL passed away and we don’t want to go to far from my FIL who is based in Stevenage. We’re currently priced out of Hitchin and don’t want to live in Stevenage. We also weren’t that impressed with Letchworth given some of the schools and areas.
My DH works in Canary Wharf so he wants a connection to London Bridge.

perdita North Bedfordshire is wold landscape with lovely villages, not dull at all. We moved here from Hitchin, ILs still there. Generally in Bedford you need to be north of the river for the nicer areas although there is a lot of new development near the Cardington hangers (lots of big feature films made there) that may be worth a look. We are in a north Beds village so don't know what that's like.
There are lots of good independent restaurants, you just need to know where to look. Rice Thai already mentioned does lovely soft shelled crab, Tana Thai, Three Rooms (indian), St Helena for posh nosh (or The Plough at Bolnhurst), Santaniella for proper Italian pizza are among our favourites.

It’s good to hear someone else has done a similar move and enjoyed it

@Cathyeatswell did you end up in Bedford? We are visiting for the first time this weekend