Wisbech ?

[hellbellyell4321]

Shall I move there or somewhere else as houses very reasonable there but don't know area.
Currently live in Buckinghamshire but house too small for me and two kids and Wisbech prices cheap on searching internet.
Advice would be good.

Crime rate?
Things to do?
Regrets/positives?

Prices are cheap in Wisbech and most of the Fens.
I think crime rate is quite high in Wisbech. Look at the local news online eg Lynnnews.
It doesn't have the best roads, no railway station in the town so you need to go to Peterborough or King's Lynn. I can't imagine the jobs market has much choice and that salaries are low.
It wouldn't be my choice.

Have you researched schools in Wisbech?
I think Peterborough or King's Lynn would be better. More to do and a railway station. Better job opportunities.
Do you have family away from Buckinghamshire?

I live close to Wisbech. I wouldn’t choose to live there. It’s very run down. The surrounding villages are nice (and still quite cheap) but very rural. The Tesco is nice and big with a costa at Wisbech but that’s my only selling point for Wisbech.

I am from Buckinghamshire and live in the Fens. I would definitely avoid Wisbech itself! There is unfortunately a big homelessness, drug and crime problem.

There are lots of other places in the Fens which still have low house prices but without the crime issue. This website might be useful - https://crimerate.co.uk/cambridgeshire/wisbech

Wisbech is awful OP...which is why it's cheap! There are some lovely areas nearby but not Wisbech (or Peterborough as suggested upthread...which is possibly even worse!)

I live in the Fens and can happily suggest some lovely areas if you have a budget in mind.

Avoid like a house on fire. It was lovely ISH twenty odd years ago but now is not. It has a high crime rate, a huge migrant population (many are lovely people but there's a large amount who are not), issues with asylum seekers, the roads are dreadfully poor, housing is crap- plenty of new builds going in but no infrastructure. The doctor surgeries are over subscribed. Dentists are very difficult to get hold of. There's a hospital but it doesn't cater for many things, most people have to travel to kings Lynn or Norwich or Peterborough for treatment.
Some of the architecture is beautiful, some of the people are absolute gems.
The schools at primary level are ok ISH, but the secondary provision is appalling. Even if you can afford the grammar it's still got problems of its own.
If you like the area then go to Kings Lynn. It died es have problem areas but the schools are good, the college has good all round provision, there are plenty of shops.

Saw a house in emneth near Wisbech
Is that a nice village?

I don't want to put a damper on things, but have you checked the flood risk maps for that part of the Fens?

Not really. I suppose anywhere would be what you made of it but I wouldn't buy there.
If you're set on the surrounding villages then Wisbech st Mary isn't bad but there's no escaping the need to drive to shop and the roads are really bad. The A47 is busy at most times of the day, and the A17 is not really much better.

Are there any shops in emneth

Avoid Wisbech like the plague. It’s well known for being a rough area. I went to collage there but I would never live there

My DH is from round there. We live a long way away, for very good reasons.
Book a weekend break there and see if you still want to move there after that.

I used to live in the fens, I absolutely hated living somewhere so flat, when I came back to Hampshire it felt so much more comfortable. I was on the Cambridgeshire/Lincolnshire border, not a million miles from Wisbech, it was grim.

Really consider living somewhere so rural. Even Peterborough isn’t that big, but at least it has better connections.

Well, there's a reason housing there is cheap! My DH was born there and still has family locally. I asked him just now if he'd move back there and his response (verbatim) was "No, cos it's a shitehole full of racist twatheads".

(Other opinions are of course available.)

I've lived in Emneth for a few years and it's OK. Not brilliant, not awful. Better than Wisbech.

There are a couple of small shops, post office, cake shop, a really good (but small) swimming pool, spa and apparently a chippy coming soon.

The village has its issues, and as anywhere else, it depends which of the roads you move into as to the reputation/expectations you should have. Emneth is basically five roads leading to the village square. In order of nice to not nice it goes Church Road, Hollycroft, Hungate, Wroe, Lady's Drove.

If any of your kids have SEN you'll need to go over the border into Cambs for GPs and schooling. Being able to drive is essential.

Things I like = space, night sky, proximity to places I need to be, have made some lovely local friends
Things I don't like = very 'small minded' views from quite a few other locals, people have low expectations, this area isn't the 'romantic' rural living idyll - it is the scruffy rural living reality

Spend time up here before making the leap, it's the only way to know.

@moggerhanger i think my DH would say the same hahahaha

As in a place to buy some milk and a loaf of bread or maybe get a takeaway, yes. As in, M&S, boutique clothes shops or even a Tesco express, no.

Many people have said they wouldn’t but you obviously can’t shake it. So you need to book two nights in a hotel in Wisbech. Make sure you drive in the dark while visiting.

If you do go to visit then walk into and around the town during the daytime. Stay out of Norfolk Street though. Watch yourself in any of the small back alleys and cut throughs.

Sorry another vote for Wisbech (and quite a lot of the Fens) being a bit grim. Would not recommend March, Manea or Chatteris either.
I deliberately do not live there but have worked in the area for many years and Wisbech always has the air of a place that might have been quite nice a long time ago or in some parallel universe. A lot of the buildings look very pretty and the river and green spaces but it is just so run down.

Chatteris isn't too bad (the secondary school is pretty good). Head a bit further south and St Ives and surrounds is OK.

My DH always says the best thing that's happened to him (after marrying me of course) was leaving Wisbech.

Chatteris is a dump, my mum lives there and finding somewhere to take her for lunch on her birthday was a nightmare. Ended up at a grotty garden centre with a menu like the BHS restaurant in the 1970s as the best option.

If you drive and are happy to live rurally, there are lovely villages around there, but the town itself is somewhere I avoid. March will be nice when they finish digging up the high street and Downham Market is nice too.

I think you need to talk to people who live there. Book yourself a b&b, maybe in/near a pub for a few days, hire a car and do a bit of research. Get a feel for the place and see if you can see yourself living there. You might find a hidden gem in one of the villages that you hadn't considered. There are tons of villages round there.
Are there work opportunities there for you?

@countrygirl99 I think I know the one you mean! On the back road to Somersham?

When I said it wasn't "too bad", that's still a long way from "quite nice".