First Time Buyer - advice on location (london-cambridge)

barnaby-bear

N79 wrote: »

For Cambridge try Hitchin (lovely old market town), Letchworth, Baldock, villages around Ashwell (if you are rich) and Royston. All have train stations to Kings Cross (35-50 mins) and are drivable to Cambridge (30-50 mins depending on time of morning). Luton and Milton Keynes are a bit far from Cambridge (60-75 mins drive) in my opinion.

All the towns above also have trains to Cambridge if you OH is working near the train station.

Bear in mind it's the last 3-4miles from Cambridge outskirts or queuing to get on to science park that take the time - after 7:45am you are looking at 40-50minutes from outskirts to centre and the science park can be a 30 minute queue to get on or off

xuanxuan

Thanks all for your reply. Looks like I got some homework to do this weekend - Do some research on these areas.

My husband will works in swaston, which is south cambridge. If we live in hertfortshire, can he avoid the terrible traffic outside Cambridge? or we should choose Cambridge? How's the traffic from Cambridge center to Swaston in morning peak time?

The area I looked at in Cambridge are close to Mill road, I search the neighbourhood from Upmystreet web seems not good and primary schools nearby are just average. Prob I should look at more places as mentioned above.

beingjdc

Personally I'd buy in Cambridge, and start job-hunting there. But that's my hatred of commuting coming through again.

hethmar

Cambridge is very expensive - have you checked out the prices yet? (Do you mean Sawston by the way? If he is working there he isnt actually in Cambridge)

My son was born in Mill Road Cambridge

I often longed to live in one of the houses round the Patch.

slummymummyof3

Have you thought of looking at places in 'Cambridgeshire' rather than Cambridge such as St Ives, Earith, Somersham, Needingworth, Holywell etc - there is a train station at Huntingdon which is about 15 minutes away from these places or you could drive into Cambridge from these places. Used to live in Somersham and DD1 went to school in Bluntisham (fab primary school)

You will get a lot more house for your money if you are prepared to move out a bit!

Debt_Free_Chick

xuanxuan wrote: »

I search the neighbourhood from Upmystreet web seems not good and primary schools nearby are just average.

Problem with upmystreet is that many of the descriptions are not of that specific neighbourhood at all. Which part of the description put you off?

PasturesNew

If the job is in Sawston, I'd look for a village with a train station in that part of Cambridgeshire.

Shelford was always posh in my day - and it has a station.

Basically all the villages from there on the train route are nice areas. Nice villages.

chartreuse_2

We moved out of London 2 years ago and bought in a village called Arlesey. It's much nicer than Stevenage etc, but has a train station and is about midway between London and Cambridge (I commute to London but often have meetings in Cambridge), so is handy for both.

Also, although it's on the border with Herts, it's actually in Beds - which means you get more house for your money than Herts or Cambs.

dander

I would think very carefully about that commute. Even if the train itself is quite fast into London, you've still got to get from home to the station and across London from either Kings Cross or Liverpool St to Paddington. Plus on the way home there's the waiting time for a train - you'll will always just miss one - or if this is Kings Cross - Cambridge line, you might be there in time, but not be able to squeeze on the one that's about to leave.

If you've got a 1 year old baby you are really going to feel every wasted minute you spend travelling! Personally, in your situation, I wouldn't go any further up towards Cambridge than Hitchin because that's where the rail line splits and so anything from Hitchin down towards London you get the benefit of the high speed trains as well as the local ones. Stevenage would be far and away your best bet for speed and frequency of trains, but there's very little housing close in to the station and it's not a hugely appealing place. There are nice places round and about Stevenage - I think some of the housing is actually quite pleasant, and there are some lovely big green spaces and there are also villages and old Stevenage, but there are also certainly some very dodgy bits! And you would almost certainly end up having to bus or drive into the station, which would lessen the advantages of the good train service.

xuanxuan

hethmar wrote: »

Cambridge is very expensive - have you checked out the prices yet? (Do you mean Sawston by the way? If he is working there he isnt actually in Cambridge)

My son was born in Mill Road Cambridge

I often longed to live in one of the houses round the Patch.

Yes, It is very expensive in Cambridge, esp near the station. That's one thing we are concern at the moment. House in Cambridge is a bit out of budget.

My husband will start his job in Sawston, not inside Cambridge.