Good/bad areas around Newmarket, Suffolk

mollythewestie

Rather out of the blue, my husband has been offered a job opportunity in Newmarket.

We know nothing of this are at all, and if he does get this position, we would be relocating to the area from Bristol. (We would be looking to rent initially, then buy in the near future.)

Just had a quick look on Right Move at Newmarket and Ely and the prices look affordable. But could anyone advise which towns/villages are nice and which (if any) we should steer well clear of .

Many thanks

taxsaver

It's a lovely part of the country and ofc international home of horse racing. There are not really any 'bad' areas that I can think of and very many beautiful little villages all around it as well as Cambridge (starts to get pricier) only 20 mins away. Bury St. Edmunds, county town of Suffolk, is 20 mins in the opposite direction and is a truly lovely town steeped in history... including being the place where the feudal barons met and planned the Magna Carter.

I recommend that you have a weekend looking around the area and then by all means post back her if you want to get any feedback on specific places.

PasturesNew

Newmarket's bl00dy lovely. Ely's very hit and miss.

The closer you are to Newmarket between the two, the better you'll be positioned... to keep it easy.

Don't go more north than Fordham. Burwell/The Swaffhams are all OK.

I'd probably start with that lot and see how prices/styles look + look at access to services you want/need.

PasturesNew

taxsaver wrote: »

Bury St. Edmunds, county town of Suffolk, is 20 mins in the opposite direction and is a truly lovely town steeped in history... including being the place where the feudal barons met and planned the Magna Carter.

But that sugar beet factory stinks on the road junction - and if you keep to the speed limit you can never hold your breath long enough to get past the smell

taxsaver

PasturesNew wrote: »

But that sugar beet factory stinks on the road junction - and if you keep to the speed limit you can never hold your breath long enough to get past the smell

Awww, but it's not all year long and rarely effects the town. I love N'mkt but still think BSE is nicer!

RedfordML

Haverhill about 15mins away,

Small town, some new(ish) developments gone in and the town itself has had a face lift. Decent little centre and a variety of pubs in high street...

PasturesNew

RedfordML wrote: »

Haverhill about 15mins away,

Small town, some new(ish) developments gone in and the town itself has had a face lift. Decent little centre and a variety of pubs in high street...

30 years ago Haverhill had a helluva bad reputation - with exceedingly cheap house prices.... because only the rough and tooled up would consider buying there.

Has it changed that much?

taxsaver

Not in my view; glad you said it first!

lincroft1710

Probably the one place in Suffolk I wouldn't want to live is Haverhill

NiceGuyEddie_2

Haverhill is still regarded as rough. Can't say I've ever noticed the smell driving past the sugar beet factory in BSE, unlike the stench of the Woolpit Whiff however _pale_ But the Woolpit Whiff should now have ceased (rendering plant was forced to close), so this area should be on the rise. Elmswell is on the other side of the A14 to Woolpit and v. nice, and it doesn't take long to get from that area to Newmarket.

sciencegeek

hi molly the westie

I live in newmarket. I moved there from cambridge where i work because I couldnt afford to pay cambridge prices anymore.

I can give you a bit of advice.

When I was considering areas I spent a lot of time (months) reading all the local papers to see which areas cropped up in the news for all the wrong reasons. On balance it would appear that mildenhall is an area to avoid. To be fair ive never been there but every single week there are reports of violent crime which is shocking for such a small place.

Newmarket is quite a small place (relativly speaking). most things shut at 5pm apart from the pubs and food places and personally i dont think there is much to do in the evenings (no cinema or suchlike). If you like horses its a great place to live and there is masses of green space you can go walking in etc.
As in any town there are better bits and worse bits - you will quickly work out which bits are which on your first visit. It also has a train station with links to cambridge and ipswich which is handy.

I personally like Ely. Be picky about where you live as again there are less nice bits. Unfortunately ely can be quite expensive (much more than newmarket) as its more like a mini cambridge.

Dont know much about the villages sorry, i dont have time to visit them but burwell is meant to be nice - bear in mind if you are coming from bristol you may be suprised at how small all these places are. I lived in bristol myself for 3 years and compared to cambridge its huge.

hope this helps

SG.

EDIT: P.s. if you are considering milton, bear in mind that if the wind blows in one particular direction the place smells strongly of human excrement!!!