Nice areas around Colchester?

pinkteapot

He said that his wife is looking after their son so my guess was pre-school age. Still, with a decent budget you might as well move close to a good primary to save moving again in a couple of years.

merlin68

Pippa, property number 2 is gorgous. I deliver parcels to it regular. But i wouldn't buy it. As it is right opposite caste park gates and would be a nightmare, every time they have an event on.
The boating lake of the park is also right opposite, so all your going to get is screaming kids. Non stop. You also have to pay a permit for parking your car. Plus as it is so near town, and the mental health unit. No.

yanda

Thanks all, some good places to add to my rightmove list! pinkteapot, I agree with you in regards to prices in Wivenhoe, property does seem to hang around on RM for a while with some of the places that are on seem to have deluded sellers! We also looked at rowhedge but I guess the pricing is related to the ease of transport - maybe i'll just buy a dingy and time my London meetings for high tide!

pippa80

Yeah all true Merlin, but that's the case for most of the Dutch quarter... My OH pretty much lives at the cricket club, so that location would be convenient for us. Actually scratch that, I may then never actually see him!

Flibsey

yanda wrote: »

Yeah, guessing its not going to be a 24 hr service

Whats Lexden like? I had a look on street view and the houses seem nice enough but can't see any amenities or 'centre' as such - do you still have to go into Colchester itself for shopping etc?

lexden is lovely and depending on where you are will denote where you can shop without going into colchester itself; for instance on lexden road itself is a large Aldi (doesn't seem to fit in with the expensive rug shop and the aga showroom but there you go). on google earth this may look like an MFI. it was one. it's not now

or if you're somewhere like my parents (poet's corner) then you can walk to the small convenience store on The Commons, or a bit further on there's Prettygate with a nice pub, pharmacy, newsagent, co-op, charity shop, estate agent, library, ladbrokes, video shop and a chinese plus other stuff which changes quite often unfortunately.

If you like walking, there's also Fiveways.

pinkteapot

yanda wrote: »

Thanks all, some good places to add to my rightmove list! pinkteapot, I agree with you in regards to prices in Wivenhoe, property does seem to hang around on RM for a while with some of the places that are on seem to have deluded sellers! We also looked at rowhedge but I guess the pricing is related to the ease of transport - maybe i'll just buy a dingy and time my London meetings for high tide!

Speaking of high tide, have you looked at Mersea Island?

Slight curve ball but there's a wonderful community feel there and it's a lovely environment for kids, by the water and with a nice country park.

It would mean driving to Colchester station so a bit of a shlep but if you're only in London 2-3 days a month it is easily do-able. You don't need to be as close to London as Kelvedon, Witham etc if you're only commuting in that infrequently.

Of course there may be times when you can't get over the causeway for your meetings due to the tide, but how good an excuse is that? :rotfl:

I know people who live on Mersea and work in Colchester and they manage that commute without the tide causing issues so I don't think it's quite that bad.

If you liked the feel of Wivenhoe/Manningtree with the waterfront, you might like Mersea and there's more shops etc there. Downside is being further out from Colchester town centre.

pinkteapot

Flibsey wrote: »

lexden is lovely and depending on where you are will denote where you can shop without going into colchester itself; for instance on lexden road itself is a large Aldi (doesn't seem to fit in with the expensive rug shop and the aga showroom but there you go). on google earth this may look like an MFI. it was one. it's not now

Yes, weirdly there's an Aldi in Lexden and a huge Waitrose on Cowdray Avenue. They should really just swap premises.

yanda

pinkteapot wrote: »

Speaking of high tide, have you looked at Mersea Island?

I've had a nosey round on streetview before (and been to the company shed a few times) but discounted it due to the distance to any train stations (have to think of inlaws visiting who don't drive ) - do you know how long it takes to get to colchester itself?

pinkteapot

Well, if you're going to London for a 9-5 day then you won't be driving through Colchester in local rush hour, as you'll be at the station before it and going home after it. It's about a 25 minute drive at weekends when we're going there, so maybe 10 mins more during the week outside of rush hour? To me it would be do-able for 2-3 days per month.

I commute from Colchester and live near the station. I work 9-5:30 in London three days a week. I get a train at 7:38 from Colchester in the morning and in the evening my train gets in at 18:40, so my day is about 7:15am-7pm in total, but I do work just a short walk from Liverpool Street and don't have to get the tube. From Mersea it would probably be a 6:30am-7:30pm day (longer if you're getting the tube to the West End or something).

I just put West Mersea to Kelvedon in the Green Flag route planner and that said 29 minutes. So if you do find that Colchester traffic is a pain when you're travelling you could actually take the country roads to Kelvedon instead and get the train from there.

EDIT: Just noticed the bit about your inlaws. Hmmm, yes, would be a bit of a round trip to the station to pick them up...