Moving to King's Lynn - Any suggestions on areas and schools to aim for or avoid

rosyw

There are obviously buses provided, but both of mine coped with no problems, we were in Saddlebow. Eldest went to Gaywood, which is why I say to avoid :eek: (we weren't aware of the schools reputation at the time), youngest went to Terrington St Clement, so 2 buses each way, but was more than happy to do this. Downham High School may be an option from Watlington, but I have a few friends whose kids had problems there.
If I were you I'd spend some time looking round the area, being in town is more convenient, but you lose out on quality of life.

JimmyTheWig

I think that's generally true anywhere, Rosy. I agree about looking around the area. We're thinking of a Travelodge trip at half-term.

Thanks for your thoughts.

Springflower

I recently moved back to the area....for a nice area to live I would also recommend South/North Wooton, Wooton Road, reffley etc. High schools, Springwood is the far better school at the moment, the Academy (previously the park/gaywood) did get good results and has had a lot of money thrown into it but personally would still avoid.
Gaywood is an excellent primary school, the wootton schools are also very good, my two are at reffley which was done for ease of babysitting and to date has been fine for both my children and my friends.
Areas to avoid are: Fairstead, North Lynn, South Lynn, Gaywood (parts of) To be fair, house prices will tell you everything you need to know....good luck with the move :-) :j

observations_from_a_hill

Springflower is absolutely right - the prices will tell you all you need to know!

Given your need for weekly rail travel, I would suggest Watlington, South Wootton (north of A148), North Wootton or Castle Rising. Dersingham is pleasant, but I wouldn't fancy cycling from there to Lynn - there are (sort of) cycle paths on the way, but it takes about 30 min.

I would avoid anywhere in Lynn itself - as in most towns, the "posh" houses formerly on the outskirts now find themselves on busy main roads in to town.

Come up at half term and take a look around - we're friendly folk, & in most places people say "hello" to total strangers & admire their kids or dog (but don't try this in Lynn!).

When you find a buyer for your own house, think seriously about renting here while looking for something to buy. Life is generally slower here, and possibly a mite more "rural" than you anticipate. Renting would give you time to work out what's best for your family.

Finally, the railways - trains are hourly, so it doesn't do to be late. From bitter experience, what's important to the rail company is the London/Cambridge link. If there's a hold-up at the London end (usually Potters Bar), trains get terminated at Cambridge so they can return to London to ferry out more people. Cambridge railway platforms can be dreadfully windy!

JimmyTheWig

observations_from_a_hill wrote: »

When you find a buyer for your own house, think seriously about renting here while looking for something to buy. Life is generally slower here, and possibly a mite more "rural" than you anticipate. Renting would give you time to work out what's best for your family.

We looked at this. The price of rent meant that even if we changed our minds after a year it worked out cheaper to buy and pay all the costs associated with that!

spunkweazle

Fairstead has a bad reputation but I lived there for the best part of two years and never saw any trouble.
Some parts of gaywood should be avoided.
A good place to check is the police crime map, (kings lynn police are also on twitter)

North/South wootton is nice and there is even a cycle path running from there to the train station along the route of the old lynn to hunstanton train track

JimmyTheWig

Hi,

We put the move on hold last year, but have now started looking again.
We're now thinking Downham Market.
We want somewhere smaller than Kings Lynn, but Watlington seems too far from a secondary school.
As before needs to be on the train line to Cambridge.
Downham Market appears (from rightmove / the map) to be ideal. Any thoughts?

barnaby-bear

JimmyTheWig wrote: »

Hi,

We put the move on hold last year, but have now started looking again.
We're now thinking Downham Market.
We want somewhere smaller than Kings Lynn, but Watlington seems too far from a secondary school.
As before needs to be on the train line to Cambridge.
Downham Market appears (from rightmove / the map) to be ideal. Any thoughts?

Downham's a bit depressed. Wymondham, Bury St. Edmunds, Newmarket, Dullingham, Ipswich, Ely all those lines have reasonable links to Cambridge. A lot of the trains into Cambridge restrict number of bikes on board so if you need the science park don't assume you can take even a folding bike on board, they limit it to two on a lot of lines and a lot of people compete for the bike slots. So secure station bike racks worth checking out.

JimmyTheWig

Thanks Barnaby. Will bear that in mind. [With a name like that, you're a good one to ask on questions of geography!]

In terms of Downham Market itself, am I right in thinking that east of the B1507 (Lynn Road) is nicer than the area to the west of it?

kyana

with regards secondary school, it is worth enquiring about school bus services. due to the nature of the area, a lot of children travel to secondary school with no issues. it was a 45 min bus for me and 70% of pupils at my school came by bus.