Which is best for me Rugby, Milton Keynes or Northampton?

luminated

I need to relocate in the medium term, to get closer to family & will be renting a small two bedroomed home but which area would suit my needs?

I have carried out a lot of research on the Web, looked at street view maps & lots of relevant web site but still am not sure how to shortlist down further. Unfortunately, as I am in very poor health, I am not up to visiting, looking around & staying overnight so hence the need to do what I can on my Laptop.

I am also immobile being a wheelchair user so am looking for: not town centre but with in a few miles of it, compact shopping centre with a good sized under cover area preferably with a Shopmobilty scheme to be able to hire out an electric mobility scooter & hopefully some nice countryside for trips out when I am able.

Just thought we are both just over retirement age.
Any help would be appreciated :T

Keith

We looked at all of the above and chose Flitwick, a small town outside MK, close enough for the town, but far enough away to get a much smaller community.

Do you need schools? As the ones we read in MK were rated poorly on Ofsted

Paul_the_Painter

Big plus with Milton Keynes is that almost everywhere is accessible by mobility scooter, buy one off eBay for a few hundred pounds, and you might never use your car again! All of the redways (shared pedestrian and cycle routes - coloured red) have sloped access, so you can travel from literally your front door into town, and indeed anywhere else in town. This includes for instance a path all around Furzton lake. There was a mobility shop, not sure now, but if I was in your position I would just buy one, you will get a huge amount of use from it. It is worthwhile to buy the Milton Keynes council published map, which will show the extent of the network. I would not normally comment as the towns are so different, but for someone with a mobility problem, it would be very hard to beat MK. Shenley lodge is a nice area that puts you halfway between the town centre, and a very nice Morrison's, bordering Furzton lake, with a nice pub in the Old Beams. All of these you'll be able to get to with using just the scooter. Think of the fuel savings!

Crowdpleaser

Umm, no, all the schools aren't rated poorly in mk! My daughters schools are all outstanding. Anyway, having lived in nton and mk, id go mk everytime! X

firesidemaid

i live just outside corby but have colleagues living in both northampton and rugby. as a visitor i prefer rugby to northampton - but northampton is bigger and probably and better facilities generally. if you have any more questions about either of these, let me know and i can ask the experts xx

luminated

Keith wrote: »

We looked at all of the above and chose Flitwick, a small town outside MK, close enough for the town, but far enough away to get a much smaller community.

Do you need schools? As the ones we read in MK were rated poorly on Ofsted

No schools.

I should of said in my OP that we are both just over retirement age. Thanks for your help.

luminated

Paul_the_Painter wrote: »

Big plus with Milton Keynes is that almost everywhere is accessible by mobility scooter, buy one off eBay for a few hundred pounds, and you might never use your car again! All of the redways (shared pedestrian and cycle routes - coloured red) have sloped access, so you can travel from literally your front door into town, and indeed anywhere else in town. This includes for instance a path all around Furzton lake. There was a mobility shop, not sure now, but if I was in your position I would just buy one, you will get a huge amount of use from it. It is worthwhile to buy the Milton Keynes council published map, which will show the extent of the network. I would not normally comment as the towns are so different, but for someone with a mobility problem, it would be very hard to beat MK. Shenley lodge is a nice area that puts you halfway between the town centre, and a very nice Morrison's, bordering Furzton lake, with a nice pub in the Old Beams. All of these you'll be able to get to with using just the scooter. Think of the fuel savings!

Thanks for your help & MK sure sounds a good place to be. We have a car but my wife drives me as I had to stop driving about three years ago.

luminated

firesidemaid wrote: »

i live just outside corby but have colleagues living in both northampton and rugby. as a visitor i prefer rugby to northampton - but northampton is bigger and probably and better facilities generally. if you have any more questions about either of these, let me know and i can ask the experts xx

Thanks for your help & offer of further help much appreciated.

Raksha

I live in Bletchley, on the southern edge of MK. To get the best accessibility you really need to be in MK itself, as places like Bletchley/Fenny Stratford, Stony Stratford and Wolverton are very much old fashioned market towns, with the parking and access issues that go with any other old market town. Within the city are small 'estates' which will often have a strong community feel, so don't be put off by the fact that you won't see many people as you drive round the city - that's the beauty of it, you can get from one side of the city to the other in 10 mins or less via the 'Grid roads' which are designed to keep people away from the traffic.

Dan-Dan

given your circumstances , MK is far and away your best bet ,for accesible shoping , lakes etc, just do your research thoroughly on where you will move to..

Marshflower

I have lived in MK and I loved it. Being a modern city, wheelchair access is brilliant. I would recommend it. I enjoyed living in Stony Stratford most as it has a lovely village feel but the city in your doorstep.

As for the "the schools in MK being rated poorly by Ofsted" - this is just laughable! There are heaps of schools, they can't all be crap. And I know for certain the one my brother teaches in has a superb Ofsted rating