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

Paul_the_Painter

Given that you don't drive any more, it's a no brainer. Milton Keynes it is. I was thinking you might have a Mobility car, in which case the argument may be more finely balanced. But buy a "proper" scooter, i.e. one that DOESN'T fold into the boot of a car, and you'll not look back, they do about 8 miles/hour and as such this puts you about 30 mins from just about anywhere in town if you are within an estate (grid square - you'll learn the local lingo soon enough) or two of the town centre. Time to regain your total independence. You may well think you have it now, but you'll be able to pop down the pub, drop into the shop to pick up a few essentials, and get down the doctors without needing a lift.
I've even seen a couple of scooters around with trailers (more popular in the USA) so you could even get the weekly shop in single handed.

Brallaqueen

Northampton is a hole. Avoid it. I know it welli

luminated

Brallaqueen wrote: »

Northampton is a hole. Avoid it. I know it welli

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

So you don't like the place :T

luminated

Paul_the_Painter wrote: »

Given that you don't drive any more, it's a no brainer. Milton Keynes it is. I was thinking you might have a Mobility car, in which case the argument may be more finely balanced. But buy a "proper" scooter, i.e. one that DOESN'T fold into the boot of a car, and you'll not look back, they do about 8 miles/hour and as such this puts you about 30 mins from just about anywhere in town if you are within an estate (grid square - you'll learn the local lingo soon enough) or two of the town centre. Time to regain your total independence. You may well think you have it now, but you'll be able to pop down the pub, drop into the shop to pick up a few essentials, and get down the doctors without needing a lift.
I've even seen a couple of scooters around with trailers (more popular in the USA) so you could even get the weekly shop in single handed.

Again thanks for your help with comments about the scooters & trailers. :T

PS Tesco brings our weekly shop I haven't been in a supermarket for a long long time as my wife goes there for the top ups.

luminated

Thank you also so very much for taking the time & trouble to help me on this one. It has proven yet again that the MSE community is brilliant.

I must admit (intuitively) Rugby & Northampton weren't sounding right & MK was never in our mind until the past week. But over this past week it has sounded very positive.

:beer:

Dan-Dan

As someone succinctly put it, avoid Northampton it`s a dump, Rugby, well, i have been there a few times, no real experience of it really, i think it has some nice outlying areas, but for accessibility and nature etc, MK is the best (of those three choices at least)

Post again nearer the time with your budget etc and I’m sure you will get loads of helpful advice on where to head for in MK

luminated

I've been spending time, this morning, looking at areas of MK in street view & I have noticed some of the architecture looks different or is it me? Mmm is it me? Or is it different? Or is it just I've managed to look at the odder areas.

Tirian

Can't speak much for Northampton and MK (though I'll give my impressions), but I live in Rugby and in answer to your qns:

luminated wrote: »

not town centre but with in a few miles of it

Plenty of places that fit this bill in Rugby. In particular, places on Oxford Street/Cambridge Street have plenty of 2 bed properties and are in very easy reach of station and town centre. It is uphill to the town centre however, if that affects your decision. Not steeply, but definitely enough to notice.

Compact shopping centre with a good sized under cover area

Big tick for this. Clock Towers shopping centre fits the bill exactly. And it's pretty good. Massive Asda right next to it too.

preferably with a Shopmobilty scheme to be able to hire out an electric mobility scooter

Don't know about this, but there is a mobility vehicle shop on the main road into the town centre, couple of doors down from Sainsbury's.

hopefully some nice countryside for trips out when I am able.

Also big tick for Rugby - loads of places to go, including Drayocte Water - but also a very nice nature trail accessible from the town centre, which runs along an disused railway cutting, so very flat - and access is via a series of ramps which should be manageable by wheelchair, if maybe requiring a bit of effort.

Also the main shopping area of the town centre is entirely pedestrianised, so I would have thought it would be ideal for you.

In general, it's a great place to live in our opinion - and that's not due to any particular bias I think. We moved here out of necessity about 2 years ago - in fact we considered the same places as you (as well as Banbury). I can honestly say we are delighted that we chose Rugby.

MK is, in my experience, a town designed entirely for driving and for drivers. Many roads have no pavement alongside, but instead have footpaths that are entirely separate from the roads - and therefore feel deserted and rather unsafe if you're out on your own. The "living" areas of town are quite separate from the "doing" areas (i.e. shopping, community centres, pubs, restaurants etc.).

I know less about Northampton, but if I recall correctly there are cobbles in the market area which may not be ideal for you. It certainly didn't have as good a feel to it as Rugby did for us.

Mr_Moo_2

luminated wrote: »

I've been spending time, this morning, looking at areas of MK in street view & I have noticed some of the architecture looks different or is it me? Mmm is it me? Or is it different? Or is it just I've managed to look at the odder areas.

Some parts of CMK are very odd indeed. But remember its a very big place..... broadly speaking the best bits are some way out from the centre - places like Shenley Church End, Furzton, Willen for example. But as already stated, access is good, and these places all have their own local services as well as the main centre shopping etc.

You do get occasional reports of trouble on Redways, mostly at night. Most of them run parallel with roads, when they hit a roundabout / junction is when they tend to deviate away from the road and go down slopes/thru underpasses. With a bit of common sense they're brilliant for getting around car-free.

Raksha

When we mooved here, we were told to avoid the areas immediatly adjoining the centre, especially the areas with the grid road system, you will knwo what I mean if you look at a map. Many of the newer Rea do appear to have 'challenging'architecture, but thats because they are new...