buying in northampton ??

kmate

Maybe you ought to drive to wellingborough and have a look, the kids are off school so you would get a true picture of how many kids hanging around etc. call into an estate agents and tell them your budget and ask them the best place to spend that money, the areas that you need to avoid are well-known so any agent will be able to help I would think.

Ask if your budget will stretch to one of the villages, the things you are worrying about are less likely then.

Or you could rent, till you have a better feel for the area.

ixwood

What is your budget if you don't mind me asking?

I presonally would rent 1st. Suss out the area and see where house prices are going.

FOr kids, the villages are by far the safest/niceest option IMO.

ixwood

I would happily let my kids go to the park on their own. People are generally nicer too. All my neighbours actually intoduced themselves and said hello when I moved in. We were sanding floorboards on a hot day and the lady over the road brought over chilled drinks in nice glasses on a silver tray for us.

There's also loads of clubs and sports teams etc

And a country park/resovoir on our doorstep.

not that I'm too biast or anything..

ixwood

We even get nice poilte well mannered kids trick or treating. And they're happy with sweets or a penguin! lol

tw1nklestar

I have lived in wellingborough for the past 10 years but am moving on Monday :j . I dont personally believe the secondary school in wellingborough are very good Sir Christopher Hatton, Wrenn and Weavers all have their share of problems. If in any doubt look on dfss site at ofsted reports, the primary schools are good in my experience all three of my children attended All Saints CofE Primary and loved their young school life. Personally i would avoid the estates Queensway, Kingsway and the Hemmingwell if your budget allows. If think Wellingborough will be very much an up and coming area with all the new developments especially the development that is going to take place off eastfield road. When i had my house valued Martin Hawkesby estate agents gave me the lowest valuation so there may be a good place to start looking if you decide you are keen on wellingborough. Good luck with your move whatever you decide. I am only moving as i am relocating to York.:j

kfer_kaz

I would choose Northampton over Wellingborough all the time but then I am biased lol. Northampton has much much more 'going on' than Wellingborough, but the it's only a 20 min drive away. Like any other town Northampton has good and bad parts and I think the house prices reflect that. I will say though if I could afford to I would love to live in one of the villages and there are so many villages to choose from. I have heard wonderful things of Brixworth and it's people. I see you have children so schools will play a big part in your decision, Northampton has quite a few schools to choose from, almost all have been revamped due to the change from 3 tier to 2 tier.
I hope you don't feel swamped with all all this different information from everyone.

ixwood

yay for brixworth!!

If it's a straight choice between Northamapton and wellingborough, northampton wins hands down for me. I wouldn't even consider wellingborough personally. It's mostly very rough and definitely not somewhere I would choose to raise children.

where2start

Many thanks to everyone that has replied to my thread, we drove down to wellingborough looked at a few houses and they all seemed to be around this particular area surrounding Hemingwell ............the house we were interested in was very quiet for a saturday afternoon and went for second viewing again on a mondya evening and found it quiet. People are very friendly and polite, my husband is convinced this is the area we should strt with on getting onto the property ladder and i have my reservations ie. posts on Hemming well not so good !!still undecided what to do and the house has already has had 3 offers - !!! tough one !!

full-time-mum

I was brought up in Earls Barton and we have lived in Wellingborough since we married in 1991.

As mentioned, there are some rough areas but also some nice bits too. The area around Gleneagles drive (where we are is OK).
Where have you looked, what sort of price range etc.

Schools are mixed - primary: Redwell, Avenue/Park, St Barnabus, All Saints all have good/reasonable reputations.
We've just done the whole secondary school bit.
Hatton has a good reputation but we were not impressed.
Weavers has a bad reputation and has just come out of special measures. However, when I looked around, I was very impressed with what they offered and the ethos in general. Catchment is probably the 'toughest'.
Wrenn - this is what we settled on. Yes, they have problems as do all schools but they created a much better/friendlier/enthusiastic impression. than Hatton.
A few children have opted for Kettering schools - Southfields (girls) has good reputation particularly for sport. Bishops (coe) is the one you are supposed to want to send your children to but you have to be regular church goers/community supporters to get in and I have heard a few not so good rumours (again, all schools have good and bad points, even the most popular)

Wellingborough town centre isn't that brilliant but it is currently free to park and will hopefully improve when the new development gets under way - this may or may not be a good thing. Centre has Boots, Dotty P, Superdrug, Iceland, New Look, Woolies to name the names. plus morrisions.
Outskirts: Sainsbury, Tesco, B&Q, Homebase, Dunelm.

tomkeat

ixwood wrote: »

yay for brixworth!!

I agree Brixworth is a nice area with affordable house: Property for sale in Brixworth. It is an upcoming area, even now the house prices nearly match those of London! Have a look.