Nice areas of Suffolk or Norfolk?

Slinky

Forget Norfolk then if you need to be within 2 hours of South East London.

trev7uk

Nothing wrong with Thetford, its is nicely situated on the Norfolk Suffolk border. Cambridge and Norwich are within 35mins. The coast is only 50-60 mins away depending what part of it you wish to visit. Plenty of primary schools, although only 2 are worth considering. I can drive to Rochester in Kent in 1 hour and 50 mins. Prices are slightly cheaper than Bury st Edmunds but travel times to London are very similar. Also plenty of homes to suit your budget. 

getmore4less

Although the roads have improved a lot Norfolk is a long way from everywhere(lived north of Norwich for quite some time school North Walsham still go back).

But if you did most of the space around Norwich to the coast is OK, and most things are in reach by car 15-30mins
if you want walk to a beach expect to pay.
You can go from small town to very rural
It also suffers from seasonality places are busy through the summer and dead in the winter.

Here is a rightmove search for 4bed upto £325k
what about this one 
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-82586131.html

GDB2222

FreeBear said:

youth_leader said: You might like Sheringham, Wells Next The Sea, Cromer. Train station is at Sheringham. 

Sheringham can get overwhelmed when the North Norfolk Railway has one of their weekend events on - The 1940s weekend brings the town to a grinding stop along with Holt & Weybourne. Suffice to say, the coast road gets gridlocked as well.

Wells is nice, but doesn't cope with the large volume of traffic during the summer months. During winter, it is pretty dead - Also very isolated compared to some of the other villages in Norfolk. Unlike Sheringham, Wells has big, wide open sandy beaches. Some nasty rip tides, and it is very easy to get stranded when the tide comes in - You really do need to watch the children as several have drowned in the area.

Cromer, nice beaches, fairly good access to Norwich (also has a railway station), but house prices are creeping up. Overstrand isn't too bad, but I'd avoid the other side of Cromer (East/West Runton) - One narrow coast road that gets clogged with traffic most of the year.

Avoid anything within 5 miles of Gt Yarmouth and Lowestoft - Really not nice places. Dereham isn't much better, but it has improved a little in recent years.

Diss is seeing several new housing developments being built - The ones Sis was looking at, right next to the main Norwich<->London railway line. Great if you don't mind hearing trains rumbling through every hour..

Thetford - You don't wanna go there. The best bit about Thetford is the A11 bypass. Stay on it, and keep going until you are out of the woods.

Holt is nice. A bit isolated at times, and the houses tend to be a bit more expensive - Retirement belt for the better off. Good school though.

Aylsham - Vastly improved in recent years. Fairly quiet, but not too far from Norwich. Regular bus service, and also has a railway station - OK if you want a narrow gauge trip to Wroxham, but not a lot else.

Wroxham - Meh... Just watch where you buy. It is on the edge of the Broads, and flooding is a concern. Also getting close to Gt Yarmouth.

Norwich - Only a couple of hours from London by train, three hours by road. Forget trying to go North or West. Road links are appalling. Some good schools, and a couple of not so good ones. Within striking distance of the coast either by road or train.

We’re pretty familiar with North Norfolk, as we’ve a strong connection with Sheringham and have been spending significant time there for the last nearly 50 years!

The coast road can become very busy in Summer, but the issue is mainly further along the coast - Cley and Stiffkey are both places where the road is very narrow. However, there are alternative routes inland to all the coastal villages, so it’s not that big a problem. 

Even in the height of summer, it’s easy to get away into total isolation. For example, if you cross the salt marshes at Stiffkey, you are likely to be the only person on the enormous (at low tide) sandy  beach. You can walk out to the seal colony.

The bits of the Runtons on the coast road are not very attractive, but there’s a lovely village behind that. Overstrand is nice, too, but I don’t think I’d want to live in Cromer, itself. Against the trend, I don’t like Holt, as it’s under the control of a local ruling elite. YMMV.

I’ve never really seen Sheringham overwhelmed by crowds or the roads gridlocked, but it does get busy a couple of weekends a year. 

Overall, if you like walking and 'nature' it’s a great area. There are jobs, but it’s not a high pay area, to say the least! There is not enough to keep teenagers amused, unfortunately. 

However you view it, though, North Norfolk to South London is going to take three hours to drive, not two. 

GDB2222

Oh, and if I were in your position, I would buy a few miles inland and drive to the coast. You’ll get much more for your money, and you’ll avoid the coast mists.

Caraway90

ratechaser said:

FreeBear said:

youth_leader said: You might like Sheringham, Wells Next The Sea, Cromer. Train station is at Sheringham. 

Sheringham can get overwhelmed when the North Norfolk Railway has one of their weekend events on - The 1940s weekend brings the town to a grinding stop along with Holt & Weybourne. Suffice to say, the coast road gets gridlocked as well.

Wells is nice, but doesn't cope with the large volume of traffic during the summer months. During winter, it is pretty dead - Also very isolated compared to some of the other villages in Norfolk. Unlike Sheringham, Wells has big, wide open sandy beaches. Some nasty rip tides, and it is very easy to get stranded when the tide comes in - You really do need to watch the children as several have drowned in the area.

Cromer, nice beaches, fairly good access to Norwich (also has a railway station), but house prices are creeping up. Overstrand isn't too bad, but I'd avoid the other side of Cromer (East/West Runton) - One narrow coast road that gets clogged with traffic most of the year.

Avoid anything within 5 miles of Gt Yarmouth and Lowestoft - Really not nice places. Dereham isn't much better, but it has improved a little in recent years.

Diss is seeing several new housing developments being built - The ones Sis was looking at, right next to the main Norwich<->London railway line. Great if you don't mind hearing trains rumbling through every hour..

Thetford - You don't wanna go there. The best bit about Thetford is the A11 bypass. Stay on it, and keep going until you are out of the woods.

Holt is nice. A bit isolated at times, and the houses tend to be a bit more expensive - Retirement belt for the better off. Good school though.

Aylsham - Vastly improved in recent years. Fairly quiet, but not too far from Norwich. Regular bus service, and also has a railway station - OK if you want a narrow gauge trip to Wroxham, but not a lot else.

Wroxham - Meh... Just watch where you buy. It is on the edge of the Broads, and flooding is a concern. Also getting close to Gt Yarmouth.

Norwich - Only a couple of hours from London by train, three hours by road. Forget trying to go North or West. Road links are appalling. Some good schools, and a couple of not so good ones. Within striking distance of the coast either by road or train.

And yet, for some inexplicable reason, I have an elderly relative that actually wants to up sticks and move to Gt Yarmouth to spent her remaining retirement years. And she knows well what it's like. And I've reminded her many times.

I've given up, no helping some people!

I've survived the last 29 years living within 5 miles of Great Yarmouth! Yes the town centre isn't great, but Gorleston and all the villages around the edge of Great Yarmouth are great places to live in my opinion What do you think is going to happen to her there?

Caraway90

Slinky said:

Forget Norfolk then if you need to be within 2 hours of South East London.

Yeah I was about to say the same thing, never going to happen!