Thoughts on Norfolk

[Deleted User]

Hi all,
Anyone live in Norfolk who can give me a pointer on best locations please?
As I have  been working from home for over 18 months with no end in sight (moving to once or twice a month in the office max from Sept according to my manager) it occurs to me that I dont have to live near to my expensive south east office location any more. With one bed flats selling here for the price of a 2 bed house with garden in Great Yarmouth for example, I'm starting to think about relocation. Would need to be relatively near to a station and a few shops (non driver) but I'm happy with fairly rural /seaside as well.

Any tips on places to look at / avoid please? 

Ditzy_Mitzy

First look at your local paper under 'driving instructors'!  Norfolk is lovely, but it's difficult without a car.  It's vast, and there are large bits of it that are only accessible by road.  There are lots of nice towns but Great Yarmouth isn't that well thought of.  It depends what you like; the place has, or at least had, a working class seaside sort of feel.  It's also next to Caister, so weekends tend to bring scores of ex and wannabe mods on chrome spattered Lambrettas.  That bothers me not a jot, but you'll need to look elsewhere if you fancy gentility or art or what have you.  Otherwise there's the usual bits of Cromer and Sheringham, which are fiercely expensive; and inland, which is strictly for motorists.  
Have you thought about Felixstowe?  It's not a lot different in spirit, bar being a working port, but has better public transport connections.  Suffolk, generally, has more railway than Norfolk.  

newsgroupmonkey_

I'd agree here. The train to Yarmouth is not pretty. There are 2 routes - via Lowestoft or via Norwich.

Norfolk is pretty remote as a non-driver. Not somewhere I'd choose to live if I didn't.

I'll be honest, it depends what you look for in a town, but it's not exactly the nicest place in the world to live (not the worst though).

Crime rate isn't great https://crimerate.co.uk/norfolk/great-yarmouth

Employment isn't great either (6.5% against an average of 3.8% in East Anglia).

JonMitchell

Hi
I used to live in Norfolk for 5 years and knows it quite well.
If your budget allows, I would advise against moving to Yarmouth. There are some lovely properties around there but it is not the best place to live - unemployment is high and tbh quite rough. Train service link is quite bad between Yarmouth and Norwich
Moving away from Yarmouth, you would be better living within Norwich city centre. There are quite a lot of flats near the main train station going a reasonable market price. 

wjr4

Norfolk is huge and areas vary a lot! Whereabouts do you live now? 

getmore4less

No car
transport options are the key to getting anywhere.

Even parts of Norwich nothing late but taxi you live a bit out.

GDB2222

My family have had a holiday home in Sheringham for 50 years, and we love the area.  It's worth mentioning that we are keen walkers. If that applies to you, too, I wouldn't worry too much about not being a driver. There are reasonable local bus services, considering that it's a rural area.  Mind you, we go shopping on foot to Cromer (it's five miles away), so our perception may be warped.  

Commuting: Train times to London Liverpool Street are 3 hours+, and it will typically cost you £60+ return.  The train goes via Norwich, and 1 hour of that time is spent on the slow local train getting to Norwich. I'd suggest investigating all the towns/villages on that line, as those places are obviously that much less travelling time to London. 

Even just twice a month, is it really feasible to travel for say 4 hours door-to-door to get to work, do a day's work, then another 4 hours to get home? Besides that, can you guarantee that what starts as a couple of days a month in the office won't suddenly change to almost full time in the office? It's quite a risk to move on that basis, as work prospects in the Norfolk area are not fantastic, I'm afraid.

theartfullodger

Very flat, Norfolk.

El_Torro

I've only every had holidays in Norfolk, never lived there. Still, I agree that a place in Norwich is probably not a bad option, especially since you don't drive. 

Norwich isn't a bad city, but I do question the desire to move to Norfolk, without a car to enjoy the more rural areas. I agree that avoiding Great Yarmouth is a good idea. Properties are cheap there for a reason.

mortgage_noob

Norwich city centre and the surrounding area are lovely with lots going on in terms of restaurants, cafe's, gigs etc etc but I wouldn't venture much beyond that in Norfolk myself to be honest.

LHW99

You could look at Diss. Its on the London line, though not all trains stop there.