Where to live if working in London/Cambridge

Tiglet2

fidaa said:

Gavin83 said:

So we did a very similar search a few years back and looked at a number of places named in this thread. So some opinions:

Milton Keynes - Very odd vibe to the place. Feels like an American city that’s been built to test nukes. We went there on a Saturday and basically saw no one else.

Royston - We almost moved here. Quite a nice town but didn’t fill us with joy either. It’s quite small and there’s not much going on but you’ll need to decide if that’s a problem.

Bishops Stortford - It’s a very 50/50 town. Half of it feels lovely, the other half not so much. It’s close to the airport but I understand it doesn’t really suffer from noise.

Hitchin - It’s great, if a little yummy mummy feeling. You aren’t even getting close to that kind of property for your budget though.

Stevenage - Total dump.

Huntingdon - Feels run down. Lots of charity shops. Went into a pub there and most people in there had missing teeth and were discussing how they’d recently broken the law.

Honestly you’ll probably struggle to get that house, in that kind of area on your budget so something will have to give. The problem with the Home Counties is there are actually surprisingly a lot of crap places in them and those that are nice are generally expensive.

Oh and driving in Cambridge is a nightmare.

So where did we move? Ely, which is another place mentioned on this list. We love it and it has lots going on and it takes around 15 minutes to get into Cambridge by train and the ticket is cheap. 

London is more of a trek though. My wife works in London and goes into the office one day a week and I go in a few times a year. We both work in South London but door to door you’re looking at two hours plus each way. Honestly if I had to go in more than two days a week I’d move elsewhere or find another job. It’s also around £55 a day for the ticket.

Royston sounds good, what are house prices like?

Detached will be difficult, semi less so, but you could look at Rightmove yourself to get the general overview of house prices versus house size and detachedness.

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/

Tiglet2

Royston, near to station.

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/134219594#/?channel=RES_BUY

fewcloudy

Gavin83 said:

So we did a very similar search a few years back and looked at a number of places named in this thread. So some opinions:

Milton Keynes - Very odd vibe to the place. Feels like an American city that’s been built to test nukes. We went there on a Saturday and basically saw no one else.

Royston - We almost moved here. Quite a nice town but didn’t fill us with joy either. It’s quite small and there’s not much going on but you’ll need to decide if that’s a problem.

Bishops Stortford - It’s a very 50/50 town. Half of it feels lovely, the other half not so much. It’s close to the airport but I understand it doesn’t really suffer from noise.

Hitchin - It’s great, if a little yummy mummy feeling. You aren’t even getting close to that kind of property for your budget though.

Stevenage - Total dump.

Huntingdon - Feels run down. Lots of charity shops. Went into a pub there and most people in there had missing teeth and were discussing how they’d recently broken the law.

Honestly you’ll probably struggle to get that house, in that kind of area on your budget so something will have to give. The problem with the Home Counties is there are actually surprisingly a lot of crap places in them and those that are nice are generally expensive.

Oh and driving in Cambridge is a nightmare.

So where did we move? Ely, which is another place mentioned on this list. We love it and it has lots going on and it takes around 15 minutes to get into Cambridge by train and the ticket is cheap. 

London is more of a trek though. My wife works in London and goes into the office one day a week and I go in a few times a year. We both work in South London but door to door you’re looking at two hours plus each way. Honestly if I had to go in more than two days a week I’d move elsewhere or find another job. It’s also around £55 a day for the ticket.

I live in Edinburgh; never even heard of Huntingdon never mind lived there, but even I know that none of what you wrote actually happened, c'mon...

MatyMoo

fewcloudy said:

Gavin83 said:

So we did a very similar search a few years back and looked at a number of places named in this thread. So some opinions:

Milton Keynes - Very odd vibe to the place. Feels like an American city that’s been built to test nukes. We went there on a Saturday and basically saw no one else.

Royston - We almost moved here. Quite a nice town but didn’t fill us with joy either. It’s quite small and there’s not much going on but you’ll need to decide if that’s a problem.

Bishops Stortford - It’s a very 50/50 town. Half of it feels lovely, the other half not so much. It’s close to the airport but I understand it doesn’t really suffer from noise.

Hitchin - It’s great, if a little yummy mummy feeling. You aren’t even getting close to that kind of property for your budget though.

Stevenage - Total dump.

Huntingdon - Feels run down. Lots of charity shops. Went into a pub there and most people in there had missing teeth and were discussing how they’d recently broken the law.

Honestly you’ll probably struggle to get that house, in that kind of area on your budget so something will have to give. The problem with the Home Counties is there are actually surprisingly a lot of crap places in them and those that are nice are generally expensive.

Oh and driving in Cambridge is a nightmare.

So where did we move? Ely, which is another place mentioned on this list. We love it and it has lots going on and it takes around 15 minutes to get into Cambridge by train and the ticket is cheap. 

London is more of a trek though. My wife works in London and goes into the office one day a week and I go in a few times a year. We both work in South London but door to door you’re looking at two hours plus each way. Honestly if I had to go in more than two days a week I’d move elsewhere or find another job. It’s also around £55 a day for the ticket.

I live in Edinburgh; never even heard of Huntingdon never mind lived there, but even I know that none of what you wrote actually happened, c'mon...

I live just down the road & can almost guess which pub it was!

so many pretty villages around & the further out you go towards Ramsey, Chatteris, Sutton, the more you get for your money!

bouicca21

I’m going to go against the grain here.  Obviously it’s nice to have a detached house but you don’t have much time to enjoy it if you have to spend 2-3 hours a day driving to work along routes that are regularly messed up. That budget is really tight for a nice detached, so unless OP is able to work from home most days, I’d be thinking more about a semi much nearer Cambridge. 

fidaa

What kind of budget for a good detached then

Divorcing_Dad

Gavin83 said:

Milton Keynes - Very odd vibe to the place. Feels like an American city that’s been built to test nukes. We went there on a Saturday and basically saw no one else.

Great isn't it?

I lived just outside. Traffic's great, particularly on weekends.

Housing in the centre is just awful. Twinned with Baghdad. But many of the outer estates are lovely. And dead quiet.

Everyone is enjoying the redways (basically roads built for cycling and walking) and all the parks that the Parks Trust manage.

Great shopping centre too - all in one place and really well thought out.

I travelled through Salisbury and Southampton the other Saturday........ I wish I hadn't.

To put into context, I've moved from one tiny village outside a city to another 12 miles from the nearest town. I've lived all round the country - from Suffolk to Cornwall, back to Essex, Herts, Lancashire, Manchester, Berks, Beds, Bucks.

MK was the first urban development I could actually tolerate.

dander

You won't get detached for that budget in Letchworth. That's a 3-bed terraced house about a mile from the station kind of budget around here - lower end will get you ex-council, higher end will get you slightly posher, but not really bigger.  If the area appeals, going just a little up the road to Biggleswade will get you more what you want in budget. Still on a decent trainline to London, but you lose the direct rail link to Cambridge. Still driveable but more cross country than it is from the Letchworth/Hitchin area. A lot of new developments going on around Bigglewade, and the facilities are improving with it. 

TBH if I were you I'd get the job first, then pick the area. You'll pay more for anything that's got good access for both locations.

bouicca21

fidaa said:

What kind of budget for a good detached then

Play with Rightmove and see what is available, or talk to a local EA. I suspect more or less double, depending on what sort of property and location appeals. 

For example here are some detached properties, but all very different in terms of age and style:
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/132342710#/?channel=RES_BUY
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/132468764#/?channel=RES_BUY
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/135776762#/?channel=RES_BUY
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/133392602#/?channel=RES_NEW