Location, Location Location.....Cambridge?

Hi Expats,

We are in the process of finalizing the details for a 2 year stint in England.  We are a family of four currently living in Northern California.

Looking for a little advise ( or more if possible - I have flexibility in the area to move to England.  I will work from a home office and then have travel around Europe.  So, being close to an Airport that has decent connections through out Europe is important.

My wife is English, but has not lived there in 15 years (She will have to learn to be English again...).  She has family in small villages near Norfolk.  The area is too far out for us to be based there, but we want to be close enough for regular visits.

We are looking for family friendly areas.  My company will not cover the costs for schooling, so we would look for good community schools for our 6 and 9 year olds.

Just looking at the map, Cambridge came up as being close to Stanstead airport and not too far for the Norfolk.  Neither one of us has been there before.  Assume a University city would have decent amenities.

Any insight on the Cambridge area or other recommendations for good areas just out of London would be greatly appreciated.

It would be nice to be in an area where there was the potential for other expats as well.

Thanks for any insight!
 

Cambridge has lots of amenities but is not so family-friendly in terms of housing...rent is very expensive and schooling can be hit or miss depending on what area you can afford to live in. You may want to check out Ely, which is a 15 minute train ride from Cambridge and has good rail connections to Stansted and the Norfolk area. It's a much smaller town than Cambridge but housing for a family is very affordable in comparison and there are a TON of families, the town itself is very walkable, and you'd have an easier time of sorting out schools. There are a good number of expats in the area since there is an American military base nearby, plus you get a lot of expat academics who commute to Cambridge, as well.   

I would say Ely as well and I live just outside Cambridge.   

I have a bus to get to the city centre every 10 minutes and it takes about 15 minutes to get there and I still bet Lilybelle will be on that train to Stansted faster than I will. 

Cambridge is really expensive in terms of housing and most of it is focused on students so decent family houses are hard to find and expensive. Especially for a family of four.  Like everything, it depends on your budget and whether you can compromise.  For instance, I wanted a separate dining room and in order to get a house we could afford it meant a bathroom downstairs.  That's mainly an issue at 4am though, but if you are potty training that could be a problem. Second bedrooms in our area are often about 6' by 6' ish, so there is also that.

Also, if you want to go to rural Norfolk I assume you are going to be driving straight away.  My in-laws live in rural Suffolk and what is a 45 minute car drive is a 15 bus, 15 minute walk, 50 minute train and then a 40 minute car ride.  Not counting all the waiting around for all the buses and trains. 

We walked the Norfolk Coastal Path this summer and it was great.  The buses were fantastic, but it was getting to the buses that was the issue. 

Why not Norwich? There are easy connections to Amsterdam from the Norwich airport, and it's a lot easier to get to than Stansted - especially if you are relying on trains. I can't think of a time that I haven't heard that the Stanstead train at Cambridge has been cancelled or delayed.

Really?  I fly out of Stanstead at least three times a year and have only once had a delayed train.

Norwich used to have really good conections, but I think it has been reduced over the past few years. 

I work nearish to Stansted and there are several nice towns and villages along the train line between Cambridge and Liverpool Street and the M11 that are less expensive than Cambridge and might meet your needs.

Saffron Walden is a lovely market town and some colleagues with children live there and have high praise.  Others places worth considering is Bishops Stortford, Great Dunmow.

Thanks all - this is great information!

@lilybelle - Ely does sound like the right atmosphere.  It is a little smaller than we were initially looking for (but that is probably life in England).  We coming from an area that has a lot of amenities (American suburbs are good for that...)   We were using a loose benchmark of at least having a movie theater in town.  Thinking that if it has movie theater, it would have other basics covered.  How do you find living in the area?  Do you need to go into Cambridge frequently?

We looked into the Norwich airport, but it doesn't have enough direct flights around Europe.  I would need commutable to Stanstead.


@bookgrl - I can see what you mean about family housing being hard to find.  Cambridge does seem more expensive.  Is there an area of Cambridge that would be considered good to live, just to check prices on a good area.  It is hard to tell the good areas online.


All - Any thoughts on Bury St. Edmunds?

I love Bury St Edmunds.  The train station area is not pleasant, but the rest of the city (are we calling it a city? Is it that big?) is really nice.  There is a Christmas fair and the castle gardens are so pretty and nice to wander through. 

Although busy, it is a lot nicer than Cambridge in terms of crowds.  Quite a few people where I work no longer go into Cambridge to go shopping at the weekend but go to Bury St. E because it is so crowded.  I mean, it isn't London, but aside from the Market Square almost all the main shopping areas are in quite narrow streets which means lots of bottlenecks.

Also, because the Uni doesn't own everything and jack up the rent, they actually have quite a few independent shops. 

As for areas to live in Cambridge, I think it is more what you can find avoiding Chesterton and Kings Hedges.  Most people I know with kids live in the surrounding villages unless you bought your house 15 years ago.