What can you tell me about Cambridgeshire?

We are looking at a possible move in January and I was wondering if anyone had any advice on nice towns around Cambridge with nice schools (we have  a 5 year old a 4 year old and a 2 year old) 

Thanks

Oana

Ely is a wonderful town, the state schools are wonderful and  the KIngs College schools, if you want to  go the private route, are top notch.

How close did you actually want to be to Cambridge? Do you prefer tiny little 1 shop villages or decent sized towns where you can get your nails airbrushed and have 24hour grocery shopping?  Do you need to be close to a train station?  Will you be working in Cambridge itself? Would you prefer to be in easy reach of a motorway? Do you want somewhere rather rural? What are you used to?

Rosie

We would like to be within a maximum of 30-40 minutes from Cambridge so Dh can get to work easily. I would prefer a decent size town as we are moving from a small town in The Nehterlands and being in a bigger one would be nice. A train station would be nice as I don't drive (never mind the weird driving on the wrong side thing... LOL At this rate I'll never learn...LOL )

We really want somewhere safe with good schools for the kids and decent shopping for me 

Also we will be renting and don't want to spend more thn 850 a month for a 3 bed.

Thanks for any advice you may have and I will be checking out Ely

Also check your PM

Checked and replied. 

Rosie

Flatlands.

I live in Ely!

We love it here. We live near the train station and they have frequent lines into Cambridge, and it is oh... a 25 minute drive?

Another town to look at is Bury St. Edmunds. It has a train station as well but it isn't as big or good as Ely's, but still goes into Cambridge. Bury has more shops (Marks & Spencers, Body Shop, Next etc) - and is still cool. Rent is a LOT cheaper in Bury than in Ely.

We have a 2 bedroom house in Ely and it costs us 600 pounds a month. You can get 3 br flats for a decent price here, but they are all on the outskirts of town in new housing editions - which is fine if you have a car. I prefer living closer to town though because it is nearly impossible to park here and I have to walk everywhere. So if you are doing a lot of walking I don't recommend the new places.

As for Bury - it is bigger than Ely. Ely has more little shops, but with a proper high street and stores like WHsmith, Huge Tesco, Boots, Dorothy Perkins, Adams, Woolworths, WIlkinsons and Waitrose) and the cathedral is stunning.

ALSO - you can look at Newmarket. Again it is about the same distance from Cambridge, has bigger shops than Ely, has a huge horseracing industry, and is pretty cool - though I definitely prefer Bury or Ely.

I will SO MISS living in Ely, I completely and utterly adore this city. Cambridgeshire is a nice place to live. It is a really flat part of England and full of fields and farming and rural life, but then you've got little gems of cities like Ely and Bury and obviously Cambridge. And Cambridge ROCKS. I love it there. There are loads of Park & Rides as well (for commuting or shopping) so it isn't hard to access.

So! There you go. I'm more than happy to chat more about it if you've got questions. I've been here nearly 3 years (minus 6 months I spent in Essex) - and my husband grew up in the area. 

** Bury St. Edmunds and Newmarket aren't in Cambridgeshire though, they are technically in Suffolk, but just as far (basically) from Cambridge as Ely is. Newmarket is actually half and half, and sits right on the border of the 2 counties. 

Great. 4 weeks to go until we move back to America and writing all of that down started the whole inevitable "But but but... but I love England!" thing and now I have to go hide in a corner and freak out about our decision!!      :\\\'(