Cambridge Questions! - Page 3

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Originally Posted by Plaid Leopard

Could you tell me a bit about Newmarket? Is it a good family town? What is there to do there? Any areas that should be avoided?

Also, do you know anything about Littleport?

The only feedback I have one Newmarket is that it is dominated by horseracing.

My husband went to see a couple of houses in Ely today, right on Stour Green which is a big park. He said it was nice lots of kids outside, people playing in the park. It had a very nice family feel. I am checking www.rightmove.com everyday

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Originally Posted by Plaid Leopard

I've heard there is a good home-ed group in Cambridge.

Do you remember the names of any. I know there is one that had a website but I cant remember the name, and all my googling is not finding it.

[Plaid Leopard]

Yeah - I am obsessed with rightmove! I came across three houses that looked really good, but were taken by the time I called. Sigh. Now DH is saying he doesn't want to live in Ely, but it looks really nice to me.

I have not been able to find the yahoo home ed group but a friend just joined and will send me the link. I will pass it on to you.
I think the main group is Cambridge Home Educating Families (CHEF).

[kmamma]

Hello you two!

Just enjoying reading your exchange. We're dreaming about Scotland, but reading this, maybe we'll consider England too. I like the homeschooling community part.
I'm excited to see where you both end up! I like the sound of Ely.

Josefina.

[Jaxinator]

Originally Posted by Plaid Leopard

Could you tell me a bit about Newmarket? Is it a good family town? What is there to do there? Any areas that should be avoided?

Also, do you know anything about Littleport?

I love Newmarket. There are a ton of horses walking around, but my little ones loves watching as they cross the street. It's not ever really impacted our daily lives at all though. There's an average high street, and market days on Tues and Sat. A bunch of Americans out here, I don't know if Ely might have more though. There's a nice playground which they just redid this past spring. It's an easy, pretty drive to Cambridge. At night High St is popular. There's a lot of bars and clubs and it gets pretty rowdy.
Ely seems a bit more calm, but then again, I've never been there at night. Honestly, if Ely wasn't so out of the way for us I might want to live there instead.

Soham looks like a nice town too. Littleport might be a bit far for you though, what looks close by on a map actually takes forever. Especially if you'll have a left side car and can't see around the giant tractor going 25 MPH.

Have you thought about any of the bazillion little villages in the area? There certainly are a lot, and they seem so nice and quiet.

[Jaxinator]

Originally Posted by kmamma

Hello you two!

Just enjoying reading your exchange. We're dreaming about Scotland, but reading this, maybe we'll consider England too. I like the homeschooling community part.
I'm excited to see where you both end up! I like the sound of Ely.

Josefina.

Scotland looks prettier. This area is flat as a pancake.

[Plaid Leopard]

Thanks for the info Jaxinator. I know DH doesn't want a long commute, but the area where his work is very expensive. We will be in Cambridge on Friday, and have arranged viewings of a couple of places. SO, another question about Newmarket - specifically Exning Road. Good? Bad?

[Jaxinator]

It's a busy, main road, but it has it's plus sides. It's easy to get to High Street, and to the market. There are some really pretty houses on Exning, but there are also smaller row houses. It's not a good street or a bad street. There's a primary school at one end, so it's very crowded in the AM and afternoon. We actually wanted to see a house on Exning, but the letting agent never called us back
Are you looking to rent or purchase?

[Plaid Leopard]

We will rent. We are actually supposed to look at a house there on Friday. It looks nice, but it is still quite pricey. I guess we'll have a look just to get an idea.

[Jaxinator]

You know, tomorrow the Newmarket newspaper comes out (it's a weekly thing), and there are a lot of "to let" ads in it. Check to see if they delivered it to the house you're going to look at, or ask whoever shows you the house if they have a copy. I love just looking at it to see what I'm missing out on.

You know... you could get really lucky and find a house with 110V and 220V outlets. That would be my dream

[kmamma]

jaxinator--i sure like hilly, but flat can be pretty too i suppose, as long as it doesn't look like north dakota or texas panhandle. is the landscape bare?

are any of these towns and villages self-supporting (not necessarily for jobs, but conveniences)? or just bedroom communities (dead during the day)?

[Jaxinator]

Kmamma- It's not bare, no. I grew up in low mountains and after living here for awhile I tend to get excited for hills. But it really is pretty here, the flowers are amazing, it's usually very green (although it's a bit dry right now), and there are lots of trees. But I think there are much prettier areas of GB. The Cotswolds are beautiful.

I don't think anyone works in my town, High St is always so crowded! In fact, many of the towns seem to be like that, people around all the time. It's rather nice. We have pretty much everything here except for an A&E. Two grocery stores, 3 gas stations, clothing stores of all price ranges, drug stores...
Even the smaller villages seem to at least have a pub or two that people go to eat and socialize at.

[Plaid Leopard]

Well, both the houses we had planned to see tomorrow have been let - so back to the drawing board.

[Jaxinator]

Oh, I'm sorry to here that. It's very frustrating when that happens. I actually looked at our rental agencies website to see what they had, but everything they have is even further than Newmarket, in the wrong direction. Don't worry though, there are so many houses for let around here, there's such a huge market for it.
Look into Burwell too, it's a nice village about 10 minutes from Newmarket, towards Cambridge.
If you have any questions about the area please don't hesitate to ask me, I'll try to help if I can.
Info for next year: If you celebrate 4th of July (I don't know if you're American or not), every year one of the RAF bases around here has a carnival and fireworks display, and it's open to the public.

[Plaid Leopard]

Originally Posted by Jaxinator

Oh, I'm sorry to here that. It's very frustrating when that happens. I actually looked at our rental agencies website to see what they had, but everything they have is even further than Newmarket, in the wrong direction. Don't worry though, there are so many houses for let around here, there's such a huge market for it.
Look into Burwell too, it's a nice village about 10 minutes from Newmarket, towards Cambridge.
If you have any questions about the area please don't hesitate to ask me, I'll try to help if I can.
Info for next year: If you celebrate 4th of July (I don't know if you're American or not), every year one of the RAF bases around here has a carnival and fireworks display, and it's open to the public.

Sounds like my French DH's worst nightmare! I'm American, though, and that sounds like fun.
I did see a couple of nice houses to rent in Burwell, but for the moment we do not have a car so we really need to be near a train station. Or at least somewhere where there are good bus lines.
The house search is frustrating, but I knew the houses we were planning to visit weren't going to be ""the ones". I just have to be patient and wait for the right place to come up.

[Jaxinator]

The buses are really good out here actually. I would be surprised if it didn't go right through Burwell. I've seen buses stop in the most random spots.
Best of luck!

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Well, we ended up back in Mallorca and plan on staying here atleast a year. Cambridge might still be in the future, but not now...things change fast with dh's job But thank you mamas for the help

[Plaid Leopard]

Oh no! That's too bad for us but good for you, I'm sure. Enjoy your time in Spain.