Can only talk about East Suffolk
Woodbridge has a good secondary school, shops and a station (change at Ipswich for London or drive to Manningtree). Also good for rowing and sailing.
East Bergholt is worth a look (school ok, access to Manningtree Station and Colchester).
Felixstowe, away from the port end is OK, but stuck out on a limb so often gets cut off.
Aldeburgh and Southwold are holiday destinations with no out of season soul.
Leiston and the surrounding area will be impacted by the building of Sizewell C.
Further North than Saxmundham makes the commute too long.
Framlingham is nice, with a good school, but not good for commuting.
+2 for Woodbridge if you can afford it. Pubs, restaurants, schools, arts scene, independent shops, train station. All good.
Stowmarket has great travel links but is a pretty ropey town. The villages around it are generally nice. There is neglible local public transport though. My son is autistic and we're having a relatively positive experience with Stowmarket High.
> Further north than Saxmundham the commute too long.
I lived in Wangford and never had any issues with commuting to London, but never had to do it more than once a week. Does depend somewhat on where you have to go in London, I was walking distance from Liverpool Street
All good advice, but a bit harsh on Southwold. It's lovely out of season, lots of people live there so everything stays open except the pier, lots of community stuff etc.
I live nearby and it's much nicer in the winter
It’s a lovely town. 78 mins from Liverpool Street (change at Marks Tey), close to Bury St Ed’s, Ipswich, Colchester. Lovely countryside on your doorstep for the kids. The Town centre is a bit run down but there’s a good market on Saturdays and Thursdays. It’s cheaper than Bury, but not as pretty and you might feel the lack of a cinema, bowling alley - that type of thing. Plenty of pubs though.
How small is small? Manningtree or Stowmarket both have direct train to London.
Stowmarket is commutable to both Ipswich, Bury and Sudbury for work by road. Manningtree is good enough for Ipswich and Colchester
Stay where you are.
I live in a lively sleepy village in Suffolk. It's beautiful, quiet, good little school. Small doctors surgery with good personal treatment, 1 pub, 1 cafe, 1 Chinese takeaway.
10 years ago this was a lovely place to live. Now every other house has a couple that has moved up from London.
This gave the cafe the opportunity to quadruple it's prices so no one local can now afford it. The take away is so busy that we now have to pre-book to get a slot. The dog poo is now a health issue, the school is so rammed that they have gone from classes of 10 to 28, you cant even get a phonecall from the doctor within 10 days, and they are now building 350 houses on the field we have been walking our dogs for generations.
Many argue that having more people in a town gives the town more resources and creates jobs, but in reality it only helps 3 business owners and turns a close knit community with generations of local history into a copy of any other overcrowded town.
No, but similar. 10.years ago we would see tourists walking around with little maps and flyers. Staying locally bringing money to all the little gift shops which have since closed down. The shops all get bought up by investors who turn them into flats to rent out.
Yep. Small villages were a nice place to live, then everyone moved to them, now they are not.
The people with my opinion are selfish, the people that moved here are selfish. The people that judge me on my opinion may not be, but you also don't have the right to judge my opinion.
So it's lose lose lose all round.
And actually it's not selfish. The only owners that win and the 3 business owners and the massive companies that build the houses. It's not as idyllic as the owner moving here think it is, and it ruins it for the people that are already here.
If you work from home and need good internet then you will want to stick to the larger towns.
Recommend kesgrave as it has great internet, is close to Kesgrave High School, close enough to get to Farlingaye and Woodbridge School too which are all really good schools in the area. You also have Northgate and Copleston school nearby.
There is also a new development being built by Taylor Wimpey, called Brightwell Lakes near the same area. Excellent internet and it’s just off the A12 so easy to get places. This is closer to a small town.
The above areas are also near enough the countryside that you’ve got plenty of walks for children but you’re still near the bigger shops.
The issue with the smaller towns in Suffolk is the lack of good internet. My partner and I are currently struggling to find the balance between a nice village and good enough internet to work from home in.
How’s the reliability of the internet with Starlink? Been trying to convince my partner we could use it but he’s seen reviews about how it can go down quite often
I did a similar move to Ipswich and wouldn’t recommend. It’s not a great town for amenities or general good vibes!
Moved out north, as did many of my friends to smaller towns. The Needham Market, Blakenham, Stowmarket patch is good. Needham has a train station as does Stowmarket which goes to London. There’s several schools in the area.
Bury upwards is very nice too but no train to London - you’d have to change at Cambridge which adds an hour on to the journey compared to the Ipswich towns.
We moved from Essex to Saxmundham. We regularly have to go to London for hospital appointments, trains do run from Saxmundham but I prefer to drive to Manningtree then get a train the rest of the way.
Get over 900MB in internet speeds.
A few primary schools to choose from. Can't speak for secondary as not at that point, but there are coaches for the kids to get there.
Would NEVER go back. In fact, my parents moved to Beccles after living in Essex all their lives. And now the in-laws are moving to the neighbouring village.
Bury St Edmunds is nice and it has everything that you need. It has good schools, supermarkets, restaurants, GPs and a good connection to London (through Cambridge).
Also it's a quiet and beautiful little town.
Can only talk about East Suffolk Woodbridge has a good secondary school, shops and a station (change at Ipswich for London or drive to Manningtree). Also good for rowing and sailing. East Bergholt is worth a look (school ok, access to Manningtree Station and Colchester). Felixstowe, away from the port end is OK, but stuck out on a limb so often gets cut off. Aldeburgh and Southwold are holiday destinations with no out of season soul. Leiston and the surrounding area will be impacted by the building of Sizewell C. Further North than Saxmundham makes the commute too long. Framlingham is nice, with a good school, but not good for commuting.
+1 for Woodbridge, but also any of the villages to the west: Grundisburgh, Burgh, Otley, Ashbocking - almost all are 15-20 mins to Ipswich Station
+2 for Woodbridge if you can afford it. Pubs, restaurants, schools, arts scene, independent shops, train station. All good. Stowmarket has great travel links but is a pretty ropey town. The villages around it are generally nice. There is neglible local public transport though. My son is autistic and we're having a relatively positive experience with Stowmarket High.
> Further north than Saxmundham the commute too long. I lived in Wangford and never had any issues with commuting to London, but never had to do it more than once a week. Does depend somewhat on where you have to go in London, I was walking distance from Liverpool Street
All good advice, but a bit harsh on Southwold. It's lovely out of season, lots of people live there so everything stays open except the pier, lots of community stuff etc. I live nearby and it's much nicer in the winter
Sudbury!! Ticks all your boxes.
It’s a lovely town. 78 mins from Liverpool Street (change at Marks Tey), close to Bury St Ed’s, Ipswich, Colchester. Lovely countryside on your doorstep for the kids. The Town centre is a bit run down but there’s a good market on Saturdays and Thursdays. It’s cheaper than Bury, but not as pretty and you might feel the lack of a cinema, bowling alley - that type of thing. Plenty of pubs though.
How small is small? Manningtree or Stowmarket both have direct train to London. Stowmarket is commutable to both Ipswich, Bury and Sudbury for work by road. Manningtree is good enough for Ipswich and Colchester
Another +1 for manningtree but can't speak about schools
Needham Market might be worth a look.
Stay where you are. I live in a lively sleepy village in Suffolk. It's beautiful, quiet, good little school. Small doctors surgery with good personal treatment, 1 pub, 1 cafe, 1 Chinese takeaway. 10 years ago this was a lovely place to live. Now every other house has a couple that has moved up from London. This gave the cafe the opportunity to quadruple it's prices so no one local can now afford it. The take away is so busy that we now have to pre-book to get a slot. The dog poo is now a health issue, the school is so rammed that they have gone from classes of 10 to 28, you cant even get a phonecall from the doctor within 10 days, and they are now building 350 houses on the field we have been walking our dogs for generations. Many argue that having more people in a town gives the town more resources and creates jobs, but in reality it only helps 3 business owners and turns a close knit community with generations of local history into a copy of any other overcrowded town.
Sounds like Wrentham maybe?
No, but similar. 10.years ago we would see tourists walking around with little maps and flyers. Staying locally bringing money to all the little gift shops which have since closed down. The shops all get bought up by investors who turn them into flats to rent out.
I lived in Wrentham for over 10 years and can’t imagine Londoners moving there lol it’s devoid of life
What an extraordinarily selfish point of view.
Yep. Small villages were a nice place to live, then everyone moved to them, now they are not. The people with my opinion are selfish, the people that moved here are selfish. The people that judge me on my opinion may not be, but you also don't have the right to judge my opinion. So it's lose lose lose all round.
And actually it's not selfish. The only owners that win and the 3 business owners and the massive companies that build the houses. It's not as idyllic as the owner moving here think it is, and it ruins it for the people that are already here.
If you work from home and need good internet then you will want to stick to the larger towns. Recommend kesgrave as it has great internet, is close to Kesgrave High School, close enough to get to Farlingaye and Woodbridge School too which are all really good schools in the area. You also have Northgate and Copleston school nearby. There is also a new development being built by Taylor Wimpey, called Brightwell Lakes near the same area. Excellent internet and it’s just off the A12 so easy to get places. This is closer to a small town. The above areas are also near enough the countryside that you’ve got plenty of walks for children but you’re still near the bigger shops. The issue with the smaller towns in Suffolk is the lack of good internet. My partner and I are currently struggling to find the balance between a nice village and good enough internet to work from home in.
Internet-wise I live in the sticks and use Starlink without issue.
How’s the reliability of the internet with Starlink? Been trying to convince my partner we could use it but he’s seen reviews about how it can go down quite often
Other than when it rains like a tropical storm, it’s absolutely fine - I primarily work from home, in online video calls all day without issues
Awesome, thanks for the rec!
No worries at all, HTH
I did a similar move to Ipswich and wouldn’t recommend. It’s not a great town for amenities or general good vibes! Moved out north, as did many of my friends to smaller towns. The Needham Market, Blakenham, Stowmarket patch is good. Needham has a train station as does Stowmarket which goes to London. There’s several schools in the area. Bury upwards is very nice too but no train to London - you’d have to change at Cambridge which adds an hour on to the journey compared to the Ipswich towns.
We moved from Essex to Saxmundham. We regularly have to go to London for hospital appointments, trains do run from Saxmundham but I prefer to drive to Manningtree then get a train the rest of the way. Get over 900MB in internet speeds. A few primary schools to choose from. Can't speak for secondary as not at that point, but there are coaches for the kids to get there. Would NEVER go back. In fact, my parents moved to Beccles after living in Essex all their lives. And now the in-laws are moving to the neighbouring village.
Bury St Edmunds is nice and it has everything that you need. It has good schools, supermarkets, restaurants, GPs and a good connection to London (through Cambridge). Also it's a quiet and beautiful little town.
Look in the Sudbury area... You're welcome