[Closed] Relocation to Cambridge

The sixth form colleges, Hills Road and Long Road, in Cambridge are seriously good.

Godmanchester, Huntingdon, St Ives, Newmarket, St Neots, Ely all seem to be half decent places that s lot of people who work in Cambridge commute in from.
Have a look at villages on or near the guided busway. There is a cycle lane along the whole length. Or you could just sit on the bus. Depends where you are working. It's very convenient for the Science Park.

I used to live in Cottenham which was nice, but went down hill when a large traveller site was set-up nearby. Not sure what it's like now.

Cambridge is nice to live in but very expensive to buy property.

If you don't mind driving a bit further there is also Royston to the South West and Peterborough - but if you are commuting to the centre, Peterborough might be a stretch too far by car (although you can do it by train too).
I live nr Peterborough and work nr Swavesey. It's 40 miles and takes me from 50 mins to 1hr 10.

A good friend lives in St Ives and I'm pretty sure his kids went to the schools there and have done very well. He actually commutes into London but many of his neighbours work in Cambridge.

Good info above.
The guided bus is good if you can bus or cycle. But its route is along the A14 so if you're in a car it's not fun. (I've been lucky, I haven't had to drive on the A14 to work for years.)
What age for schools?
Lots of good primary schools, not so many when you need secondary. Villages like Impington, Milton, Swavesey and Soham are good, Ely less so (unless you can afford Kings).
As mentioned above, Hills and Long Road are both very good, but not easy to get into.
Generally, north of Cambridge is cheaper then south (closer to London and some people think it's prettier).
The train from north of Cambridge is good, and they're building a new station on the north side of the city which could open up places like Downham Market and Kings Lynn if you don't mind a slightly longer commute.

I don't think you can go too far wrong anywhere surrounding Cambridge, most villages and small towns are pretty nice. Your suggestion of Hitchin is a good one, nice little town.

Saffron Walden is a really nice place

We relocated from Bristol to Ely a couple of years ago so can give some info:
Good:
Small but not to small Cathedral City (small town).
Attractive centre and waterside
Lots of community events
Friendly people
Excellent direct train links to London, NW, Midlands...
Housing is much cheaper than Cambridge
Much sunnier and drier than Bristol

Bad:
Mountain biking is bad (as it is for anywhere around here), Thetford is 30 minutes drive away, Woburn 1hr, everything else is a long day.
Road riding on the Fens can be a little dull, need to venture to South Cambs or Suffolk for some hills and hedgerows.
Even on a still day it's windy on the Fens.
We don't have kids but Ely college hasn't performed well recently, Witchford college is supposed to be better.
If you need to drive in to the centre of Cambridge at rush hour it can take 90 minutes to do the 15 miles at rush hour. Not so bad if you need to get to the science park but you'd be better off taking the train once they open the new North Cambridge station.
I know lot's of people of cycle to work from Ely to Cambridge, it's flat but there are no low traffic routes.
Did I mention the lack of hills?

I really like Ely, even after considering the flatness but if I didn't need to travel to London once or twice a week I'd consider one of the villages near Newmarket (not Newmarket itself as it's full of short aggressive people).

I'd echo the comment above about the lack of hills. It's... flat. However, there are some nice places around.

As for property, you need to think of the area as a number of different zones:

In Cambridge: Expensive, and I mean expensive.
West of Cambridge, south of A14: Also expensive, but not _as_ expensive
West of Cambridge, North of A14: Less expensive
East of Cambridge, North of A14: Less expensive
East of Cambridge, South of A14: expensive, but not _as_ expensive as Cambridge.

If you want a short(er) commute, I would suggest that you look based on where you will be working.

As an example, I live West of Cambridge, South of the A14 in a smaller village. Housing is relatively cheap (compared to Cambridge), and the commute I have (to the Science Park) is relatively straightforward (Straight on to A428, then A14, then turn off to Science Park). This means that the location suits us well.

However, If I were working at Addenbrokes or in the middle of Cambridge, I would go mad. The hell that is driving in from where we are would drive me to an early grave, so I would consider relocating to a much easier/shorter/safer commute on bike to Cambridge, somewhere like Shelford, Barton, Coton, etc. If I decided to take a job daaaan in Laaandaaaan, then I'd probably suck up the drive, but head to St. Neots or Huntingdon for the train. Maybe, possibly Royston.

Schools? No idea. That's about 10 years out for us right now.

Oh, I forgot to add, I live about 13 miles away from the Science Park, but my commute can take up to an hour if the traffic is bad. There are bad times to get in to Cambridge as well, typically anything after 0730. If you live outside town, you need to factor this in.

I commuted from Ipswich from 18 months before moving to Huntingdon (some very cheap houses) and regularly started queuing for the Science Park at the Newmarket Road turn off on the A14.

I moved out to Saffron Walden last year. Basics are covered: good schools, good bike shop, better (road) riding than Cambridge.

Thanks for all the replies - all really useful. I'd be working out of Addenbrokes so was figuring on either a train into Cambridge and then cycle out, hadn't thought of the guided busway though

Cheers
Dan

I'm in Royston which is clean, safe, good schools and surprisingly inexpensive. fast trains to London or Cambridge and it's commutable by bike. That said, the guided busway from St Ives would be an amazing bike commute

I don't think the two sections of the busway are linked, so coming from St. Ives it dumps you in the Cambridge traffic. If you're heading to Addenbrokes you could drive to a park and ride car park (you'll have to pay) and cycle. Or the current rail station isn't to bad for Addenbrokes.

Catching the train and cycling out to Addenbrokes is pretty simple. Although you can just as easily get off the train at Shelford and cycle up the rather nice cycle path.

Try and avoid having to use the A14 as part of your commute, it is one of the busiest and most accident prone roads in the country and has daily hold ups with crashes etc.

I don't think the two sections of the busway are linked, so coming from St. Ives it dumps you in the Cambridge traffic

They're not, the North section exits at the top of Milton Road next to Vindis VW dealership and doesn't restart till just South of the Train Station, so about 3.5 of Cambridge Roads in between.

Update us with where you pick, looks like a number of is are in the area. Personally I've been in Impington and now Longstanton for the last 10 years or so. Both good places to live, but a decent trek to Addenbrokes.