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advice on Grantham area?

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fxceltic 11 Mar 2014
afternoon all, after toying with the idea of moving to Yorkshire (for a variety of reasons including family there and better proximity to climbing) and living in London during the week, Ive decided I dont want to be away from the family.

An alternative option could be moving as far north as possible whilst still being within commuting range of my office.

Grantham seems to fit this particular bill, however I have never been there and know nothing of the place, other than it appears to have good schools and is just over an hour on the train.

I am looking for any knowledge of the better areas to live, perhaps in town , but also in the surrounding villages, up to 10-15 mins drive from the station. I will be going up to have a look around in a few weeks so any areas to look at would be appreciated.
Also if anyone has any advice on how good/ busy the train service to London is from there that would also be useful.

If you have any experience of the place you can share, that would be great.

cheers
 jonfun21 11 Mar 2014
In reply to fxceltic:

I grew up nearby in a village 30 mins away; have you considered somewhere like Stamford (nice town) and driving to Peterborough ~ which is less time on the train.

You can get a train from Stamford to London, but the change can be quite unreliable.

In terms of the area lots of nice rural landscape, Rutland Water is good if you like sailing/canoeing/biking etc. Nearest climbing is the Peak District and there aren't masses of climbing walls nearby.

If Grantham is your choice then quite a few nice villages nearby
 ByEek 11 Mar 2014
In reply to fxceltic:

Grantham is very pretty but I wouldn't exactly say it was convenient for climbing.
fxceltic 11 Mar 2014
In reply to jonfun21:

thanks for the reply

I did consider Stamford, but dont want to drive for 25 mins to Peterboro, additionally its just that bit further to reach yorkshire where family are etc
fxceltic 11 Mar 2014
In reply to ByEek:

> Grantham is very pretty but I wouldn't exactly say it was convenient for climbing.

sorry if not clear originally, but climbing is not the key driver in this decision, but in the context of currently living south of London, Grantham is a lot more convenient for the Peak District!
 jonfun21 11 Mar 2014
In reply to fxceltic:

Only point I would make (forgive me if you have already considered it) is that you are going to do the train commute every day (or perhaps just Monday to Thursday) therefore 20 - 30 minutes * 8 = c.3 hours extra of your life on a train each week.

Compared to (I am guessing) a single journey to Yorkshire every other weekend, with an increase journey time in the car of c. 1 hour.

There are some nice villages just nearer to Peterborough worth considering such as Wansford, Ailsford and Elton
 jonfun21 11 Mar 2014
In reply to fxceltic:

In reply to fxceltic:

Only point I would make (forgive me if you have already considered it) is that you are going to do the train commute every day (or perhaps just Monday to Thursday) therefore 20 - 30 minutes * 8 = c.3 hours extra of your life on a train each week.

Compared to (I am guessing) a single journey to Yorkshire every other weekend or so, with an increase journey time in the car of c. 1 hour.

There are some nice villages just nearer to Peterborough worth considering such as Wansford, Ailsford and Elton.

Also worth checking out the season ticket differential....again you may have already done this
fxceltic 11 Mar 2014
In reply to jonfun21:

thanks, I have considered all this though. One consideration is where I live currently I cant get a seat on the train (even though its an hour journey), using the seat availability checker on this journey tells me I can get one at grantham easily but it will be a struggle at peterboro.

appreciate your thoughts however!
 Mark Collins 11 Mar 2014
In reply to fxceltic:

I think Margaret Thatcher came from there, sorry that's all I've got.
 OwenM 11 Mar 2014
In reply to fxceltic:

Grantham could double for Royston Vasey. It's a local town for local folk, your not local.
 Firestarter 11 Mar 2014
In reply to fxceltic:

I commuted Grantham to Kings Cross about 7 years ago. If I recall annual season ticket then was about £6000, and even getting one of the earliest trains sometimes struggled to get a seat (amazing how many reserved seats). Coming back - difficult to get a seat before Peterborough. Add to that the groups of really(and I mean REALLY) annoying work colleagues banging on relentlessly and loudly about anything and everything, I can quite honestly say I would rather stick pins in my eyes and repeatedly slam my old chap in a car door than go through that again. In fact we moved closer to London because of these very reasons.
 BnB 11 Mar 2014
In reply to OwenM:

In a rather nice part of the Midlands, Grantham is the one not particularly nice settlement. Well maybe Melton Mowbray as well. But the countryside, particularly to the south west (the old Rutland) is lovely, a mini Cotswolds, in fact, being based on the same geology, a beautiful honey coloured stone. But the further you retreat into the countryside, the more troublesome your commute.
 marsbar 11 Mar 2014
In reply to fxceltic:

Its ok I suppose. Not very exciting. Nothing wrong as such but a bit small town.
 winhill 11 Mar 2014
 Sleepy_trucker 12 Mar 2014
In reply to fxceltic:

I work from grantham, it's a nice enough town all the usual stuff (except a cinema I believe), the wall's certainly nothing to write home about but was still there last I heard. The people seem friendly enough but I'm not from far away really so maybe they haven't noticed.

To my mind though, there must be places that would suit your needs better (sorry, I know next to nothing about the railways).
fxceltic 12 Mar 2014
In reply to Firestarter:

> I commuted Grantham to Kings Cross about 7 years ago. If I recall annual season ticket then was about £6000, and even getting one of the earliest trains sometimes struggled to get a seat (amazing how many reserved seats). Coming back - difficult to get a seat before Peterborough. Add to that the groups of really(and I mean REALLY) annoying work colleagues banging on relentlessly and loudly about anything and everything, I can quite honestly say I would rather stick pins in my eyes and repeatedly slam my old chap in a car door than go through that again. In fact we moved closer to London because of these very reasons.

thanks, sounds similar to my current commute re people talking loudly about bollocks!

re the seating, I think you can now book 4 week blocks of time for a seat, which should resolve that issue somewhat?

I currently live in a small town, so that sort of thing doesnt bother me really.

 jonfun21 12 Mar 2014
In reply to BnB:

"the old Rutland"

Is now "the New Rutland" it came back into existence in 1997...and council tax bills shot up as a result!
fxceltic 17 Mar 2014
In reply to fxceltic:

anyone know if Newark is any better?
 marsbar 17 Mar 2014
In reply to fxceltic:

Grantham is pro ably better than Newark. Newark isnt that bad but some areas are n icer than others.


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