USAF Alconburyoff base housing

[herman the crab]

I have a colleague who's son and DIL are going to be stationed there in the near future.

They want to live off base and have an allowance of $4000 per month (I assume this includes utilities).

Now whilst I am from the UK originally I do not know the area at all.

Can anyone recommend the best place to live or indeed areas to avoid?

If you'd rather PM that's fine.

Thanks.

HTC

[aw ditor]

There is a wide selection of good accommodation around Alconbury in both villages and market towns. With the budget you mention at $4K per month, he should have no problems.

[Dysonsphere]

4k a month you could almost get a palace. Have a look on google earth should give you an idea.

[salad-dodger]

I live in Cambridgeshire and $4,000 per month will get you somewhere very decent in a good village.


S-D

[earswentpop]

HTC - ABP (anywhere but Peterborough, which is a sh**hole, IMHO).

I would also recommend he minimizes his need to be on the A14, which is frequently a car park. Ellington is a nice village and nearby Oundle is a good place.

I would avoid living too close to rivers in that part of England as they flood quite often.

[PapaDolmio]

Avoid the bigger towns if you can (St Ives, St Neots) and Huntingdon- on no account go anywhere near Oxmoor/ Sapley. Some of the Fenland towns (Ramsey, Chatteris) can be a bit 'strange'.
Lots of nice villages around though, especially to the West and South, ok around Cambridge too but more pricey.
Caution- Cambridgeshire is a very popular area for 'people who live in Caravans'. Check out around villages for sites. (Cottenham for instance).

[Haraka]

USAF Alconbury ?? :)
Had a couple of houses in Brampton over the years and can concur with the above comments. Certainly ,even now, 2000$ a month will get you a very decent house in the area.

[kenparry]

I have a colleague who's son and DIL are going to be stationed there in the near future.
Are you sure about that? The whole place is a building site, being converted into housing and an industrial site. Is there still a USAF presence in the middle of that?

[Basil]

Some of the Fenland towns (Ramsey, Chatteris) can be a bit 'strange'.
I'll drink to that; once lived in Earith :\

[Basil]

Are you sure about that?
USAF in residence until 2019?
Americans planning to leave RAF Molesworth and RAF Alconbury - News - Hunts Post (http://www.huntspost.co.uk/news/americans_planning_to_leave_raf_molesworth_and_raf_alconbury _1_3618863)

[NutLoose]

within 10 mile and up to £1500 a month see

http://www.zoopla.co.uk/to-rent/houses/alconbury/?include_retirement_homes=true&price_frequency=per_month&price_max=1500&q=Alconbury&radius=10&results_sort=newest_listings&search_source=refine

£2,000 to £3,000

will get you the likes of

http://www.zoopla.co.uk/to-rent/houses/alconbury/?include_retirement_homes=true&price_frequency=per_month&price_max=3000&price_min=2000&q=Alconbury&radius=10&results_sort=newest_listings&search_source=refine

[HTB]

Google Earth image shows runway and taxiways closed markings, and a large number of articulated trailers parked on the western half, so I guess not used for aviation at the moment. That is not to say the USAFE do not have another use for the base, logistics centre for example (unless all those vehicles are nothing to do with military), or a housing and administrative centre for satellite units (outlying stations, not those things up in space).


Perhaps Herman TC can add something to help us understand.


Endorse all the observations about the Fens and its towns and villages; I once got completely lost at night returning from RAF Upwood to Finningley after visiting a girlfriend. Flat, featureless, lots of dykes, no lights, no road signs (BTW, I'm talking about the fenland, not the girlfriend...); even thought I could hear a banjo and guitar duelling in the background.


Mister B

[MPN11]

I used to own a rental property in Alconbury Village. Our USAF tenants were very good ... and it was nice to have Base Housing keeping an eye on proceedings for us.

Miserable area, though.

[chopper2004]

Herman,

I'm born and bred in this collegial city and happy to offer my thoughts..

AFAIK Alconbury is safe and Molesworth is continuing to expand according to a converse I had at Farnborough with an attendee...who knows and should know as they are regular visitor between there and Stuttgart :D and yes they does wear a shirt and tie! :mad: They said if any of our MP/MEPs are worried then they should not be. Relocating to Northampton /Oxford Golf Ball country would not work, in fact it be far easier to move the village and Golf Ball country up this way!!

The Alconbury Weald lot who are wielding their sheath and knocking down most of the HASs, command posts on the airfield site (have been up there a few times in the last couple of months). Their 25 year plan for new town, university campus etc etc DOES NOT include tearing down but building around the existing 501st as far as they know, the 501st ain;t moving.
Though the new CO...apparently wants to get rid of the F-5E gate guard, so I heard...

My neck of the woods in Camb is very expensive....

I'd suggest St Ives as its nice, not too expensive, and nice river, friendly atmosphere and down the road.

Defo not Chaaaaaaaatteris as one of my old best mates and one of our friends' family relocated there from Cam cos it was cheaper but its chav and boy racer territory. The roads are not particularly brilliant either.

Further up past Molesworth, Thrapston ain't too bad or was but unfortunately it is being swallowed up / amalgamated by Corby (one mate of ours moved out with his wife as he put it just in time 2 years ago!) and Corby is not particularly a nice place.

Anyway Cottenham/Impington/Histon ain't too bad villages outside Camb itself though tbh, the caravan lot are not noticeable noticeable in the local pubs and their segregation is more apparent in the news. The only downside like with other villages like Earith, Willingham, Longstanton, Dry Drayton, Conington, Papworth, between Huntingdon, St Ives, and Cambridge is the roads. Yes they have been improved over the years but...still

I've got a few friends in the property rental marketplace, here, so am sending you a PM.

Btw laughingly it has come to my attention that housing for EUCOM personnel, assigned here are in high demand and there is not enough. Yaxley, which is outside Peterborough was a USAFE village predominantly for the residents down the road in the 80s and 90s. Unfortunately with the base drawdown, it went and there are now personnel kicking themselves.

Cheers

[herman the crab]

Thanks to all who have replied and sent pm.

I am not sure of exact details of their deployments - I think they maybe in intelligence/monitoring?

My USA collegue asked me if I knew about the area as I am from the UK. Yeah most Americans/Californians see the UK as 'London' still... :) He is a nice guy so I said I'd see what info I could find.

The budget seems rather generous to me too...

I'll print the thread and pms for him before I see him next so any other info is still appreciated.

HTC

[Tankertrashnav]

Re comments about the fen country, if, for example, the Lake District is Coke, pop music or steak and chips, the fen country is a fine wine, a late Beethoven quartet or caviare. Its attractions are not immediately obvious but will grow on you in time. After 35 years I still feel nostalgic for the area with its huge skies and no annoying hills or mountains to spoil the view.

Re Chatteris, etc, just about everywhere I was posted in the RAF, people were commenting about the "funny locals", forgetting that they were "funny locals" from somewhere themselves! I agree with chopper's remarks about St Ives - I prefer it to our own tourist-clogged town of the same name!

If your friend keeps an open mind I am sure he and his family will have a great time.

[T-21]

Alconbury,Oakington and Waterbeach are having thousands of new homes built on them also Cambourne village is expanding to build on the former Bourn airfield. The increase in traffic around the Cambridge/Huntingdon area will reach grid lock unless the A14 around Bar Hill is upgraded. Until the road infrastructure is sorted out it will all end up in tears or fumes of frustration for motorists :uhoh: The Oundle rural area is nice and accessable.

[PapaDolmio]

Alconbury,Oakington and Waterbeach are having thousands of new homes built on them also Cambourne village is expanding to build on the former Bourn airfield. The increase in traffic around the Cambridge/Huntingdon area will reach grid lock unless the A14 around Bar Hill is upgraded. Until the road infrastructure is sorted out it will all end up in tears or fumes of frustration for motorists :uhoh: The Oundle rural area is nice and accessable.

Agreed, avoid having to use the A14 if at all possible!

[Union Jack]

423d FSS (http://www.rafalconbury.com/) may also be of interest regarding many other aspects of the appointment, if not already seen.

Jack

[Wander00]

Chatteris - now there is a town - the former Mrs W started her teaching career there in the 60s - what an education to me from norf west Lunnun. most of the kids were out of school most of the summer harvesting. I suspect a fair few had more than the usual number of toes. Accents were so broad as to be almost unintelligible. There is a "fenland" ie Marais Poitevan - town between us and La Rochelle (fens here drained by same Dutch engineer as Cambridgeshire) called Marrans - every time I drive through I am reminded of Chatteris and its near neighbour, March.

[HTB]

That would be (Sir) Cornelius Vermuyden - built a great many of the straight rivers near one of my former houses.


I had a house on the eastern fringes of the Fens in the early 1980s as a convenient location for Marham and Honington (but instead was posted to Laarbruch for 8 years), at Hilgay - between Denver and Southery (south of Downham Market), and not far from Hundred Foot Bank. My neighbour on one side was decidedly dodgy (rumours of child molestation - probably his own family); on the other side a potter, who was immersed in pot in all its meanings.


I wouldn't recommend it, unless the Americans are from the deep rural South, or the Appalachians, where the remoteness could lead to the same genetic peculiarities encountered in the Fens, and apparently southern France as well.


Definition of a virgin in Norfolk/Cambs: girl who can run faster than her brothers...


Mister B


HTC - Sorry if this all seems a bit negative, but elimination can also be useful in deciding a location.

[Wander00]

Best fun I ever had in the fens was crit speeds in a Canberra from Bassingbourn along the long straight "drains"

[chopper2004]

Avoid living in Crimebourne , sorry meant Cambourne.....as iTS boy racer night on Sunday night especially around the roundabout on the entry from the A428 and entry into lower Crimebourne.
Have mates living there and not liking IT eecently...not helped by increase in social housing and some residents that would be allocated the North roghest part of Cambridge, now been giving houses in Cambourne.

Though around the corner is Papworth, home of the legendary pioneering heart and lung hospital.... much nicer and new homes springing up there. Admittedly it's windy roads to get access to the A14 and may not be so pleasant in the harsh winter.

Cheers

[herman the crab]

Again thanks all for the PM and responses.

I have printed the thread and messages and will pass them on tomorrow.

Merry Christmas all.

HTC

[Tankertrashnav]

Accents were so broad as to be almost unintelligible.

Did it occur to you that your "norf west Lunnon" accent might have been just as unintelligible to them? An East London mate I shared a flat with in Devon used to tease the locals about their accent, until I challenged him to say "round the world in a milk bottle" which used to come out as "wound the wewd in a miwk bo'u"!

As I said above - everybody is a "funny local" from somewhere!

[Al R]

While I was stationed in Germany, I rented out my home in Stilton to USAFE (as it was then) at Alconbury.

I received got a letter from the letting agent who was intrigued to see tin foil taped to the inside of the study window. The tenant, a good ol boy from the south answered the door and said "Oh, that.. it's just to keep the piglets warm".

They did really weird things too, like having the Colonel pitch up one day to vote on the Yard of the Month contest. My superb garden wasn't a.. yard :=. Although you'd be forgiven for thinking the inside of the place apparently was. The replacements for the Clampetts were, thankfully, normal.

[thing]

Keyston is very nice, not too far away. Excellent pub there, The Pheasant. Even has it's own grass strip.

[StopStart]

Grew up in the area and my parents still live in Brampton village. In fact there is a whole patch of USAF Officers housing in the village, just the other side of their fence. Over the last 5 or so years the housing been modernised, extended, reglazed, reroofed, rewired and then vacated and left empty. Genius.

As for the area, there are a lot of nice villages in the area - Brampton being one of them. Steer clear of Huntingdon though. Once quaint market town blighted by the addition of a vast East End overspill estate in the 60s. Dreadful town. Great if Poundshops are your thing though....

[vls1974]

We are relocating to RAF Alconbury for my husband's job. We have kids that will be using the DoD schools. What are some nice SAFE areas for us to live?

Also, we are considering sending our kids to British private schools - St Johns and Kings College to be exact. Any opinions on those two schools?

[Jumping_Jack]

I have rented a property in Warboys to USAF tenants (Alconbury and Molesworth) for about 15 years now. Nice village (Village of the Year not too long ago), that still has decent pub, villlage shop and hardware store (most villages are missing those conveniences). Not far from Huntingdon for supermarket shops etc. and is regarded a Fenland 'borders' rather than in the Fens themselves!! :}

[downsizer]

VLS1974

A good place to start reference those schools would be their ofsted reports.

[Madbob]

vis1974


My children went to KCS (Kings College School) and did very well. I would very much endorse your short-list; both schools are good. We also looked at St John's School but just warmed-up more to what KCS had to offer.


Both our boys were very happy, and ended up at the next schools of their choice, so all in all, a result. You only get one chance to get you kid's education right!


Good luck.


MB