Good/Bad things about living in Norfolk?

Good/Bad things about living in Norfolk?

Author
Discussion

anonymous-user

54 months

Friday 3rd December 2021
quotequote all
Duke Caboom said:
There isn't any motorway
Allegedly the closest motorway to Norwich is in Holland. Incidentally, Amsterdam is a 30 minute flight from Norwich Airport. No sooner have you taken off you're landing again.

Paul_M3

2,367 posts

185 months

Friday 3rd December 2021
quotequote all
DrBrule said:
Duke Caboom said:
There isn't any motorway
Allegedly the closest motorway to Norwich is in Holland. Incidentally, Amsterdam is a 30 minute flight from Norwich Airport. No sooner have you taken off you're landing again.
Yep. I live in Lowestoft which is only 35 miles away from Norwich airport. The drive to the airport takes twice as long as the flight to Amsterdam!

Milkyway

9,391 posts

53 months

Friday 3rd December 2021
quotequote all
DrBrule said:
Duke Caboom said:
There isn't any motorway
Allegedly the closest motorway to Norwich is in Holland. Incidentally, Amsterdam is a 30 minute flight from Norwich Airport. No sooner have you taken off you're landing again.
Crikey...The cabin crew must be quck serving the food then.

anonymous-user

54 months

Monday 6th December 2021
quotequote all
Milkyway said:
DrBrule said:
Duke Caboom said:
There isn't any motorway
Allegedly the closest motorway to Norwich is in Holland. Incidentally, Amsterdam is a 30 minute flight from Norwich Airport. No sooner have you taken off you're landing again.
Crikey...The cabin crew must be quck serving the food then.
Yeah, you have to be a good catch.

NelsonM3

1,684 posts

171 months

Monday 3rd January 2022
quotequote all
Spent a year working in Norwich with the intention to move closer.

In the end, after searching every village east of the city I couldn’t find anywhere I liked so changed jobs instead. Ended up moving back to the Suffolk/Essex border near Colchester.

Wymondham was probably the nicest village I saw and IMHO had the best balance of everything. (A11, rail links to Norwich and Cambridge, nice centre). If budget isnt a concern Bawbergh was lovely as well. Lots of new builds in that area so you don’t have to suffer living in a 1960s pebble dashed bungalow which seems to be the norm in Norfolk.


Edited by NelsonM3 on Monday 3rd January 18:42

CTE

1,488 posts

240 months

Tuesday 4th January 2022
quotequote all
I`ve lived in mid/south Norfolk for the largest part of my nearly 60 years. Needless to say I love the place but I am becoming ever more depressed about the excessive levels of development going on (but guess that is everywhere) without the corresponding infrastructure investment and concreting over various parts of our lovely countryside. If you come from anywhere from the south or the midlands or other areas with large conurbations you are going to think it is idyllic but traditional Norfolk is being wrecked in many parts, primarily around the main arterial roads. Personally I don`t find getting about too bad but like anywhere it is best to chose your time of travel. If the roads were improved generally then it would lead to even more development and the vicious circle continues. I find slow drivers easy to get past although a lot of them are scared of their own shadow and really shouldn't be driving...harsh I know for old people with poor eyesight etc living in a rural area.
Despite the above there are still lots of wide open spaces, forested areas and expansive beaches as has been noted...plus of course Snetterton, Old Buckenham and various other local airfields for example. There are loads of great country pubs and Norwich is probably the best small city in the country, if that`s what you like.
How it compares to Normandy is another matter...there are similarities but Norfolk generally is a busier place. Small villages are generally "clicky" but I guess the same can apply to Normandy but I will say that generally "newbies" tend to be more sociable and accepting although of course there are those who move to the countryside from a city somewhere and get upset about mud on the road or the smell from pigs for example...best they f**k off!
Norfolk has a great all-round balance of convenience, amenities, and rural living but if the rural peace is really what you are after you`d be better off looking at North Lincolnshire.

Pitre

Original Poster:

4,559 posts

234 months

Tuesday 4th January 2022
quotequote all
Thanks hugely everyone for your feedback, mostly consistent and very useful and interesting!
However, little has been said about the flood risk(s)? Do they concern you at all given Norfolk is so flat, particularly in those areas marked on this map...?


CTE

1,488 posts

240 months

Tuesday 4th January 2022
quotequote all
Ah yes, well generally the fenland area is extremely unlikely to flood unless we see a significant rise in sea levels...you can never say never but surely not in our lifetimes. My history is not that great but I think the fens were drained something like 2/300 years ago with the aid of Dutch engineers along with strong sea walls so there have not been any issues. The area has some highly valuable agricultural land and they are happily building lots of new houses in this area so...?
The North Norfolk coastal areas and similar low lying areas all the way down the east coast have flooded twice in living memory. The most severe floods were in 1953 due to a combination of a high tide and strong northerly winds, and a low pressure in the right position. Since then various measures have been taken to mitigate such events, but I can`t remember exactly when but there was some flooding in these areas not so many years ago, but not on the previous scale. Again most of this land is a flood plane and is set over to conservation.
As for the broadland area, again I`m not aware of it ever flooding but over time, maybe thousands of years, sea levels will rise and some of our activities may not be helping this? Guess you`ll be alright!
Another thing to look out for wherever you may look is for flood planes, are you on a flood plane or are they building a big new housing estate on a flood plane downstream from you...the farmers land behind us now floods over winter time due a large housing development several miles down the river Thet from where we live. We are not at any risk as such but a friend of mine has suffered such issues in Surrey. BTW the farmers have never known the land to flood so they are effectively having to write off the crops from these fields due to various failings or corruption within the planning process. The good news is we now have a great view of large numbers of migratory birds!

anonymous-user

54 months

Wednesday 5th January 2022
quotequote all
Looking at that map if a flood wipes out the area between Skegness, King's Lynn and the badlands of the Fens then that can only be a good thing.

rowley birkin

485 posts

100 months

Wednesday 5th January 2022
quotequote all
DrBrule said:
Looking at that map if a flood wipes out the area between Skegness, King's Lynn and the badlands of the Fens then that can only be a good thing.
Do your relatives live there ?

Blib

43,985 posts

197 months

Thursday 6th January 2022
quotequote all
Bad: It's not Suffolk. tongue out.

anonymous-user

54 months

Tuesday 11th January 2022
quotequote all
rowley birkin said:
Do your relatives live there ?
An aunt in Spalding; do you know her then?

Pitre

Original Poster:

4,559 posts

234 months

Friday 14th January 2022
quotequote all
Supplementary question (to the original one):-

To anyone that lives in Norfolk, have you experienced any problems accessing health services (esp. GP or dentist, also hospital services) in the last couple of years?

MattWMX5

56 posts

108 months

Friday 14th January 2022
quotequote all
Pitre said:
Supplementary question (to the original one):-

To anyone that lives in Norfolk, have you experienced any problems accessing health services (esp. GP or dentist, also hospital services) in the last couple of years?
No problems with GP or Hospital services but the dentist I had been registered with for as long as I can remember closed last year and I cant find anywhere within a 50 mile radius of where I live who is accepting new patients. Luckly I dont have any teeth related concerns but still not an ideal situation.

Wacky Racer

38,142 posts

247 months

Friday 14th January 2022
quotequote all
We live in Lancashire but enjoy coming down to Norfolk once a year or so. It's a bit of a drag to get there but we like the coastal area between Hunstanton/Sheringham/Cromer.

Don't know if I'd like to live there though, with poor road links.

wannabe-racer

139 posts

67 months

Monday 17th January 2022
quotequote all
Pitre said:
Supplementary question (to the original one):-

To anyone that lives in Norfolk, have you experienced any problems accessing health services (esp. GP or dentist, also hospital services) in the last couple of years?
We have had to go to a private dentist due to the NHS dentists locally constantly cancelling our appointments, so I think the NHS dentists are a problem where we live which is the North Norwich area. The private dentist we are with now and have been for about 3 years is just brilliant though, he is based in Horsford expensive but just so so much better than any NHS dentist I have been to before, wished we did it earlier to be honest. The first year he fixed all the problems the NHS dentists caused so all good now.

re: GP we have private healthcare so no need to use NHS at all, we just call up our private healthcare provider and speak to one of their GP's over the phone via video call or a voice call and they refer us accordingly to a specialist. Got tired of GP's just fobbing us off over the years. Plus in our local GP surgery, you have to call up on the day to make an appointment. This often requires sitting on the phone wasting time to keep calling back due to the phone being engaged. Quite ridiculous really with the world we live in today in that you can order a pizza from your phone and it turns up in 5 mins nice and hot, but you can't make an appointment to see a GP without constantly calling a phone number on the day! lmfao.
There is a hospital in Norwich we always use called Spire - they really good and have a lot of varied specialist doctors working there.

So just know the NHS services do suck in this area, if you are prepared to go private then all good.

Simpo Two

85,355 posts

265 months

Monday 17th January 2022
quotequote all
DrBrule said:
rowley birkin said:
Do your relatives live there ?
An aunt in Spalding; do you know her then?
Reminds me of this smile

'Fenland Rose':

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONGVHbqFUBs

crankedup5

9,491 posts

35 months

Monday 17th January 2022
quotequote all
Simpo Two said:
DrBrule said:
rowley birkin said:
Do your relatives live there ?
An aunt in Spalding; do you know her then?
Reminds me of this smile

'Fenland Rose':

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONGVHbqFUBs
Yup, why talk about it when it can be sung like that laugh

FunkyNige

8,881 posts

275 months

Monday 17th January 2022
quotequote all
Pitre said:
Supplementary question (to the original one):-

To anyone that lives in Norfolk, have you experienced any problems accessing health services (esp. GP or dentist, also hospital services) in the last couple of years?
GPs vary throughout the county - we (suburb of Norwich) have to phone at 8am and stay on hold until someone answers, my parents near Fakenham have a completely different system with filling in forms online and waiting for a call back. I've always got through when needed though.
Dentists - all the family is private as far as I know, no issues getting in one
Hospital - not sure if it's different from anywhere else in the country, it takes a while for appointments after getting a referral and you can be waiting a while for an ambulance, but there are ambulance stations scattered around the county to try and help with this. Cromer hospital keeps getting big donations so is much better than a small local hospital should be (if I needed to go to minor injuries I'd probably drive up there rather than the Norfolk & Norwich)

bolidemichael

13,800 posts

201 months

Monday 17th January 2022
quotequote all
crankedup5 said:
Simpo Two said:
DrBrule said:
rowley birkin said:
Do your relatives live there ?
An aunt in Spalding; do you know her then?
Reminds me of this smile

'Fenland Rose':

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONGVHbqFUBs
Yup, why talk about it when it can be sung like that laugh
That's so funny. I sent that to my cousin (also my uncle and grandfather) who grew up in East Harling.