A Guide to Living in Suffolk

Suffolk is one of the counties in England that has a beautiful coastline, rolling hills and rural villages. It’s also home to some of the best schools in the country so you can be sure your children will have an excellent education. Suffolk is perfect for families looking for space, peace and quiet as well as those who are interested in history or nature. And with its low crime rate, it’d be difficult to find a safer place to live!

4.27

Average Location Score

Excellent

48%

Very Good

35%

Average

17%

Disappointing

Very Poor

Best places to live in Suffolk

HomeViews Top Rated Development ranking takes into account the Star Rating and HomeViews Transparency Rating of every development in the area

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Where is Suffolk?

Suffolk is a county in England, in the East of the country. The county borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west, Essex to the south-east and covers an area of 2,072 square kilometres.

Suffolk has several towns including Ipswich which is its capital city and largest town. There are also three smaller cities in Suffolk; namely Lowestoft (which is on the North Sea coast), Newmarket (famous for horse racing) and Bury St Edmunds (known for its abbey).

Areas in Suffolk

Some of the most popular areas for prospective homebuyers in Suffolk include:

Ipswich – which is the county’s capital and largest town. Ipswich has a very strong economy, with many office jobs available in the service sector. It also performs well on house price growth over time.

Lowestoft – which is located along Suffolk’s north coast and offers great sea views as well as links to Norfolk via ferry. The town is famous for its fish and chips and its airshow.

Newmarket – located in the northwest of Suffolk, Newmarket is a picturesque town that’s home to the world-famous horse racing track.

Bury St Edmunds – nestled in the west of Suffolk, Bury St Edmunds is a charming market town with plenty of history and culture to offer visitors. Bury St Edmunds is also home to a number of major employers and also offers good access to London (just over an hour away by train) as well as Ipswich and Colchester.

Thetford Forest – a vast expanse of forested land, Thetford Forest is located to the northwest of Suffolk’s West Midlands region. It offers great opportunities for walks, cycling and other outdoor activities such as fishing or horse riding. There are also plenty of campsites dotted around the area, for those who want to make the most of their trip.

Universities in Suffolk

Suffolk plays host to the University of Suffolk, which has a reputation for excellence and is also a great option for international students. The University of Suffolk offers courses in all manner of subjects, including business studies and tourism-related courses such as hospitality management which can be applied to any number of careers after you graduate.

Top Schools in Suffolk

Suffolk has some excellent schools that are well worth considering when looking at buying property or local accommodation; these include:

Copleston High School – A co-ed comprehensive school with a strong focus on the arts located in Ipswich, Copleston High School is a school with excellent facilities and strong exam results.

Bury St Edmunds High School – The closest of Suffolk’s top schools to the county town, Bury St Edmunds is another co-ed comprehensive school that offers an all-around education for its students that prepares them well for further study or employment after they leave. Another example of how Suffolk has something special to offer even within state schooling.

The King Edward VI Foundation – A highly academic selective boys’ grammar school in Bury St Edmunds, known as KES it is one of only two single-sex secondary schools left in England whose focus on excellence extends beyond their own borders by taking part in exchanges with foreign countries around East Anglia so that students can experience other cultures first had.

Ipswich High School – A mixed comprehensive school which is the largest in Suffolk, Ipswich High School has a current enrollment of over 1600 pupils and achieved an excellent set of GCSE results in summer 2016 with 73% of grades at A*-C including English and maths

Population of Suffolk

The population of the county grew by almost nine per cent between 2001 and 2011 according to figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). This made it one of only four counties with an increasing population over this period. There were approximately 800,00 residents living in the area during 2019.

Featured developments in Suffolk

Reviews in Suffolk

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Always hire a snag finder.

Verified Resident

Review Date Mar 2022

We only have one local shop (one stop) in the area. It’s open long hours ehichbis handy if you need anything in the evening at short notice. Tesco is the next closest place which is a 10 minute drive away.
There is a bus route that now goes through the estate but that didn’t run for a significant amount of time after the first phase of construction was complete.

Parking in the estate is a pain. On our road each house either has one or two spots which means some house holds have nowhere to put their second vehicle as all curbs are dropped so that other can drive into their parking spots.
Living on the road is quite nice as it’s closed at one end making traffic light and infrequent. Bin collections are regular and consistent. There is one family that I could describe as anti-social and unfortunately they have other family members living on the other side of the road. They leave their child unattended to play in the road and they frequently kick footballs into other peoples cars etc.

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Design of the house is really good and makes the most of the space. Plenty lf plug and Internet sockets throughout the property.
Our main bane is the windows, the don’t seem to seal very well and you can feel a breeze through them which is pretty terrible for a new build house. The front door is the same which any wind blowing st the house being able to be felt easily in the hallway.
Finish of the rooms I would class as below standard. Almost every wall has been poorly painted with lumps and inconsistencies everywhere. Carpets haven’t been properly stretched in many rooms and there is glue on the lino in the bathroom.
When we first moved in, our house had somehow been “forgotten” about when wiring in the Internet so we had to wait an additional couple of weeks for something that a lot of people rely on for work and shopping.
My friend bought a Persimmon property Leeds way and hired a snag finder which if I’d have know about at the time I would have done it myself 100%.

Please share one thing (or more) which you wish you had known before you moved in:

I wish I had known about snag finders as they have a fantastic knowledge of what to look for in a new build house.

What is the best feature of your home:

The use of internal space in the property is really fantastic.

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Nice house, shame about the quality

Verified Resident

Review Date Mar 2022

I like the area, it will be good when the shop is built (we’ve been here almost 4 years and they’re only just digging the land) parking is terrible – too many cars on the road, blocking junctions as the driveways don’t cater to the house sizes – ie. A 4 bed with only 1 space and the garage isn’t big enough for most modern cars.

Please review your development:

The properties are built quickly and it shows as are the roads (broken paving slabs, poorly laid lawns etc) the house is a nice design but we have had so many snags and persimmon don’t want to know most of the time. This is a common theme from discussions with neighbours

Please share one thing (or more) which you wish you had known before you moved in:

That the quality of persimmon homes really is poor and the online reviews are genuine

What is the best feature of your home:

The work that we have done since buying it- it’s nothing to do with the developer

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This development has it all

Verified Resident

Review Date Mar 2022

Woods Meadow is a lovely place to buy a property, We are renting at the moment while we wait for our dream home to be built on this development.
A new Country Park , forms part of the development and it is ideal for walking, Bird watching, Horse riding and observing nature.
A wild flower meadow has been sown and a woodland area is in the process of being planted. Anyone can join the volunteer group and be part of helping to create this wonderful space.
There is a good bus service to the local town and there are several small shops near by.
I understand that there are future plans for a Medical Centre and a Shop to be built on the development.
The area is very quiet and I am not personally aware of any antisocial behaviour here.
This development has all you could desire, in an ideal location

Please review your development:

Woods meadow has a Primary school & a Nursery school within the development which is ideal for young families.
There are lots of green spaces around the development with some mature oak trees that have been retained giving a country feel to the development.
These green spaces are well maintained with regular grass cutting .
The roads are quite wide and the developer keeps them clean with regular sweeping to prevent any mess as they are still building new homes at the moment.
There are several home designs choices for buyers including bungalows & 2,3,4 bed houses in various styles and this gives some individuality to the different areas development.
And property has Parking provided
We are renting here at the moment while we wait for our home to be built on this development.
Our landlord and management company are wonderful and we have certainly no complaints regarding this.

Please share one thing (or more) which you wish you had known before you moved in:

The main downside to the property is that the master bedroom is on the top floor and there is no en-suite, which is a bit inconvenient but I think that the newer versions of my property have now got an en-suite. The other small problem is lack of cupboards for storage.
Otherwise we are very content.

What is the best feature of your home:

Although we are renting and so this is not our own home we are very happy here, the homes are warm well insulated and soundproof ( I live in a mid terrace town house) and I don’t hear my neighbours at all.

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We had a few snags upon arriving at our property but things were sorted once raised eventually

Verified Resident

Review Date Mar 2022

We lack shop, doctors and a decent childrens play area park however we are in good distance to other local parks and shops.

Please review your development:

Our house design is okay, lacks storage space and feel like there could have been more opportunities around the home to allow this. We had a few snags upon arriving at our property but things were sorted once raised eventually. We have had a few issues with shower plumbing and electrical upstairs more recently but are now out of warranty period so have to sort ourselves. Location area is good, cannot fault that. Just think the house itself could have been built a bit more throughly as felt some interior aspects were rushed before completion.

Please share one thing (or more) which you wish you had known before you moved in:

I wish we had been informed about the broadband limitations we were going to have as we were not made aware that we had to stick yo only a couple of broadband suppliers.