What’s going for it? With my surname, I always fancy that one of my ancestors was up this way some time in the 17th century, dressed in muddied breeches, my dyke-building great-great-great-etc-grandads coming over from Middelburg in the Netherlands to show the Brits how to drain the splodgy Fens. To this day, Spalding seems to have more in common with Holland than Holland Park. The countryside is all Mondrian fields of peas, tulip bulbs and potatoes, sliced up by long, straight, grey-watered dykes, drawing the eye to infinity. In town, the river Welland masquerades as a canal, its banks bordered by grand, lofty, 18th-century townhouses that might have come straight out of a Rembrandt. No edam, but there is the occasional whiff of weed. And until the Coalition cuts bit in 2013, Spalding had its own Tulip Parade, with flower-floats of gigantic elephants, Mr Kipling fondant fancies or Chinese dragons. H2O, round here, as in the Netherlands, is both enemy and income source. The town is keeping its head above water, in every sense, but only just.
The case against Isolation: you’re very much out on your own out here by the Wash. There’s that slightly bleak Fenland feel, which you’ll either love or hate. Much of the town centre is humdrum: it’s nicest along the Welland and the east side of town. Folks round here are yet to see how the agricultural economy will be affected by Brexit.
Well connected? Trains: hourly to the mainline at Peterborough (21 minutes) and the other way to Lincoln (one hour). Driving: 30 minutes to Peterborough, 40 to the A1 at Stamford.
Schools Primaries: among several Ofsted-rated “good” schools, St Norbert’s Catholic is “outstanding”. Secondaries: Spalding Grammar is “good”, with Spalding High “outstanding”.
Hang out at… George Adams & Sons butchers: join the queue for one of their hand-raised pork pies, “made on the premises”.
Where to buy Stick close to the banks of the Welland, with their often exquisite 18th- and 19th-century (and occasionally 17th-century) townhouses, and the old town to the east around Church Street. The rest of the place is more ordinary, though for decent suburbans head north-west around Pinchbeck Road and Woolram Wygate. Large detacheds and townhouses, £330,000-£650,000. Detacheds and smaller townhouses, £180,000-£330,000. Semis, £120,000-£250,000. Terraces and cottages, £100,000-£200,000. Flats, £70,000-£200,000. Rentals: a one-bedroom flat, £400-£600pcm; a three-bedroom house, £675-£850pcm.
Bargain of the week No Georgians at the moment, alas. This three-bedroom inter-war semi needs renovation; £125,000, with muntonandrussell.co.uk.
From the streets
David Jones “Ayscoughfee Hall. And Hills department store cafe, with views of the river Welland.”
Finbar Murphy “Rather chilly in the winter. For a day out, Nottingham is not too far.”
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