About Melbourn

Melbourn is one of the largest villages in South Cambridgeshire and still retains it's small village character due to it's many cottages, parks, and community spirit.

It is located just north of Royston which is a small market town in North Herfordshire. For more amenities, the historic city of Cambridge is less than 10 miles away and there is a Park & Ride bus service at junction 11 of the M11 motorway providing free parking and easy access to Cambridge town centre.

Meldreth train station, which is less than 1/2 a miles walk from the village centre, offers free car parking and frequent trains to Cambridge and London Kings Cross.

Melbourn has a surprising large number of facilities for a village:

Services: Dentist, Doctors, Health Clinic, 3 Churches, Primary, Junior and Secondary schools, Indoor Swimming Pool, Tennis Courts, Squash Courts, Football pitches, Broadband Internet access / Cable.

Facilities: Building Society, 3 Pubs with Restaurants, 2 High Class Restaurants, 3+ other Restaurants, Coffee shop, 2 Supermarkets (Co-op & Spar), Butchers, A Fish and Chip shop, Video shop / Off license, Bakery, 2 Large Garden Centres, A Golf Course, Kebab Van, An Angling shop, DIY shops.

Melbourn also benefits from it's proximity to Royston and Cambridge. From the Royston train station you can catch a fast train to Kings Cross (40 minutes). Royston has a Tesco Superstore situated on the Melbourn side of the town which even delivers to Melbourn via Tesco Direct. Sainsbury's and most of Royston takeaways also deliver to Melbourn. As a result of being located so close to Cambridge, Melbourn is also on NTL Cable which provides the village with cable TV and broadband modem internet access (slightly faster than BT's ADSL).

Melbourn is surrounded by picturesque countryside and is located in the green belt amongst the Chiltern Hills on the river Mel. Local places of interest include the RSPB lakes, the walk along the river Mel from Melbourn church to Meldreth church via the Meldrith water mill, the Shepreth wildlife sanctuary, Therfield Heath (grass covered hills between Royston and Therfield), and Melbourn Bury.

How to get here

By Air, By Road, By Rail

By Air

Stansted Airport (approx. 20 minutes away)

Join the M11 and travel north, leaving at Junction 10. At the roundabout take the left turning towards Royston on the A505.

Cars: Follow the A505 for approximately 7 miles until you pass a Q8 petrol station on the left. Continue along the road for approximately 150 metres ignoring the first turning on the right until you get to the second turning on the right sign posted for Melbourn. Take this turning and follow this long road into Melbourn village centre.

Lorries: Follow the A505 for approximately 8 miles. At the roundabout joining the A10 and A505, go right following the A10 towards Cambridge. Take the first right turning sign posted for Melbourn. Follow this road into Melbourn village centre.

Luton Airport (approx. 45 minutes away)

Take the A505 all the way from Luton to the roundabout joining the A10 and A505, go left following the A10 towards Cambridge. Take the first right turning sign posted for Melbourn. Follow this road into Melbourn village centre.

Heathrow Airport (approx. 60 minutes away)

Take the M4 towards Slough / Reading until you reach the M25. Then take the M25 (North) until you reach the A1(M). Take the A1(M) until you reach Junction 9 (sign posted as Letchworth / Baldock). Take a right at the roundabout and follow the road into Baldock town centre. At the mini roundabout (past the one at Tesco) take a right. You will now be on the A505 proper heading towards Royston. Follow the A505 for approximately 8 miles to the roundabout joining the A10 and A505, go left following the A10 towards Cambridge. Take the first right turning sign posted for Melbourn. Follow this road into Melbourn village centre.

Cambridge Airport (approx. 15 minutes away)

Follow the signs for London. Then follow the signs for Royston A10.

By Road

From London (M25, A1(M), A505, A10) or (M25, A10)
From Cambridge (A10)

By Rail

Network Southeast - Kings Cross to Cambridge Line, Meldreth Station. (Time Table)

Acorn Profile

Type 13: Home Owning Family Areas
(2.6 per cent of the population live in this ACORN Type)

Likely characteristics
These comfortable, family areas are located all over Britain. The only county where they are not found is the Western Isles. The largest concentrations are in Surrey, Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire. The proportion of people who have moved home recently is above average.

Heavy ITV viewing Medium Ownership of stocks and shares High
Microwave purchases Medium Buying home with a mortgage High
2+ Car Ownership High Population Aged 0-14 High
Demographics
In demographic terms, these are areas dominated by young couples with children. There are also large numbers of young couples without children. The age profile of ACORN Type 13 peaks in the 0-4 and 25-44 age groups.

Socio-Economic Profile
The proportions of people employed in manufacturing and services in this ACORN Type are virtually identical to those in Great Britain as a whole. The proportion of working women is above average, for both those with and without children. Part time working is most common among those women with children

Attitudes
On the whole, people here are happy with their standard of living. They do not see the need to budget very carefully when shopping, nor to search for the lowest possible prices. As so many women work, few people believe that a woman's place is in the home. They do not particularly enjoy television and radio commercials, though they are more responsive than average to direct mail and press advertising. Their willingness to do DIY is much greater than average.

Housing
66% of homes are being purchased by mortgage, compared with 42% nationally. A further 21% are owned outright - this is about 10% less than the national level of outright ownership. The incidence of detached houses is more than 50% above average, and both semi detached and terraced homes are also found in quantity in these neighbourhoods. The mix of homes in terms of size closely resembles the national mix.

Durables
Car ownership is high, particularly the rate of 2 car ownership. The proportion of new cars is 52% higher than average. Cars with engines over 2500cc are very popular and the price profile of cars peaks in the £10-20,000 band. A number of Durables show slightly above average purchase levels - electric cookers, hobs and built-in ovens - while washer/dryers and tumble dryers have purchase levels over 40% higher than average. There is also above average home improvement activity, with 57% more homes than average installing new central heating and 48% more than average putting in new secondary glazing.

Financial
Incomes peak in the £25-40,000 band. There is an above average level of new account opening - 33% more people opening current accounts and 2.5 times more people opening savings accounts. Ownership of other Financial products is consistently 15-20% above average, except mortgages from lenders other than building societies which are 53% above average and hire purchase agreements which are 10% below average.

Media
Ownership of satellite television is very slightly above average, but 65% more homes than average have cable television. Newspapers in general are much less popular in these neighbourhoods than nationally; the only papers with significantly above average readership are The Express, The Daily Record, The Sunday Telegraph and The Mail on Sunday. Both ITV viewing and commercial radio listening are medium.

Leisure
Holiday destinations outside Britain and Europe are 23% more popular than average here. Types of holiday which are more popular than average are holiday camps, own holiday homes and timeshares, and camping. People here are slightly more likely than average to visit a pub, but clubs and wine bars are much less popular than average. People eat out more often than average, with evenings being more popular than daytime. Steakhouses and Indian restaurants are very popular. Sports which are most popular are golf, cycling, badminton and squash. Visits to theme and safari parks are 30% above average.

Food and Drink
90% of people regularly do their grocery shopping by car. Shopping is usually done weekly or less frequently. Freezer ownership is slightly above average, though consumption of frozen foods like beefburgers and fish fingers is below average. Consumption of most grocery products is average or below, except ground coffee, colas, mineral water, fresh fish and fresh meat, all of which are purchased more frequently than average. Consumption of most alcoholic drinks is below average, except port, table wine and draught lager.