It's another case of spillover, and the usual suspects - Chelsea,

Wandsworth, Notting Hill and Islington - are nowhere in sight.

"Bury St Edmunds is under the influence of the UK's Silicon Valley, what

I call the Cambridge effect," says Bidwells partner Tim Hayward. Priced

out of the university city, would-be Cambridge residents look east to

darkest Fenland and promptly turn around and head east. Some end up 30

miles away in Bury St Edmunds.

The inward migration promises to transform the quiet, attractive Suffolk

market and cathedral town, but change will probably occur gradually and

gently. The Bury-London rail link is slow and off the beaten track,

involving a change of trains. Economic migrants are not likely to flood

in from the capital.

Improved communications are also a factor in Bury's boom. "During the

last five years, the A14 was linked to the midlands motorways, the M1

and M6. Several distribution companies which use the ports at

Felixstowe and Harwich have located here," says Mr Hayward.

"Bury was a sleepy market town until as recently as three or four years

ago," he says. "Edinburgh Wool Mill, Cafe Rouge, Caffe Uno, and Pizza

Express have opened recently. Their owners have confidence in this area,

otherwise they wouldn't be investing here."

Bury St Edmunds is well known for its medieval heritage but, as Michael

Buck of Marshall Buck & Casson estate agents notes, "it is really a

basically Georgian or Georgian-fronted town on a medieval core. It has a

Georgian appearance and is known as the Montpellier of England."

Mr Buck confirms the Cambridge effect and the growing number of young

people buying flats and houses in the area, although he notes that the

renewed interest in town centre living appeals to all age groups. With

good public and state schools in Bury and many surrounding villages, the

area also lures families.

In addition to town-centre flats, "a few large town houses are

available, but they are scarce," says Mr Hayward. "Just outside the

centre there are Victorian and newer houses built by and for

professional groups from Victorian times to the present. Country houses

are in short supply, and demand is particularly strong for well-located

country houses providing privacy, good gardens, perhaps paddocks. Buyers

are bidding in excess of the asking price."

Large houses in towns and cities around Bury are being built by several

brand-name developers and also by local builder-developers who are

constructing individual high-specification homes. "Even developers like

Wimpeys are going upmarket," Mr Hayward observes. Wimpey has developed a

hospital site in Newmarket, 13 miles from Bury, containing new-build

houses as well as units in the refurbished rectangular hospital

building.

Converted barns and new barn-like houses are available, as are houses

with indoor swimming pools, lakes or river access. The second-hand

market includes oddities such as converted oast houses, one of which -

more accurately, one-half of which - is currently under offer. This

immense circular four-storey property was split in half, yielding two

flats each with lounges and bedrooms to spare.

ROBERT LIEBMAN

THE LOW-DOWN

Transport:

Bury is a branch line offering sprinter service to Stowmarket, Cambridge

and Ipswich, for connection to grown-up trains. Locals in the know

journey to London by driving to Stansted and taking the direct fast rail

service to Liverpool Street Station.

Oldy-Mouldy Properties:

Two-bedroom flats in town (one-bed flats are scarce) start on £30,000,

and two- and three-bed terraces on £50,000. Townhouses sell for between

£200,000 and £400,000.

New-Builds:

Wimpey has new developments in Dickleburgh, Sudbury, Stowmarket and

Framlingham as well as the hospital conversion in Newmarket. In

Dickleburgh, 36 of the 68 houses are available, with 3-bed semi's with

garage starting on £63,995. The Willows is a Wilcon development in

Thetford, Norfolk with four- and five-bed homes priced at £99,995 and

£149,995. All six new Berkeley homes at Argent Place, Newmarket have

been sold or reserved.

Shopping:

Debenhams outgrew its premises and marched out of town altogether,

depriving Bury of its only department store. The cattle market, which

closed late last year, is being redeveloped and a department store may

yet resurface on a site which by itself equals one-third of the town's

retail space. Other possible tenants may be a hotel, conference centre,

various retail and leisure and a mixed-use scheme incorporating

residential.

Past and Present:

Bury St Edmunds dates to a 10th-century Benedictine Abbey and its

current street plan still reflects its Norman origins, as does Moyse's

Hall, a house that is now a museum. The Abbey ruins are visible in the

stunning Abbey Gardens. The beheaded Edmund became England's patron

saint, and Bury's burghers pressed King John to accept Magna Carta,

hence, the town's motto, Shrine of a King, Cradle of the Law.

Sights and Sounds:

The countryside is for horses, golfers and fisherpeople, and the town

has several museums, Theatre Royal, and tours of Greene King brewery.

Market days in Bury are Wednesday and Saturday.

Borough Council:

The local authority is St Edmundsbury, who exact £735 council tax for

Band D. Their website has links for business, tourism, shopping,

twinning, finance and other topics. http://www.stedmundsbury.gov.uk

Hold the Front Page!:

Bury Free Press, 7 May 1999, page one headline: 'Sorry for Swearing:'

Bus firm apologises after helpline woman swore at customer.

Contacts:

Berkeley, 01277 222277; Bidwells, 01284 767338; Marshall Buck & Casson

01284 705505; Wilcon, 01842 762680; Wimpey: Dickleburgh, 01379 741954;

Neewmarket, 01638 661175.

End