I am a 31 year old single male about to move to Lakenheath in 3 months time. I have taken a civilian contract military position with RAF working with rescue squadron members for physical performance enhancement and injury reduction. I have never been to UK period. I have been to several foreign cities in my current job as a US Navy Afloat Fitness director with in port and deployed Navy ships for almost 4 years now. I have worked with military for the better part of 4 years and college athletics programs for 3 years before that.

I am looking to get full inside scoop from locals like you as to where to live on base or off. Cost of living, major things to be aware of like power adapters, cell service, wifi coverage, credit card use, bring my American car or buy a new one? Places to visit, weather etc......All the things a newcomer should know before coming to town. I have lived in the Midwest USA for 22 years and the Northwest USA for a year as well so I am used to all kinds of weather.

Can someone confirm what I read on a recent article from a poll done in 2015 saying that Cambridge average salary in 2015 was L47k? Is this accurate. My salary offer for this job with full compensation with relocation costs is $68k USD or about L47k if the conversion is right.

Is this a decent income in Lakenheath?

What is the base like, big or small? I work on a US Naval base stateside in California, fairly large, 160 commands, 13,000 service members, 1,600 acres.

I would have thought a specialist military website would be a better option.

£47k is an extremely high salary. It sounds like you've been looking at figures for the city of Cambridge, an extremely affluent place with lots of jobs in tech, academe etc. Lakenheath is not Cambridge, and your salary will put you much higher than average. The average salary nationally was £26,500 in 2015...

I think you need an expat site rather than a travel site to answer your questions. Try this one, that I found by googling: http://www.uk-yankee.com/guide/expat-guide-uk/moving-uk

This may be a place to start:

http://www.lakenheath.af.mil/library/newcomerinfo/

You will be able to visit the north Norfolk coast from where you are (a really lovely area, long sandy beaches at Wells Next The Sea, salt marsh and creeks and seals at Blakeney, windmills and upmarket cafes at Cley Next The Sea).

You will be able to quickly and easily get the train into London or Cambridge to explore both those cities.

You get 4G with a several UK mobile networks - for example EE offer this in the Lakenheath area. There should also be a decent choice of broaband service providers and very probably fast fibre optic but until you have a specific postcode you won't know for sure.

East Anglia is the driest part of England.

Your salary is a decent one and should you choose to live off base you will have no trouble renting or buying a nice property - not as big as in the US but you could get something with lots of character. I personally would not bring your car - get something over here that will likely be a bit smaller and more fuel efficient and just better suited to the driving conditions.

PS Your job sounds a very rewarding one - welcome!

If you are attached to the Base -- the base has resources to answer all your questions. Do you have a sponsor? Dukey's link should be your first stop . . .

He wants to hear what locals think of the area and whether they think it worthwhile him living in the local community (ie facilities beyond the base, places they like to spend leisure time themselves) rather than the standard info park the military will likely give out.

pack not park

I am retired from USAF, worked at both RAF Mildenhall and RAF Lakenheath, and still live in the area. For several years I was the newcomers coordinator at RAF Mildenhall.

A civilian employee is unlikely to be offered housing on the base, but there are lots of rentals in the area. It sounds like you will be working for a contractor rather than as a US civil service employee. If so, ask your employer whether you will receive an additional housing allowance and how much rent it will cover. Rest assured, your salary will enable you to live well in Suffolk.

You could live in Cambridge, but it's a long commute to Lakenheath (about 45-60 minutes) and rentals are almost as high as London in that city. Many Cambridge workers commute outside the city to avoid the high housing costs.

Most people who work on the bases (RAFL and RAFM are only 5 miles apart) live in Brandon, Thetford, Mildenhall or one of the smaller villages in the area. Newmarket and Bury St Edmunds are very attractive towns about 15 miles from RAF Lakenheath, and either would be a great place to live.

Don't worry about plug adapters and things like that — you will have shopping privileges in the BX and you can buy them there. Cellphone and broadband signals are good in the larger towns, but variable in the villages, many of which have only 2G coverage from one or two providers. Best to find out which provider has the best coverage where you end up living and start out with a PAYG sim from that provider. There is an independent cellphone shop at the Lakenheath BX.

Broadband coverage is also variable in the Lakenheath area, so if that's important to you, find out what speeds you are likely to get where you live. My village recently got BT Infinity, with speeds up to about 60 Mbps. The larger towns in the area also have Virgin fibre optic broadband.

Whether to bring your American car or not is a difficult question to answer. If it was recently bought and you will lose a lot of money by selling, then consider bringing it with you. Servicing and spare parts availability are sometimes a problem, though. All things considered it's better to have a British spec car.

If you have any other questions, don't hesitate to ask.

Mrs Bilbo worked on the base a few years back. The camp is big by British standards but not so much by US. There is no obvious city nearby, do not take your car, the hospitals fill up every autumn with US staff who take large cars on small roads on the wrong side. Pay and wages comparison with Cambridge is a bit like looking at Harvard wages and comparing them with a small navel base up on the Canadian border. They may look close but no one working in Cambridge is going to live in Lekenheath.

Mrs Bilbo stayed in Bury St E

He wants to hear what locals think of the area and whether they think it worthwhile him living in the local community

A variety of viewpoints is always preferable IMO.

Dukey1, the OP will probably be allowed to stay in temporary lodging when he first arrives on base, but after that will be expected to find somewhere to live off-base.

On-base housing is for married military personnel, and I doubt he will be allowed to live in an airman dormitory or Bachelor Officers Quarters, nor would he want to. Most single officers move out of the BOQ first chance they get — I know I did!

Heimdall,

Thanks for that insightful and directed reply to my unique position as a contractor and not active duty serviceman nor civil service employee. Your responses were most helpful. I am going to look into the two cities you mentioned as those seem like what I am looking for. 20 minute drive or less but not right on base either. Affordable and yet above average. My car is 9 years old, runs well, small 4 door coup, 130k miles. Planned to sell it within 1 year anyway so timing is right to just sell it and take the $$ to use for a new, smaller car in UK it sounds like.

My pay is set at $L68k for all compensation in whole.

Aside from by job working with rescue squadrons at RAFL I also like to travel and explore the culinary history and culture of cities and towns. I do this now in the states and love it! I blog about it quite a bit for that matter.

I am particularly attached to your guys formal and traditional versions of fish and chips and chicken tikka masala! You guys do that stuff right!

I have bookmarked many of yours and others reference links already and will be reviewing those in the coming weeks as I plan for my move and new life in the UK!

Thank you all for your responses and insights!

Hi oregonpanthers,

Glad I was of help. I live in a village between Bury St Edmunds and Newmarket, so know both towns well. Of the two, you would probably prefer Bury, because it is larger and has more activities. Newmarket has some advantages too, because it is nearer to Cambridge and also nearer the M11 motorway to London.

Bury St Edmunds has a ruined abbey, which is where the barons met in the year 1214 to draft the Magna Carta. Newmarket is the headquarters of British horse racing, with training grounds, studs, and two race courses. On racing weekends the pubs get very busy in Newmarket.

One other thought:

You may get some help on the base with finding accommodation, but in the end you will have to do it yourself. The people you work with in the rescue squadron will be able to help, and there are estate agents in Bury St Edmunds and Newmarket that handle rentals.

If you just want to rent a room and don't mind sharing a house, check out http://www.spareroom.co.uk. There are lots of homeowners who help make ends meet by renting out a spare room. If you share with a military member they will lose part of their housing allowance.

I would also consider Ely as a place to live. Very pretty town on the river, with some nice pubs.

Ely is a very nice city, but the road from there to Lakenheath is rather dangerous, with water-filled ditches at the sides of the road and no guard rails. With ice and poor visibility the road becomes lethal. We have lost several members of the Lakenheath/Mildenhall community over the years I have been here, one a new airman I had greeted only a few days earlier.

You can stick to the the A-roads rather than going cross country - its not a huge distance anyway. I agree about Bury btw, and I'd probably choose that over Newmarket.

Btw you are just down the road from me, Heimdall - I live in Stortford, but work just south of Cambridge near Great Abington.