Great Shelford
Town · 4,628 residents
72Very good
Very good · better than 7 in 10 towns
Check Local Score out of 100 · 60 is typical for the country
Each arc is a topic, coloured by its score
What’s good
- Less recorded crime than is typical: 30 per 1,000 people a year against 100
- Environment scores 77, well above the typical 60
- 100% of schools are rated Good or better by Ofsted
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- Food & drink scores 28, below the typical 60
- Transport scores 31, below the typical 60
The essentials
Everyday life
The area
Around Great Shelford
Map outline: Civil parish boundary
Is Great Shelford a good place to live?
Great Shelford scores 72/100 overall, which the scorecard rates as very good — 60 is typical for the country.
It stands out for safety (93) and environment (77).
It scores lowest on food & drink (28) and transport (31).
Scores come from official data on safety, schools, transport, prices, health, food & drink and the local environment, for Great Shelford in East of England, each measured against the national average.
Summary of Great Shelford
Great Shelford looks like what it is: a village of detached houses on generous plots, mature gardens, and a high street that does its business quietly rather than announcing it. The people you see on the pavement tend to be well past the first-time-buyer stage of life — the median age here is around 46, noticeably older than the regional norm — and the housing stock backs that up, with detached homes dominating what little turns over each year.
The practical picture is a genuine trade-off. Shelford (Cambs) station gives you a rail link, and for anyone working into Cambridge or beyond that one line does a lot of heavy lifting — though with a single station and a single stop counted for the whole village, this isn't a place with transport choice, and the connectivity grade sits closer to average than exceptional. Great and Little Shelford CofE Primary, rated Good, is the school most families will actually use, and with only one school counted in the area, that Church of England primary effectively sets the tone for who moves here with children. Housing is where the numbers get serious: a median price around £612,500 is well above both the regional and national medians, and detached houses locally are trading at more than double the national detached average. That's a 56% premium over the wider South Cambridgeshire district itself, so this isn't just an expensive corner of an affordable area — it's expensive full stop, and the five-year price trend has been essentially flat rather than rising, so you're paying for what's here now, not for momentum.