Hi all,
My husband and I are considering a big move. We have a 5 month old daughter and are bursting at the seems of our current home in SW18. Originally we were looking at St Margaret's / Kew / East Sheen but a friend suggested we look at Essex, specifically around Sheffield / Billericay / Stock area. Having seen the vast difference of what we could buy (around £1-1.2m) we are definitely tempted! I'm also keen to be somewhere a little less polluted as I feel like I'm practically swallowing petrol walking around Clapham and Wandsworth sometimes.
We don't need to be near these areas in Essex but it is a good place to start and we have no draw to anywhere (any of the home counties would work actually which makes it harder somehow).
The trouble is, moving our of London is a little scary to me as I love it and it is what I know. I appreciate the trains in are super quick (and actually commuting isn't much of an issue as my husband works from home and I will work locally) but it feels like a million miles away.
I would like to live somewhere with a similar feel to what we have here, green spaces (we live v.close to Battersea Park), lots of nice cafes and restaurants (not that we eat out in the evenings anymore but we can dream!) and a very 'safe' feel. Schools are top of the requirements, non religious and state - primary for now but it would be good to be able to consider grammar schools down the line. Along with 4-5 bedrooms and a decent sized (not huge) garden - we would need to practically double our budget around here for such lengthy requirements.
I've tried to find a list of primary schools in the area and associated catchment areas. Richmond has a fantastic site clearly defining catchments and showing Ofsted ratings etc. and I can't quite find the same kind of thing for Essex though it's no doubt there somewhere.
Any thoughts or experiences would be really appreciated. We are meeting a friend next week to have a look around the general Brentford area to try and get a proper feel for the place. Essex seems to get such a bad rep which is why I'm assuming house prices are so much more reasonable but I know it isn't all bad!
Thanks for reading and if you have any thoughts, please do comment.
Hayley
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Moving to Essex from London... Good or bad idea?
62 replies
hayleybalmers · 11/02/2015 21:02
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