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Advice on moving to Aylesbury/surrounding areas

25 replies

Housemover18 · 08/05/2018 19:12

Briefly, my family is looking to move from our London borough to Aylesbury due to a new job. We (DH, DS (5), DD (2) and I) are pretty flexible on location, we will be buying a house and need a good local school but would like to know if there are any areas to avoid? Can anyone tell me anything useful about different areas of Aylesbury or the surrounding villages? I've looked on Rightmove and seen a few houses in Berryfields - what is it like there?

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madvixen · 08/05/2018 19:22

Aylesbury is handy for the train line but there are lots of nice villages on the line as well. Wendover, Stoke Mandeville and Great Missenden are all on the direct line into Marylebone.

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madvixen · 08/05/2018 19:23

Sorry Housemover, I read it as you would be commuting into London.

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Housemover18 · 08/05/2018 19:33

Oh no, sorry about that. DH has a new job based just outside of Aylesbury, basically on the A41 between Aylesbury and Aylesbury Vale stations. I'm currently a SAHM.

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coolcahuna · 08/05/2018 19:37

What kind of budget and buying or renting ? Aylesbury has really improved and there are lots of lovely villages like Stone, Quainton, Wing, Wingrave. Tring is also lovely and about 20 mins away towards London.

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madvixen · 08/05/2018 19:39

Berryfields is right on the A41 so that would be good location wise. It's a new build estate located right next to Aylesbury Vale station. Only issue may be getting into Aylesbury itself as you would be reliant on public transport if you didn't have a car. If he's working on that side of town then ignore any of the villages I mentioned as he would have to battle through Aylesbury to get to work and that isn't fun at rush hour. What is important to you when it comes to location? I can't help with schools but I know the area pretty well

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xyzandabc · 08/05/2018 19:45

I'd go for outside Aylesbury itself personally. Is the job in Aylesbury itself?

Towns - Thame, Buckingham, Wendover are all nice with good community feel. Villages might be a bit quiet if you're used to London but lots of pretty villages all over, I would look between Waddesdon and Leighton Buzzard, in that arc for villages.

The school problem in Buckinghamshire is that it is a fully grammar school/Upper School county. Everyone takes the 11+ then the top 30% go to the grammar schools (of which Aylesbury has 3 very good ones), everyone else either goes private or to one of the Upper schools, which do tend to struggle.
There are no comprehensives, that take students of all abilities (with a few exceptions such as Waddesdon, which has a tiny catchment area, Lord Williams in Thame, which is Oxfordshire and catchment is getting smaller). If you will move again before your children are in year 5/6 then you don't need to worry about that now.

I do go to Aylesbury for food shopping but for retail/clothes/homewares, its a bit rubbish, I'd go to either Milton Keynes, Oxford or High Wycombe all of which have better choice of shops.

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Housemover18 · 08/05/2018 20:10

Ooh great responses, thanks. Was trying not to make my OP too long but should’ve added more details:

New office is off the A41 very near what looks like leisure area with Homebase/McDonald’s/harvester/bowling. DH currently commutes by bike and could easily do upto 5 miles.

We are looking to buy with a budget of around 350k, for that we’d like a 3 bed semi detached house with driveway, garden. Less than half a mile to school as we prefer to walk (but do own a car).

I’m a little saddened to hear that it is a grammar area as DS is a lovely boy but I’m not convinced he will be academic and private is not on the cards. Don’t know what to say/think about that really. DD has additional needs and is unlikely to go to mainstream secondary so that’s not an issue.

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Housemover18 · 08/05/2018 20:12

Location wise we do generally prefer a city location but maybe it’s time for a change? I love being able to walk to the supermarket, school, and to walk or get public transport into town but I have a car so it’s not actually a problem to drive - except school, I don’t want to drive to school unless there is absolutely no choice.

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madvixen · 08/05/2018 20:22

Ok, I know exactly where you mean now. Easily bikeable for hubby but not really walkable from Berryfields. Berryfields won't give you the feeling of a city location, you'd need to head towards Milton Keynes or Oxford for that. I'll put my thinking cap on tonight and see what other areas might suit you

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Housemover18 · 08/05/2018 20:35

Ooh, thanks. We need to visit the city as a family and will do so in the next few weeks. From Rightmove this is the sort of thing that appeals to me. Close to work, close to a “good” school.

Rowland Way, Aylesbury
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-72927473.html

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piflekins · 08/05/2018 21:07

I wrote a long post then lost it! I'll try to remember what I wrote.

Some Aylesbury schools don't have a great reputation. Some people prefer to send their kids to village schools. As well as Berryfields you might consider Buckingham Park as it's on the right side of town for you. Fairford Leys is a popular area and has a bit of a 'village centre' to it with a few shops. The school there is good but the catchment area is small. Consider the HS2 effect though.

If you are planning to settle long term, you might want to think about secondary schools as it is a bit of a nightmare! Waddesdon is a village just along the A41 that has an outstanding primary and secondary modern school. The catchment area is small for the secondary but if you are a practising christian you stand more chance of getting in even if you are not in catchment.

Aylesbury is a town and will probably seem quiet compared to London but the train service is good and the surrounding countryside is lovely.

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OlennasWimple · 08/05/2018 21:09

think about going just over the border into Hertfordshire to avoid the grammar school issue?

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Housemover18 · 08/05/2018 21:28

Aww man, this grammar issue is going to be a nightmare isn’t it? I really wasn’t planning on even thinking about secondary, it’s not even on my radar but ideally I would like this to be a forever home so need to think about it. I see there is a “good” state secondary around stoke Mandeville (John colet school) - maybe that’s the way I need to be thinking? Looks like a pricey area though.

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Housemover18 · 08/05/2018 21:28

I don’t think anywhere in Hertfordshire would be a sensible commute.

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piflekins · 08/05/2018 21:37

John Colet is a popular choice and the feeder primaries have a good reputation but you will get less house for your money.

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OlennasWimple · 08/05/2018 21:58

It's only 15 mins from Tring to Aylesbury, particularly if you're on the right side of town for the A41

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Housemover18 · 08/05/2018 22:13

Is Tring Hertfordshire then? That’s good to know thanks.

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sky44 · 08/05/2018 22:14

the primary schools around Berryfields are oversubscribed - this it typical for a new build area - as lots of people are starting families. There are some pretty unpopular primary schools in the town that hopefully would have a space at least for your 5 year old? Or if you go towards the villages like Quainton/Dinton etc they have primary schools too perhaps they may have space

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Housemover18 · 09/05/2018 12:56

Ok I got freaked out about the grammar issue last night having never even had to think of it before but I think I will put a pin in it. It seems ridiculous to restrict our move based on expecting DS to fail a test in 5 years time when he is only 5 years old now and just learning to read! Who knows what will happen in 5 years? Maybe DS will be a top student, maybe we will win the lottery and be able to afford private school. Maybe DH will hate the new job and we will have to move anyway. Maybe the job will be great and he will get a fab pay rise and we will move to the catchment of a great state secondary. Basically anything could happen so I am not going to worry about it, I am going to concentrate on getting him into a fab primary.

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Housemover18 · 09/05/2018 12:58

Re primary school places: this is a good point and is certainly on my mind. Thus far I’ve been looking on Rightmove at whether the local school was oversubscribed last year and also using the Bucks Council in year place checker pdf to see if there are vacancies in the current year R - vacancies in this years year R means spaces in next years year 1 (hopefully).

Tells me about Berryfields please - is it a nice area?

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sky44 · 09/05/2018 22:09

Berryfields is a new build estate, I don't think it has a shop yet after a number of years. It has great access to lovely countryside, a big main road going into Aylesbury. I would look at if they have built/will build shops/church/community hall like they did with Fairford Leys, which was the esate before Berryfields, built about 10-15 years ago. Also there is no social housing on Fairford Leys as it wasn't required then, there will be quite a bit in Berryfields, if that is a concern for you (no reason it should be.....but if you are an owner occupier next to lots of social housing tenants you may just want to know that before buying)

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Housemover18 · 10/05/2018 09:01

Thanks sky, Fairford Leys has come up a few times on my search. That’s interesting re social housing too. I’m currently an owner-occupier on an estate with approx 50/50 council housing and as much as I want to say it ‘doesn’t matter to me’ the fact is it does seem to effect how much people care about the area. We sadly had some kids break a window with a football a few years ago, it was an accident done thru carelessness but an accident none-the-less the annoying thing was that the lads who did it just shrugged and said the council will take care it! They didn’t seem to understand that we would have to pay to replace it.

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CheeseCakeSunflowers · 14/05/2018 22:41

Waddesdon which is a few miles up the A41 from Aylesbury has a good secondary modern school where those who do not pass the 11+ go. You could look at villages around there which are within their catchment area.

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Anfield11 · 18/04/2019 20:47

Am hoping for ideas on where is best to move for a fresh start. Not really fussed about where so have the entire counties in England to choose from but not too far up north though if possible as would need to make occasional trips to London to see my older children we won’t be coming with myself and my youngest 3, DD12, DS1- 10 & DS2- 8, and possibly my DH if that’s what I decide.

Basically myself and my 3 DC are being harassed and intimidated by my older 5DC’s grandparents and they just won’t leave us alone, constantly trying to cause both me and my younger children hassle, making malicious reports to social services ( all proven to be complete lies), trying to get me into trouble with my PIP as I’m disabled and wheelchair bound and still they care calling the DWP saying I’m claiming too much in benefits etc, they even wrote into the local council as my house is a council house I’ve lived in for 17 years and raised all of my children in, they wrote and told them that I’d vacated the property and have them a date that I’d be ‘moved’ out by and it was only as the council sent me an amended council tax bill that I discovered what had happened and managed to get it all stopped as the potential would have been coming home to find locks changed, our belongings and furniture in skip of at local tip, and myself and my kids would have then been homeless and there shows no let up in their attempts to cause us trouble and harrass and intimidate us. My younger children are scared we’ll lose our home and I’m also concerned too and with the extra worry of our money that is used to feed and clothe my children may be stopped without warning esp if they ring them pretending to be me again and say kids no longer with me to have it stopped etc. There are no limits as to just how low they are willing to stoop just to get back at me.
I was 16 when I met their 20 year old son and even back then, they hated me from first sight and I was never good enough for their son because I cane from a broken home and had been raised from 9 to 15 by my Nan and my mum wasn’t all that bothered in being a mum due to having a new boyfriend. And some 25 years later after first meeting their son we got together and had 5 children, although there was major violence on his part, mental illness, drug use and extreme paranoid and after he had yet again raped me and held a meat cleaver to my throat I kicked him out and never looked back, but then found out was pregnant for a 5th time but knew I would and could never go back to him due to increase in his irrational and violent behaviour.
I met someone whilst was pregnant and even though was def not looking for anything we fell in love and we together moved on with our lives with the children, adding another 3 (the youngest ones) to our family and all was going really good until in 2013 in March I think my ex was diagnosed with leukaemia and a bone marrow transplant was the only thing that would help him
long term, his one sister and her husband were no match and as he was the father to 5 of my kids I got myself tested and even my new husband said if I wasn’t a match he’d then be tested before we’d even consider asking the kids if they wanted to be tested as kids was only 13,12, 10, 8 & 6 so didn’t want to have to ask them unless absolutely had to. I was found to be a match and me and the kids were over the mood as knew this could potentially save their dads life, but his dad chose to not even bother to tell anyone, not his son, wife or the doctors that a match had been found as he would rather take the chance a match would eventually be found and that he wasn’t impressed with the match being me and would rather risk his son than take anything from me. Sadly 18 months later my children’s dad had died from the leukaemia and pneumonia. An alternative match was a bentually found, in Germany, 15 months after initial diagnosis and what with all the chemo and other treatment etc by the time he finally had the transplant his body was so weak he got pneumonia and was dead within 2 weeks of the transplant and despite the docs saying that a transplant when treatment first started and as early as possible was the best chance and only change he had but it had been withheld from him just because his parents didn’t like me and didn’t want to have to thank me even though I didn’t want their thanks, I was doing it for him and the children so they could know their dad growing up and that was denied from them due to the grandparents hatred of me!!!
So although I could and would have donated to save their son, they blame me for his death, that I moved on with my life and got married etc and these recent actions from them just show how bitter and twisted and vindictive they really are and it’s got to the point where only way to get them off our backs and leave us alone and to be able to live a happy carefree life again will be to move somewhere new where no one knows us and to also change our surnames so we can’t ever be traced.

But moving to a completely new area where you don’t know anyone is hard as I don’t know what the areas like, areas to avoid, how busy it is as I couldn’t live in a city as I’ve lived my whole life in a seaside town that’s not all that busy except by the local shopping complex at Xmas and sale time and occasionally school pick up and drop offs etc. Although I know it’s not anywhere near as busy as the city of Canterbury we visited recently to sightsee but that definitely showed me that we’d be happiest in a town or village but as long as it has a primary school and secondary school for the kids and your local Tesco’s or ASDA do home delivery then anywhere and everywhere is a possible option open to us. A hospital nearby would be helpful due to my hospital visits but I wouldn’t mind travelling for half hour or so, an hour at most. And would be good if there were council houses available there as I can get a swap with my current house and I want to be moved asap so any ideas or details about places any of you live in or know of would be fantastic esp as it’s like a kid in a sweet shop at the moment as too many places to go to choose from and not having been before have no idea of the hidden bits tourists wouldn’t know.
Just please, no places in Kent though please as Kent is most definitely not an option as it’s kent I’m trying to escape from.lol.

So any help would be gratefully received. Thank you all in advance. Xxxxxx

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2019mum · 30/07/2019 08:15

Hi,

We're thinking of moving to High Wycombe (we have a 9 month old DD and want another baby soon) and saw a lovely new development and a home we love in Daws Hill Lane, however we haven't heard great things about HW centre.

Does anyone have any advice about moving to this area with a young family?

Thanks so much!

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