Chesham/Amersham

Hello!

Just returning to this thread. Keen to hear how you are getting on with St Georges.

Also to clarify -do children move from St Georges up to Woodside ? How is that?

Is the busy road outside St Georges an issue at drop off?

Thanks so much!

Ha, well clearly I misread that thread a bit! Sorry, not very practiced at mumsnet. But yes, it is lovely here :) Thanks for messaging!

I'm not far from you! Glad you're happy with your move. We've been here 18 years now! Really impressed with the community and creativity.

As a Bucks person, they are about as white middle class as you could get....as said, MK, Aylesbury and H Wycombe more diverse...

@Mover2024 have read this thread with interest and so glad you chose Chesham - welcome! We moved here from London last Feb and it's just a truly lovely place to live. I grew up in Chorleywood so know this area very well indeed, and though Amersham is most certainly posher, I like Chesham more (and is much more affordable). The high street is having a tough time but the market and the independent shops are great, as are the theatres and some of the pubs. I feel like it's a real community of people trying to make something good. Anyway, let me know if you fancy a drink and a hello sometime - we're on Eskdale Avenue!

@Mover2024 where did you decide on in the end. I am on a house on lowndes ave and would love to meet up when you are settled as making friends with people who hold similar values is so important. Really resonated with the ethnic minority comments and other considerations mentioned here and wish I had had this thread when we were deciding to move. We moved from a suburb in NW London because of a racist vibe in a primarily white area (with lots of ethnic minorities tho!) and also for the schools. We viewed houses in both Amersham and Chesham and have opted to fix up a house on Lowndes. It has been fun to develop something of our own rather than spend all the money we have on a house that wasn't "built for us". We have not once regretted our decision to move here. My son sat the 11 plus and got his result this week and is considering between Chesham grammar and DCGS. To be honest both are absolutely excellent schools so the choice is a much of a muchness. Our intent was he and his sister could have the chance to attend a co ed school that is quietly outperforming other south bucks grammars and where there is a more friendly and inclusive vive. Our street has a local whatsapp group and we help eachother out all the time. When we moved, our neighbours actively reached out to say hello, and our next door neighbours invited us over for a drink in their garden. Streetside chats are common. The whatsapp shares info for street security, sharing, advice, giving to charity and much more. I helped a lady take in her bin as she was on holiday, and she helped me restring my son's cello! It's a stronger sense of community than any place I lived in London. There are year round events at the park and despite our kids not being in a local state, only having lived here 2 years we are already bumping into people we know. My son has settled into a football club and training takes place at chiltern hills on excellent pitches. My daughter has found a local brownie hut and loves it. Weve been to the quiz held at the Queen's Head pub, we've had really lovely service in the restaurants and shops on the high st. They adore Lowndes park (so close it could be our garden) and nature walks. One factor for us was as our kids grow, they could walk safely from the underground at any time of night to our home and due to catchment areas, their secondary school friends would be clustered nearby, unlike N London where kids are shuttles in an out from often miles around.The fresh food on offer at the market twice a week has made shopping for groceries much nicer. The bakery has been on high St for generations and now we won't buy anywhere else. Though Chesham is grittier and it makes me sad they haven't improved the aesthetics on the high St, the underlying community is very much there. I had a cup of coffee at the Cafe Nero in the summer and in came an absolutely massive cohort of runners of all ages to have their post run weekly chat and social! We've found the restaurants in Berko and Beaconsfield not too far. If Chesham doesn't have something, access to wycombe, amersham, beaconsfield, berko all mean it is a lovely base from which to work and play. We saw spectacular northern lights from the park and the backs of our gardens here. Due to the hills, the best view of the fireworks on Nov 5th is from our own windows at home. The longer you live there, the more you realise when people become Cheshamites, they stick around. It's not about wealth (i do get that snobbier vibe from Amersham), and there are some jaw droppingly beautiful houses tucked away here in Chesham. You can't tell who is who when you are all shopping and enjoying nature together.

Congratulations! I am looking at both towns today to get feeling!

Hello @Mover2024 - I am looking at both Amersham and Chesham, too, and found this thread so helpful. What did you decided in the end?

DCHS is a bit of a hothouse academically, and has quite a lot of pushy parents who prioritise academic results over any extra-curricular activities. If that suits you/your DD, it is a very good school and will almost certainly supply excellent results. If you prefer a more relaxed approach, and potentially a more rounded education, Chesham Grammar might be better at providing that. All these are, by and large, generalisations and there's an element of horses for courses.

Anecdotally Challoners girls is very high pressure and has high rates of students with eating disorders.

It is, yes. DCHS is very different from Chesham Grammar though and doesn't suit every girl. On the other hand, some parents prefer single-sex schooling regardless.

@Mover2024 re trains the major advantage of Amersham over Chesham is that you can catch the Chiltern Line into Marylebone so in effect you have twice as many trains to choose from, particularly at rush hour. A little-known fact to people from outside the area is that Amersham station is Met owned and run so you only pay tube prices but are entitled to catch the overground.

Also surprised that nobody has pointed out the major difference between the grammar schools in Chesham and those in Amersham - Chesham Grammar is mixed whereas the Challoner's schools and Beaconsfield High are single-sex. If that is a big factor for you, bear it in mind.

The non-grammar schools tend to be more diverse. Having had DCs at both grammar and secondary modern in the area, the grammar was very white and very wealthy (in general); the secondary modern considerably less so. There's a large Polish community in Amersham, and also a smaller but well-established Filipino one, but DCs from both these community mostly go to the non-grammar schools.

Local people (particularly in Amersham) can be quite snobby about the non-grammars, but our experience of the one in Amersham was very positive - our DD who went there is now extremely highly qualified, and all of her friendship group who wanted to, went to university.

Have you thought of Watford, also on the Met line but with the main line 18 mins into Euston.
Very diverse community, and excellent schools.

Amersham investment mainly been on council buildings but most recently new all singing and dancing sport centre and playground outside.
It a shame the one they tore down was much better! Used to have water slides which the kids loved but now have to go to Aylesbury. And no more free parking at Amersham sports centre (unlike chesham and Aylesbury). All are everyone active (so if you have lessons at either the kids can go to Aylesbury for free) and the chesham pool is generally warm and perfectly good for children’s lessons (and has a shallow pool for the very young - I think Amersham only has the diving pool which has variable depth. It does have a splash play area though). There is also a clip and climb as well as ‘proper’ climbing walls at Amersham. New soft play at both.

A bit of a light-hearted take on the Amersham-Chesham relationship. Several years ago I remember a local (Chesham) artist did a series of pictures satirising the relationship between the two towns. It helps to understand that the centre of Chesham is closely hemmed in by hills. One of the pictures was titled something like 'when it rains...' (I may have made that up) but it showed a big water pipe on the Amersham hill emptying itself into a submerged Chesham. Another had a railway line running straight from the Amersham side to the hill on the other side, going way over the top of Chesham.

For additional info, these pictures were on display for a while in the utterly marvellous café / art gallery / live music venue The Drawing Room.