AIBU to focus our house search on a cul-de-sac?

you only need one person who drives like a lunatic and your fantasy is dangerous

Lots of old people (like me) living in the old cul de sacs now. What about a small newish build development with its own communal playground?

I don't live in a cul de sac - just a quiet road and kids play out here. I don't think you need to live on a cul de sac for kids to play out.

I live in a cul de sac and the kids don't ever play out in the street, but the age profile of my road is all wrong for that. It is mainly bungalows so there are a lot of older people here, many of whom have lived here for years having brought their families up here years ago. There are a few other teenagers in the road but no younger children other than my 9 year old.

It is lovely and quiet though which is a big positive for me. No problems with parking here the majority of the time, probably because most in the street are older and only seem to have one car per house which is on the driveway. I'm near a secondary school though so we do have problems with parked cars blocking driveways at school pick up/drop off times.

I personally would have a cul de sac location as a nice to have rather than a necessity, otherwise it will narrow down your search location significantly.

Beware of the neighbour with 3 cars and a van who wouldn't park them on his drive 🤣

I live on a cul de sac only 9 houses lived here for 15 years bought as a new build never had kids playing on the close thankfully one of the things I love about living here is how quiet it is mixture of families one with younger kids four with teenagers rest of us coming up to retirement age or retired over the years been afew of the houses changed hands but we mostly get older couples 40+

We live in a cul de sac. The majority of residents are older people whose children are long grown up. The few house with children are all different ages. The older residents tend to be fussy about parking and bins as they have nothing else to do all day but stare out of the window turning their anxiety to rage. So even riding bikes around the road is fraught with hassle. We have a small playground on a small playing field nearby and this is ideal. Big enough for fun, but small enough that it’s not a destination for non-locals. Which makes it good for playing out with other local kids.

We moved from a cul-de-sac a decade or so ago. When my son grew up it was as you have described; children playing out sitting on kerbs, with no through traffic. We'd sit out in deckchairs and chat/watch them play. By the time we left you couldn't see the kerb for the wall to wall parking and it actually made it more dangerous for them to play in the loop, because of poor visibility.

I live in a cul de sac. It is quiet and safer for both pets and children as cars are few and the speed is reduced. I see children with their parents out playing in the evenings. It is a better quality of life than being in a major road but it comes with a higher price tag.

I was just going to say the new build estate I’ve just moved into is like this. It reminds me of the council estate I grew up on. In good ways and bad ways (travellers arrived yesterday on the green area surrounding it) but kids playing out on their bikes is really nice.

I live in a cul de sac. The children who live here are very different ages and never play together in the street. Two of them do sometimes play together but they go into the house or garden of one of them.

Could it be, OP, that when you were a child none of the houses in your cul de sac had gardens or enough indoor space for playing together?

I live in a cul de sac, there are too many parked cars for the kids to play out, people drive into the road too quickly and there are many parking issues (especially with older residents who think they own the space outside their house).

I think to achieve your vision of a 1980s childhood, you would have to survey all the people in the cul de sac to find out how many cars they have, how many children they have and whether they would let them play out on the street dodging the Amazon deliveries.

I was going to say this. Like you I grew up in a cul de sac but even then none of the neighbours had kids and it was already older people. My parents still live there now and it is still older people (as even as houses have sold, they have been purchased by people with adult children/no children).

As stated, it's the new builds that tend to have families. There is a big new build near us that seems to do a lot of things. They appear to have a residents group and plan activity trails over the summer and go all out for Halloween and Christmas.

I live in a cul-de-sac of 11 houses. No one has kids. We’re the youngest people who live down there (41 and 45!) It is quiet but lots of drivers don’t seem to know what a cul-de-sac is and still drive down to the end to turn around. It is pretty quiet though.
I guess you’d need to find out who the neighbours are and if they have any kids.

We are in a cul de sac on account of the cat!

The way maniacs drive these days it wouldn't be safe but I used to play with neighbours kids without one just a normal street

Personally I think it is odd to have any lifestyle vision with any type of set up because real life isnt a movie, life is what it is regardless of where you life

I live in a cul-de-sac and I’m sad I don’t think we have a cannabis grower. I feel like I’m missing out! (Before anyone starts I don’t actually smoke weed. I don’t even smoke cigarettes ).
We have 18 houses in our road and none have children. One couple has grandchildren round sometimes and they ride bikes outside but that’s it!

I agree about the parking though it’s bonkers down here at times. One house has driveway space for 2 cars but has 5 cars! One house has space for 2 but it’s a long thin drive so because they need to keep swapping cars about they just don’t bother and park one on the street. Another one has 1 space but 2 cars so parks on the street and god forbid someone takes that space she will pretty much just dump her car anywhere in protest including over other people’s drives.

Both my houses have been in cul de sacs.

This one now you cannot so much as put your bins out without it turning into a social gathering. It's lovely.

Kids knocking for each other.

For events we put a big screen up and marquee.. think wimbledon, world cup, royal weddings etc (the end of the cul de sac is a big shared drive with five houses)

we did a street party for the coronation

BBQs, birthday parties...

we have even been on holiday with each other 😂

I'm sure MN would be horrified but it's lovely to have lovely neighbours

BTW Ours is on a newbuild estate so nobody had ever met before we all moved in, that hasn’t stopped the kids making friends at all despite all being at different schools.

YANBU our cul de sac is like this, the kids knock on the door for each other and play outside every day for hours. I grew up on one with 40 houses and there was always someone to play with.
ETA I don’t let them out unsupervised yet but we don’t have an army of dangerous drivers hooning around, I just stand in view of the end of the road in case a car comes. By the time the kids are out of school most deliveries are done anyway.

My mum still lives on the cul de sac I grew up on and I'm now 62. We used to play out front together as kids but I notice they don't do so now. There are far more cars than there were in my day, so ball games don't happen (people don't want cars damaged) and even in quiet locations people nowadays are more aware of the dangers of allowing children out unsupervised. I think the reality is not the same as our memories OP.

Agree with this. I live in a cul de sac and it isn't safe for children to play outside on the street because of delivery drivers and care workers who race in and out.
The houses do have big enclosed back gardens and green areas/parks nearby though - I'd focus your search on that kind of thing (which largely rules out new builds as the developers never create play facilities quickly and gardens are tiny).

I don't live on a cul de sac - but on a small 'new' build estate (houses are probably 15 years old) built on a sort of loop. Loads of kids play out in the street! Mine are too old, but there's a big gang of younger kids on bikes/scooters/having water fights etc.

My friends on other new build estates have the same thing. Lots of DC playing out.