Dulwich

[xelous]

DH and I are considering moving to Dulwich. We are hoping to have a baby whilst there also.

We would rent initially and ideally we would like to pay £2k pcm but could go higher. We'd love a Victorian flat conversion.

What are the different areas of Dulwich like and which would you recommend?

We love the village but wouldn't really want to live there. We've visited a the different areas a few times but don't think that's enough to get a proper feel for what each of the areas have to offer.

Thanks!

@xelous yes - somewhere like Wimbledon is probably more like where you live now. Dulwich often feels like one big traffic jam - not very relaxed at all.

@minipie @Needmorelego - so it all depends on where DH gets a job (he's a doctor and applies to deaneries, it's a ranking system). So he will rank south east first and if he gets that we will most likely live in Dulwich. He will rank south west second and if he gets that then we will choose between Richmond and Wimbledon. I adore Richmond! 😍

Re. Transport it’s what @Needmorelego said plus you can end up living quite a long walk from a station - there’s a big hole as you go towards Peckham rye park and southern end of roads like upland, friern, overhill.

@xelous another thing about Dulwich.... I find my phone signal is terrible.

@bunanarama that sounds super frustrating. I will have a look into it. Thank you

Hi OP, it’s a short bus-ride from East Dulwich to Denmark Hill station (which gives access to the Overground and Thameslink) and the busses along Lordship Lane are frequent. So if you aim to find a place within easy walking distance of Lordship Lane, it’s really not so bad (plus added bonus of shops, cafes and pubs on your doorstep!). If you’re looking at Dulwich Village, next-door Herne Hill may also be worth a look as it’s better connected for public transport.

North Dulwich is very close to Herne Hill ( so you can walk easily to get the train) and Dulwich Village for shops, restaurants and pubs. Very leafy.

West Dulwich also nice in parts but near Tulse Hill which seems to never improve for some reason.

It depends what you're looking for really but there are lots of Victorian conversions.

Yes West Dulwich/Herne Hill are on a different train line and it's generally got cheaper housing.

I'd pick Crystal Palace over Dulwich any day.

I'm in West Dulwich and love it. Train line to Victoria is fine. Can also easily walk to west Norwood and Tulse Hill stations, which are on different lines, giving very wide choice. Property slightly cheaper than East Dulwich. Not sure why there is all the talk about crime - it's South London so there will always be an element. Can rent a 2 bed maisonette here for £1700 pcm. Primary schools good. Not sure about nursery provision. Hope that helps.

I'd go more towards Herne Hill - that gives you the fallback option of a bus or a half hour walk into Brixton for the Tube if the overground trains are playing up.

Thanks everyone. Does anyone know about nursery prices? For a full time place. I know about the proposed changes but from what I understand, if you earn over £100k, it doesn't apply until 3 and thereafter you're entitled to 15 hours?

Our Nursery is about £100 / day, we paid £1200 for 3 days which has just dropped to £900 with 15 hours at 3. I think it’s fairly typical round here

@bunanarama thank you. OK so around £2k for the month? Childcare is just outrageously expensive but not much can be done. I really hope that the overall cost is brought down rather than just subsidising it for people under £100k. I suppose there's the option of paying extra into pension etc

I think 17/1800 is about right for full time as they tend to offer the full 5 days a bit cheaper. But prices are increasing every year that it probably won’t be long until it hits £2k 😭

@bunanarama thank God for small mercies eh 🙃

In any event, you've sold ED to me (it was never going to take much! 😅)

DH cycles to work and if the trains are terrible my work is super flexible so I'll just wfh. I absolutely adore it in Dulwich. Also, the rents are really reasonable!

I came across this old-ish thread, and just want to stick up for Peckham, and our area (SE15) near the Belham Primary school. Our kids go to the Belham and love it. The local high streets are Bellenden Rd and Rye Lane, rather than Lordship Lane - personally we prefer this area to Dulwich although that's a personal preference, and others prefer Lordship Lane. I find Lordship Lane nice, but a bit unexciting/bland, whereas Peckham is exciting, buzzy, lots of nice shops, fun restaurants and bars etc, some really nice residential streets, and a really nice community feel. From the Belham it's a 7-minute walk to Peckham Rye station, which is well-connected to various parts of central London, although you need to learn the train timetable - e.g. the overground is every 15 minutes only. Our kids hoping to go to the state secondary school Charter East Dulwich - the majority of Belham kids seems to go there. Lots of nice streets with community feel around the Belham - e.g. Avondale Rise and the parallel streets, Muschamp Rd and the parallel streets, Oglander, Ondine, etc - many others too I'm sure. These are streets with house prices not much less than East Dulwich, and I don't think crime is any worse than in East Dulwich (we haven't had problems in 10 years, and neither have our friends/neighbours etc). I do recognise what some of the above posters have said about 'run-down shops and graffiti' - some bits of Rye Lane and Peckham High Street are like this - but for us this isn't necessarily a bad thing - there are lots of interesting shops hidden amongst the graffiti (v good innovative restaurants, pop-ups, atypical grocery shops, fun bars etc, which I assume can survive in Peckham better than Lordship Lane due to cheaper rent and different crowd), whereas I find it hard to get excited about Lordship Lane offerings. And as per above posts, I have seen people shouting/arguing on Rye Lane, but personally this really doesn't bother me (they aren't arguing with me!), and more often you see people out and about on the streets having fun and being friendly. Bellenden Rd is much less rough-around-the-edges than Rye Lane - really quite fancy - but again we like it more than Lordship Lane - fewer buses, and nicer independent shops in my view. There are lots of good primary schools in East Dulwich too, and our friends are happy there, so there's no right or wrong answer here :)