Moving

[EYP2021]

Good morning everyone, I hope you are all well. I need some help please. I am hoping to buy a house outside of London this year. I am a single parent with 5 year old twins. The areas I am considering are Borehamwood, Hatfield, Watford, Hitchin, Welwyn Garden, Stevenage, Radlett, Shenley and South Mimms. I wondered if any of you live in these areas? What is it like to live there, what are the schools like. One of my twins is being assessed for ASD/ADHD so I also wondered if any of you have any experiences with SEN services in any of these areas please?

Bump …

Those are nice areas and ideal for bringing up children and better quality of life generally.

Watford and Borehamwood are the busiest of them.

Hitchin and Welwyn are nice though Hitchin is further. Hitchin has risen in popularity amongst Africans in the last 5yrs in my estimation as about 4 families I know have moved there since.

Thank you

Do you need to commute to London? Because if not, or if only once or twice a week - why not consider moving a little further west - Oxfordshire or Wiltshire? They’re both, for various reasons, so much lovelier than the Hertfordshire area.

Central Oxford property is quite ridiculously expensive - but the surrounding towns and villages are more approachable, and the university throws its energy across a wide sphere. If you look for somewhere where lots of academics live you should find a culturally sophisticated, international population with well supported schools.

Wiltshire has the advantage of being magically beautiful - you would never run out of wonderful weekend jaunts to take your children on. And the population can be quite varied - it’s popular with musicians and creative artists, so it’s culturally as well as historically rich. The right village or small town could provide a perfect childhood.

I can’t say specifically what the SEN provision might be in either area - only that they offer a quality of life that might surprise you.

@MetaDaughter many thanks. Ideally closer to London but you have given me good for thought x

Honestly, loads and loads of people commute to London from those areas! Ideally not every day from Wiltshire - 2 or 3 times a week would be fine. And they’re completely ok for getting to London for shopping / theatre / whatever, or having friends and relatives to visit you.

The air is much nicer (outside cities) and people look healthier. Less crowded. Less brutal transport grind. Lovely views. Gentle country landscape on your doorstep - which means a wider range of leisure activities for children than are easily found in London …