Don?t move to Tring. It?s so isolated and backward, and there is nothing, literally nothing, for kids to do, unless they are churchy or sporty. They won?t thank you for moving here when they are teenagers and want some independence; either they will have to join the underage drinkers at the skate park by Tesco, or they will sit at home bored out of their minds, or you will be on call as a taxi service constantly. You don?t want to use the schools here- Bishop Wood is bad beyond belief, Dundale still rough and Grove not too bad in my opinion, but rated unsatisfactory by Ofsted because of the head?s absences. Tring School, when I went there in the 90s, was vile - Grange Hill was like Eton by comparison. It may have got a little better as the area has become gentrified, but any improvement is likely caused by the incoming middle classes? use of private tutors, and not by any fundamental change in the culture of the place, since many of the worst teachers I had are still there. (The good ones lasted about a year or two and moved on.) If you happen to be well educated you will have to keep it quiet, as there is precious little tolerance for poncy intellectuals here, or for any other group that stands out from the increasingly homogenised norm: white, lower middle class, Daily Mail reading, small and large C conservative, God bothering,- well, you get the picture.
Tring-ites make Hitler look like a sandal-wearing liberal. Expect to be shunned by 95% of people if you ever become a single parent- I was, and it?s not an unusual story. (Nor limited to Tring, I think it?s similarly grim for single mums in small rural towns everywhere, but that?s by the by.) The Conservative Club is pretty much the only social outlet apart from the aforementioned churches and sports clubs.
Of course, some people like the place, but even they must constantly be frustrated by the crappy transport links, which you will know all about if you have come here on the train. Half the evening trains which are supposed to stop here don?t bother, and when you do eventually get one you are faced with a two mile trek down an unlit Station Road to get back into town, unless you have the rare good fortune to find a bus, or a willing to pay the usurious parking charges at the station. I?m sure you already know this stuff, but don?t underestimate the frustration of facing the reality of it on a regular basis.
Berko is better- no great shakes really, but a few more signs of life and rather more intelligent inhabitants. I do wonder why anyone bothers though, given the expense of buying a house somewhere whose chief claim to fame is not being as thoroughly shite as Tring. St. Albans is beautiful, as are parts of Watford. If it?s the Tring/Berko area you really want, there are some nice (if isolated) villages. Marsworth is lovely and has the advantage of being in the catchment area for Bucks grammar schools. Pitstone is physically unlovely but has some of the social diversity missing from Tring, and with the chance to get more space for your money. Aston Clinton is OK, similar prices to Tring. I don?t know what the village school is like but it?s an easy commute to the grammar schools again and the social club and youth clubs are nice, and set in a fabulous park.