Merton Park/South Wimbledon versus South Park Gardens - where would you choose?!

[Everhart]

Hello, we are seriously looking at a move to Wimbledon (exepecting first child and need more space!!) We are trying to decide between general Wimbledon area and Twickenham/St Margarets for one thing, which is tough as I am torn between the much better transport links and slightly less 'villagey' feel in Wimbledon (am urban at heart!) versus the quieter feel in St Margarets and the proximity to Richmond Park (DH likes the country feel!!)

HOWEVER even within Wimbledon we are confused! We are looking at 2 areas really - Merton Park/South Wimbledon and South Park Gardens.

We would get more space for our money in Merton Park/South Wimbledon and the area seems nice - is Merton Park nicer than South Wimbledon???

But we may just about be able to afford South Park Gardens and might put up with less space if we preferred the area (I do know all these areas are very close!!) and if schools situation was better. I gather that Holy Trinity is the main South Park Gardens school and that it's v good, whereas I am unclear about schools in Merton Park/South Wimbledon. Also South Park Gardens looks a bit less of a walk into town centre for the train for DH etc.

If you could afford both, where would you go? I do really like the larger feel of a lot of the houses I have seen in Merton Park, but is it a bit of a 'nothing' area ie not close enough to town centre? The streets around there do seem lovely. I don't need anywhere hugely swanky and with tonnes to do, I just really like having a little coffee shop to wander to (I know Wimbledon town centre has lots) and feeling that the area is safe and nice to wander around. Play parks etc.

Any advice would be hugely appreciated; also if anyone has any opinions about the difference between Wimbledon in general versus St Margarets, that would help a lot too!!

Thanks so much.

I live in MP. Which bit of it/which streets are you looking at - there are three distinct parts of MP - the 'original' bit, (Dorset Road/Church Road/Sheridan Road etc), the 'old' bit, across the tram tracks (Branksome Road/Bournemouth Road/Melbourne Road) and the 'new' bit (Circle Gardens/Poplar Road/Kenley Road)

I live in the 'old' bit, and have done for almost 25 years! It's really quiet, which is what we love. Very easy to get into Wimbledon, good transport links - tube/train from Wimbledon, tube from South Wimbledon, tram from Merton Park.

Little coffee shop in the Italian deli next to the tram stop, good little restaurants nearby (steakhouse next to the tram stop, Thai further along the main road towards the tube station, Chinese/Korean/Lebanese by the tube station.)

Oh, and very low crime rate - I believe it's the lowest/one of the lowest in London.

Ooooh, I didn't realise even Merton Park divided into 3 bits!!! This is why my head is ready to explode... :)
I think we are probably focussed on the 'old' bit - Melbourne, Branksome etc. Though in one sense the entire area is up for grabs, it depends on what houses come up and what we can afford. Our budget (if you don't mind me saying) is up to (at a real push) £725k, ideally closer to £650-700, but I think we can probably get something 4 bedroom-ish for that?
To me, I hadn't really thought of the area until I realised that it still is (am I right??) only about a 15 min walk up to the town, and that also if you want you can hope on the tram to get to the train in the morning... I was discounting the area as I thought it was harder to get to the train than that and am conscious of DH's journey in and back.
Would you say we could def get more for our money than in South Park Gardens? To me the Merton Park area has the advantage of feeling a bit more residential as well... just my impression.
Thanks by the way!!! :)

Have PMd you

I would seriously consider the schooling issue when deciding which area and indeed which school to live in in WImbledon. Most good primaries have very small catchment areas. Unless you are committed to going private I would not get worked up about which part, rather than which school you want to get into.