Moving to St Albans

[twoberryblueberry]

Afternoon all,

Hoping some of you could give me some guidance as we're currently living in Somerset but my husband works in Farringdon and is weekly commuting leaving me at home with 2y/o twin sons. Because of this, we've decided to sell our house and rent or buy in St Albans where he can daily commute and we can all be together.

Prices are obviously astronomical to buy so we may rent in the first instance to get the children registered in a good school (I'm aware of the fight for places and already losing sleep over it!)

I guess I'd just like some up to date advice (lots of forums from 2009 on the matter) re: where is a nice place to raise a young family. So nice parks, good schools (don't have to be outstanding but vouched for by parents as being safe with good ethos), nice people, not too far from the station etc. Basically what everybody is looking for!

Any particular areas I should absolutely avoid?

I'm also keen to understand a bit about nurseries? From what I can see, they're in high demand with long waiting lists and very expensive. Are there any that don't fit into the very expensive/no space category that you would recommend?

Thank you all, really appreciate any advice!

Kind regards
Leanne

Most of St Albans could be said to be a nice place to raise a young family (although people may tell you otherwise - it's all relative!). Likewise the majority of primary and secondary schools are 'outstanding' or 'good' but with some more sought after than others.
I think it depends on how close to secondary allocation you are. If your dc are primary age it may well be a case of where you can get them in rather than your nearest school - schools are very oversubscribed and distance places are often as low as a few hundred meters.
But it really is a lovely place to live - one of the highest educated populations in the country, lots of very nice people, safe so it's difficult to get it drastically wrong!