Carshalton Beeches or Cheam

[wimbledomum]

We are looking to buy a new house and have narrowed our search down to either South Cheam or the Carshalton Beeches area but we are undecided between them. We need good primaries and want a nice neighbourhood for our kids to grow up. There are nice properties in Cheam on Sandy Lane, West Drive, Northey Avenue, etc. and we saw a few nice houses in Carshalton Beeches as well, around The Warren, Pine Walk and that sort of area. What are these areas like and how do they compare to one another? Travel into Central London is only occasionally required, certainly not every week. Can any locals maybe help?

I know both areas very well and they are both lovely , leafy areas.
regards to links to London , both are great but for schools, I’d say Cheam is the better option. It also has a lovely village feel with the local shops and cafes especially around Christmas and a beautiful park. CB doesn’t really have that same feel .

Thank you, do you regard Cheam better for schools because of Cuddington Croft being better than Barrow Hedges? I think if we’d buy in the South Cheam area then we’d be too far away from other primaries and we wouldn’t want to be in North Cheam just for one of the other primaries.

I don't think there is much difference in the primary schools, both are well regarded. What is your secondary plan? Aiming for grammars or not?

In Carshalton Beeches, your local school is probably Oaks Park, which has become a lot more popular recently. You might have a chance with Harris Sutton, but it has a small catchment. I think the Cheam school (Cheam High?) would be considered more popular than Oaks, maybe the same as Harris.

Carshalton Beeches is quite residential. It's easy to get to Carshalton or Sutton, but they aren't quite on your doorstep. The same is probably true of that area of Cheam. I personally have never been a huge fan of the Cheam cross-roads, as there is lots of traffic and not that many shops I like, but I know many love it. Cheam is probably the slightly pricier area (I'm not certain though).

In summary I prefer Carshalton Beeches (not that I'm biased!) but think carefully about secondary options, as Cheam may be slightly better there.

Exactly in South Cheam we would target Cuddington Croft and Grammars with Cheam High as backup and in Carshalton Beeches we’d target Barrow Hedges with Harris Academy as backup. We felt that Carshalton was more central to all the Grammars than South Cheam so it’s really valuable to hear that you actually thought of Cheam as being better for schools. This gives us more to think about!

There are 2 Harris' - Harris Carshalton which is juniors and Harris Sutton which is secondary. The secondary is very popular. (The primary is great too but further away compared to other schools.)

We are hoping for the grammars too and like that we are in the middle. Originally I had a preference for one, but now prefer another and travel is similar for both. I'm happy that we have other decent options if grammar doesn't work out. I'd just do your research and check you are happy with your options.

I realise my previous post suggested Cheam was better for schools. I think that actually the perception was historically that Cheam was better for secondary. However things have changed quite a lot, and there probably isn't much in it, so you can choose which area you prefer.