Nice areas to move to around London...Help please

[granarybeck]

My Dh has been offered a job in London (Farringdon). We currently live near manchester. We've been thinking of moving to Harpenden or st Albans (just really because someone suggested they were nice and easy to commute to that area of London). Now we need to seriously look at moving, i though we better just check out any other options before deciding on harpenden. got lots of useful advice about st albans/harpenden recently on another thread, thanks for that. Though when i looked through archives read another thread where lots of people didn't seem keen on harpenden, have i missed something? we don't know the area at all and are moving from northern to southern house prices so know that might be a struggle.

Have got to pop out now, but would be really, really grateful for any help or suggestions/opinions.

For anyone who knows the harpenden area, what is the area around The Lea school like? Partly for the children going there and partly as more houses for sale round there? Also, does anyone know what Redbourn is like, would it be a pain for children to live there and not in harpenden?

Jenkel, howdoes your dh do thecommute to farringdon from stevenage? Does he do thames link to kings cross then walk. 25 mins seems really good.

WishIcouldgiveupwork, are you from Hitchin? Are there any places to avoid? Is it quite friendly/community stuff going on?

I am not from Hitchin but sepnd a fair amount of time there.
There seems to be a really nice community there-dd goes to a music group there and all the Mum's are really friendly.
Not sure about areas to avoid-other than going into Bedfordshire....
The state secondary school there is excellent and people move to the area just to get into the school.
Shops are ok-a good selection of high street stuff,a market on Satrudays and some nice places to eat.
I live South of Hitchin just because I drive a lot and two junctions difference is huge for me.

If you need any more info-just shout.

thanks wishicouldgiveupwork. it did look nice when we drove through but we were on the way home and didn't have time to stop.

granarybeck, have you tried Mill Hill NW7? There's plenty of 3 bed-semis for 300-400k, either can go Thameslink from Mill Hill Broadway or further east towards Holders Hill/Finchley end there's Mill Hill East tube station (northern line).
In rightmove.co.uk type Mill Hill or Nw7

Thanks mythumbalinas, no haven't looked at mill hill at all. When you don't know an area its easy to just miss places. Do youlive there or know it?

yep, i live in Mill Hill and i love it. It's easy access to A41 A1 and A406 and brent cross. There are some nice schools around here too.