Moving to Aylesbury or Maidenhead - anyone live in these areas?

[motherbird]

Sorry to be a bore ... but I wondered if anyone could give me some guidance as to what Aylesbury and Maidenhead are like to live in? We are considering relocating from London and need an area where we can easily commute in, where house prices are a little less expensive - and where the schools are good! I have heard mixed reviews about Aylesbury but am sure it must have some good points. And of course Bucks has the grammar school system which is a plus. I'd be very grateful for any views on these locations

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Aylesbury town centre is not nice (shops not great, just a ring road really), the nice areas seem to be round the outskirts facing the countryside. Tring is much nicer (but in Herts), Berkhamsted nicer still (also Herts) - both Tring and Berkhamsted have great schools.

In Bucks; Chesham, Wendover, Amersham/old Amersham are all great (and continuing over to the Chalfonts), villages like Aston Clinton and Weston Turville are just outside Aylesbury and are lovely (particularly Weston Turville - v v nice village.

If I had the money (and I'm guessing if you're coming out from London then you do) I would not live in Aylesbury but instead outside in the lovely countryside. Wendover has the woods and a lovely chocolate shop (called Rumsey's).

Sorry, getting long now but I know the area very well so if you want me to help pinpoint particular roads/areas let me know.

Wow, thanks very much for that. I wish we did have a lot of money but we don't! I'm going to check out some of those areas online now.

Tell me the budget and how many beds your looking for and I will have a look online for you.

I'm generalising here but if you wanted a victorian terrace with 2/3 small beds (In Tring, Chesham, Berkhamsted) and a courtyard garden you would need 250-300. If you wanted a 30's semi with a bigger garden then 300 plus, a detached in Berkhamsted will set you back 500 plus. In Amersham a little higher. If you wanted to live on the outskirts of Aylesbury in one of the 30's semis/detached/ or a bungalow then your looking around 350. If you wanted one of the nice villages like Weston Turville you could pay a lot more.

I live in Hemel Hempstead which has some not so nice areas but I live in the bit nearest the station (in Boxmoor) which is probably the nicest bit. It's very much the poor cousin of Tring/Berkhamsted and St Albans but if you don't want to spend that much money for around £275

• 350you will get a smallish 3 bed in Boxmoor (its 3 miles from Berkhamsted and Chesham), 15 from Aylesbury.

St Albans is roughly the same price as Amersham/Berkhamsted

I am now the worlds expert on prices in this area and I know every house for sale in about a 20 mile radius as my own house is on the market and I'm searching for somewhere else

I have been to all of these places enough times. There's many sceptical veiws on palces due to personal preference but Aylesbury is an incredibly decent medium sized town to live in despite the gossip. I like it better than the over crowded city, easy to navigate, has a simple train station straight into London and other areas like Amersham and the metropilitan line without much need to change of any. It os quite out of the way but easy access to the likes of Hemel, i really don't like Hemel that much in terms of desirability Aylesbury has much nicer accomodation with a much more historical and spread out town center instead of just a single street with a handful of pubs and bars fancy diners and a decent enough odean and swimming pool. Same said for Maidenhead if you want to be closer to palces like Windsor, Slough ewwww slough just don't and Bracknell and Western London areas. St. Albans is the nicest place I have ever visited in Heartfordshire beautiful city used to bus it a lot within just over the hour. Nice towns I know of in Bucks would be in fact Aylesbury for affordable living with ease of access and less hassle to the center (can walk it any direction under 10 minutes) Chesham isn't bad either I quite like the idea of a totlaly dead ghost town now i'm older with sworms of woodland great for walks and can even walk to Amersham with ease saving money as the two are in hugging distance, Beaconsfields a nice slightly larger town and Wendover is lovely if you want something a little less in your face. But for cheap i'd say Aylesbury and if you really want to scrape the barrel high Wycombe which is by far the trashiest palce in Bucks I remember living there hated it.

Hi,
Just looking for some ideas from any one can help!
I'm considering to move to Aylesbury purely targeting secondary school for my daughter?
would I be taking a bad decision? looks living in aylesbury looks better than Hemel Hempstead, more council estate..! poorest community, not even have good shops, not good schools. buying a house in Hemel was the worst decision I made, I don't want to make the same again.
Any one can help me out of this , just get my mind set.
thanks
chami