Family friendly areas in and around London

[Booklover]

We currently live in North London (very central) and consider moving a bit further out due to the horrendous property prices (we are just renting at the moment). Might look for rented properties again but would like to save some money. Which areas do you consider child/family friendly and why?

Palmers Green/Bounds Green/Southgate/Arnos Grove are good as there are loads of parks nearby and several cinemas within easy bus/car reach - and the Piccadilly Line gives good access to everything else. Very good private schools, I'm told (couldn't afford them myself) - some of the state schools are ok - at least, dd did well in them. Muswell Hill/Crouch End very child friendly and very good schools - if you can get into them ! But Very high house prices and going up. Bought our house last year by really stretching our budget and if we'd left it any longer, would not have been able to afford what we've got. Similar properties cost much less in Palmers Green etc and are still on the bus routes to Muswell Hill.

All the cafes and restaurants in this part of N London are very child friendly and welcome families - many provide toys and crayons for the littlies. Also a couple of swimming pools in Arnos Grove and Hornsey, and lots of libraries that do good activities for kids - toddler clubs, toy libraries, story sessions and craft activities during the hols.

Lots of kids stuff in this part of London I think.

Many thanks, that's great! Does anyone know about South London, Forrest Hill, Crystal Palace etc?

I live in Streatham/Furzedown. I have mixed feelings about it. In it's favour:

Good transport links.

More affordable housing

Lovely commons

Good schools in Wandsworth Borough parts.

Low council tax in Wandsworth Borough.

Things that irritate:

Streatham High Road - too busy

I am in Balham

Clapham & Balham - lots of green spaces, child friendly cafes etc
Can't comment on schools

Yes, Forest Hill, Crystal Palace both up and coming areas that are getting nicer. Good for kids: the Horniman museum is lovely and there are good parks. Being from N London you will find the lack of tube worrying, but in fact the trains and buses are very good. Denmark Hill and East Dulwich also good, and more central. The schools are supposed to be good, but my dd is only 1 so I haven't looked into it that much! Lots going on in the area in terms of toddler groups, music groups, library story sessions etc. How old are your dcs?

we live in penge se20 in between crystal palace and beckenham..the area is actually called anerley but its usually recgnised as penge..transport is good and there will be a tube link coming up in anerle y soon.all to do with olympics and regeneration of crystalpalace. inc the park where multi millions is planning on being spent...i used to live in crystalpalace and loved it..nice friendly area ..we moved just down the hill so to speak as you could get more for your money.but its caught up here too..what sort of prices/bedrooms etc are you looking for? three bed victorian..good sizes are going for about 3-340 k at the moment but thats just in our local roads.sme are a bit cheaper..we have lots of rail stations inc birkbeck/elmers end/kent house/clock house/anerely/beckenham junction..have a look on map to see where they are..we have lots o schools within walking distance and bromley has lots of single sex schools if thats what you like.. not far from good shopping in croydon or bromley..lots of parks around as well so .good for little ones and lots of nice toddler groups if your little ones are young..hope thats enough info... anyway ave a look in A-Z

Wandsworth is very family friendly. I live in Earlsfield and I love it.

earlsfield/southfields/wimbledon park - lovely

Barnes/E. Sheen/Richmond

Great schools lots of greenery, lots of families, very fast into waterloo, very friendly (well I can only speak for E sheen in the friendliness stakes in fact!)

A lot of the places mentioned on this thread probably now fit into the "horrendous property prices" bracket unfortunately: Balham, clapham, richmond, barnes, all really nice but jeez they are expensive now.

Even earlsfield, which just a couple of years ago was pretty affordable, has seen prices go sky high if you want a house in a good school catchment area.

It sounds like you will be coming from an expensive area so you might find them a bit more reasonable but I'm not sure you will be saving much money without compromising more than you thought tbh.

Maybe crystal palace way is a better bet?

I have a friend in Nunhead which she really likes and finds it v. family friendly. It's a bit of a surprise actually as it's quite villagey. It's got good prices too. Also there's a part of Peckham called Bellenden Road which has had a huge regeneration grant thrown at it and is quite funky (even the lamposts are unusual) and has a lovely little shopping road - again I believe prices are pretty reasonable. Finally when we were looking we also looked in East Dulwich. You could get much more for your money than in Earlsfield where we ended up, although gardens don't tend to be very big. Lordship Lane, the main drag, is fantastic and really buzzy, and there's some good schools around.