Moving to London from USA, need advice on housing and nursery search!

[ashleey2012]

Hi everyone, my husband's work will be relocating us to London by April and we will be bringing our 2.5 year old son. We are very excited for the move, but it is somewhat stressful thinking about all that needs to happen after we get official confirmation about our move (may not be until mid-February)! We do not have many connections in the UK, so I thought I'd join Mumsnet and see if you are able to give us any advice. It seems overwhelming doing research not only on where to live but making sure we find a good nursery for our son that will be nearby. The housing market and waitlists at nurseries seem challenging from what I've been reading!

My question to you is, if money was not a factor, which areas of London would you recommend that we look at for housing? My husband will be working in Paddington, and I will be home with my son. Any recommendations on good nurseries that may still have openings for part-time care?

It would be nice to be near a park, library, community center, and supermarkets... and good Chinese food/restaurants would be a plus! ;)

Thanks for reading and for your advice!!

It depends on your budget.

Hi there. I am in London and have many friends over from the USA, mainly working for the investment banks.

As you are indicating that money is not an issue and your DH will be working in Paddington, then Notting Hill is lovely and super handy for Paddington and there is a large American community there already, plenty pre-schools etc. I used to live there, but not for 2 years+ and it was pre DS, so I can't really comment about the nurseries, but anecdotally there are a lot of good schools and nurseries (mostly private). You will be close to Hyde Park and Holland Parks depending on what end of W11 you stay in.

Chelsea is also very popular, but less green space.

However Notting Hill and Chelsea are expensive!!!!

IMO the nicest areas for families in London are Richmond/Kew/Chiswick/Putney/Clapham/Wandsworth, East Dulwich and Hampstead. Not too convenient for Paddington though as it's on a not so great tube connection. If money is no issue I would look at these areas. There are a few American clubs for mums as I know some ladies in one round here where there are tons of Americans. You need to contact the Local Authority once you know the borough you are moving to re schools, but there isn't generally less demand anywhere for good schools as far as I know.

What cottonmouth said.

Happy to suggest other areas, but you did say money no object

Oh, and when DH and I lived there, we squeezed into a teeny tiny flat

If money really is no object, I would second Notting Hill/Chelsea and add Holland Park, Marylebone and Kensington to your list. Swiss Cottage also might be an option. Can't help with nurseries in these areas. The areas on the South/South West mentioned by SootySweepandSue are fabulous for families however given commuting time I'd suggest the areas above would be better, particularly if you can get something near to Hyde Park/Regents Park/Holland Park.

Thanks for all the advice! Haha, ok, so of course money is a factor in our housing search. I just don't know what our budget will be at this time. Maybe around 1000 pw? Hopefully we will find out soon. And although we are American, I wouldn't consider ourselves typical Americans so living in a highly populated American expat community is not going to be a big deal to us. We will not be joining the American club. Joining a nice church community is something we will be doing though... I was interested in the Swiss Cottage and Kensington areas, but I will definitely look into the other areas people have suggested. We would like something convenient for my husband's commute. Thanks again!

I am an American in the Swiss Cottage area. It's very child-friendly and has great transport links. You have the Swiss Cottage Leisure Centre (fitness center, pool, ball pit, rock-climbing wall, creche, etc), the O2 Centre (little shopping mall) with a Virgin health club and Gymboree (baby and toddler classes) and the tube line - the Jubilee - gets you into central London in no time. In 15 minutes you can walk to Primrose Hill (beautiful area with cafes and parks) or Hampstead.

In this area, 1000 pw will get you a good-size 3 bedroom apartment with a private garden on a tree-lined street.

We send our 3 year old son to St Mark's Square Nursery School in Primrose Hill. It's a trek (25 min walk), but it's worth it. The school inspection report (Ofsted) rated them 'outstanding' in every area and that is rare. Very high-profile people send their kids to this school, but it is neither stuffy nor pretentious. If you get along well with the headmistress, then I believe you can get your son in without having to go on a waiting list..An example of what she is like: last week the school got tickets to see the David Hockney exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts and I forgot to sign a letter of permission for my son to go. When I picked him up from school, he was understandably upset at being left behind. I told the headmistress how bad I felt and she said she would go back there to take my son and a couple of other kids who missed it this week after school. I am really touched by this.

Anyway, sorry for the essay. Good luck with the move!

I second ARCG's post regarding Swiss Cottage and St. Marks Nursery. I think you will struggle to find an area of London that offers more than this area does in terms of amenities, child friendly spaces, etc.

St. Mark's Nursery is a small community school that, if you ask anyone who sends their child, can't be spoken highly enough of. Plus, you have the option of many excellent prep schools in the area, which St Mark's is also successful at sending its pupils to.

I can't believe no one has mentioned Ealing yet! It is a super family friendly borough - green and self contained with plenty of shops, cafes (chain and individually owned), restaurants, bars, loads of stuff for kids to do and very friendly. Ealing Broadway is a 10 minute direct train ride to Paddington as well plus a few tube stops from the fab Westfield shopping mall and is on the central, Picadilly and district line as well as Paddington mainline rail service and loads of bus routes. Also close to the motorway for getting away easily for weekend breaks to the coast - Devon, Somerset, Wales all within a few hours drive and Cornwall a five hour or so drive away.

Ealing also has a fantastic family club - the 135 group (named after the two main Eaing postcodes W5 and W13) for parents of under 5s www.ealing135.org.uk/ - which organises day trips, park picnics, open houses (drop in coffee mornings/ afternoons), Halloween/ Easter/ summer/ Christmas parties, playgroups, BBQs, nearly new sales, support groups and many, many other daily activities.

I've lived here for 10 years (originally from Wales) and have a 2.5 year old daughter and 6 month old son - can't recommend it enough as it's so friendly. I have made dozens of mum friends. Chelsea, Kensington, Notting Hill are posher but you won't find them so friendly - they are lovely places though and worth checking out - as is Chiswick (which would be my second choice of place to live with children as it's by the river. Ealing wins on parks though including the lovely Lammas park with a children's play centre (with indoor play hut all free), Walpole park with its great cafe and Bunny Park in Hanwell with it's country feel, maze, and animal area (peacocks, monkeys, wallabies, pigs amongst others - no entrance charge).

A new venture started just the other week which runs classes every week day for babies and toddlers called Pitter Patter the Hub for Bubs:

www.westlondonmum.co.uk/pitter-patter%E2%80%94the-hub-for-bubs-ealing/

www.pitterpatterhub.com/

Pitzhangar and Northfields are particularly nice areas of Ealing with lovely shops and restaurants, bakeries, libraries etc but South Ealing and Ealing Broadway have nice areas too (for the latter particularly round Walpole and Lammas parks).

It's not as central as some of the other places mentioned such as Notting Hill, Chelsea and Kensingon - which are all lovely areas too - but probably better connected to Paddington with a train ever 10 - 15 minutes which takes 10 minutes (also direct mainline train and tube to Heathrow - the former taking 10 mins or so and the later 15/ 20 mins) but it is super friendly, a great community, green with loads of parks, a common and other open spaces, a yearly Ealing Festival in the park which offers Blues, Jazz, Opera amongst other things and extremely multi cultural (I have friends here from every continent except Antartica! Know people from most countries in Europe including Iceland and Andorra and also friends from Brazil, Mexico, Columbian, kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, China, Korea, Japan, Russia - you get the picture!

It is also a lot cheaper than those more central places and £1,000 a week will get you a 5 bedroom house with a decent sized garden in a nice area near good schools (both private and state) and nurseries.

Anyway there's my case :) - as you can tell I'm quite a fan of my borough and so feel free to contact me for any more info.

Thanks for everyone's advice--I appreciate the time you took to share about your lovely boroughs! Our move (and housing budget) has been confirmed now. We are getting very excited about the move! Budget is less than what we expected but still very doable. ;) My husband really wants only a 10-15 min commute (preferably walking/biking distance, or 1-2 stops direct line to Paddington station.) He will be working hard and wants to be able to come home for lunch to see us when he can.

In that case, what do you think of Maida Vale? Westbourne Green or Little Venice areas? Notting Hill/Holland park are still high on our list to check out. If you have any nurseries or areas nearby that you'd recommend, please keep them coming!

Though I am no longer so concerned about housing as much as being able to get my son into a good nursery school by September! I hear waiting lists are very common in London... Our plan is to move to London in late March, live in temporary housing while we look for schools and more permanent housing.

Hi. Maida Vale is a great area to live with a family, and ideal for a short commute to Paddington. There's a lot more information about the area, things to do, etc., at www.maidavalemums.com/ and on the Maida Vale Mums Facebook group.

Little Venice is beautiful, elegant, upmarket and correspondingly expensive. Westbourne Green is just the other side of the canal, but has a lot of social housing and tower blocks, so a very different feel.

For nurseries, there are several listed on the Maida Vale Mums site, but also look at www.pre-school.org.uk/westminster/about and www.leyf.org.uk/find-a-nursery/westminster.

Good luck with your move!

I also like Maida Vale. Regarding nurseries if it doesn't matter which days you'll find Mondays and Tuesdays often the easiest as a lot of mothers in the UK return to work part time 3 days and prefer to have at least one of those days off. Followed by Wednesdays as women who work 4 days off will often take that day. Note that you will pay for bank holidays though so lose out slightly if your child is on a Monday. Most nurseries have 3 training days a year though and will usually avoid Mondays to make it a bit fairer. Check nursery reports on the Ofsted website and join the local Netmums or Mumsnet forums to get feedback on local nurseries.

Best of luck with your move - hope you enjoy your time in London

Sorry that should have read Mondays and Fridays are easiest - not Tuesdays

For a two year old, I would say being somewhere outside zone 1 and 2 (Primrose Hill ok but that's about it) would be better, ie zone 3 onwards. (These are zones on the London Underground subway map; you can see it on www.tfl.gov.uk/gettingaround/14091.aspx (we call the subway the Tube). Just because in central London, including Chelsea, Kensington and Notting Hill, the traffic is often congested, facilities and entertainment areas are expensive, parking and congestion charge for a private car can be a major problem so you are looking at either very crowded buses and subways or taxis everywhere. And, there isn't as much greenery in London, and a fair bit of pollution. Swiss Cottage, Finchley, Hampstead, Wimbledon, Richmond are nice, but more expensive and crowded, further afield, Barnes, Hampton, Twickenham, Northwood, Parsons Green may have a bit more space. Paddington is on the Circle, District and Hammersmith Lines on the Tube, so an area with access to a station on one of those lines may be good for your husband (not Circle Line though, which is often delayed). What might be worth doing is coming here to check the area and facilities out first, on a short holiday/trip. Or even stay in a hotel for a week first before committing yourselves to a long lease(rental). The nursery and children's facilities (look up "play groups" and "toddler groups" on the web and type in the area name) are happy for you to visit (with your child) to look around, if you contact them in advance - this is for the nurseries. Ofsted (the government body regulating daycare and schools) has its own website and a list of schools and nurseries by area.

Best of luck with your move!

I just joined mum's net and saw this thread. We moved here from California last year with our now 2 year old son. We live in the Notting Hill/Bayswater area and love it! We also have a wonderful church community. Feel free to ask me any questions. I too am looking for a nursery for my son starting september cause it looks like we'll be here for another year. If i have any info, i'll let you know if you decide to live in Notting Hill.
Notting hill/kensington is great because it's so convenient and location is wonderful. Queensway has a ton of chinese restaurants which are delicious. We also live right across from kensington gardens where i take my son all the time. I was doubtful about moving here with our family but now I love it. It really helped to have my church community too.

Another vote for Maida Vale /Little Venice. Very active mothers ' network, cycle/walk to Paddington via the lovely canal, fab central location, not as congested as Notting Hill, Chelsea, Kensington. We moved there from Chelsea and never looked back.