Best place to live in North London - Enfield, Barnet, Epping? Please help

[junichi123]

Hello everyone! Sorry for being possible only dad posting on this site. My wife has nominated me to do it. We are having to move to North London from Nottingham and we are struggling to decide where. I work as an electrician and I will be covering North London area, predominantly Enfield and Barnet. I heard lots of bad things about Enfield so my wife is concerned about living there. We have 12 yo boy, 6 yo girl, 3 yo girl and 7 months old boy. We like to find somewhere that will be ideal for kids. My wife wants somewhere that is leafy and not too cosmopolitan. Anywhere would be better than Nottingham, I hear you say and i know. But I want somewhere that is safe. My son had already had an encounters with teenage boys in Nottingham so we don't want more of that. Would Epping be preferable choice, or can we find somewhere ideal in Enfield or Barnet? our budget is £1600 per months max. Thank you

Hi

We moved to Barnet almost 2 years ago and like it a lot. Easy access to centre of town for days out with the kids, shopping etc. plus lots and lots of parks to go to - Trent Park esp is amazing and is great all year round. Loads of space for kids to run around and wear themselves out. Our daughter's not yet at school, but I think that most are good or satisfactory from Ofsted. The people are lovely and very friendly and there are plenty of baby and toddler groups around - so a great way of meeting people in the area.

Good luck and hope this helps!

not sure of rent prices since its several years since we lived there but west finchley, north finchley is v family friendly w good schools & lovely nature. friern park, colney hatch, bounds green possibly worth looking at but gets pricey closer to muswell hill. chipping barnet has nice village feel, but again it's years since I lived that area.

locrating.com is good for comparing schools & properties. good luck!

Hi there, we have just moved to Enfield and although I was skeptical at first I must say I really love living here. There are so many green spaces around (and I mean nature, not just parks). The schools are mostly good, with some outstanding ones, and we haven't had any problems finding a good nursery either. The only thing missing here are good cafes/restaurants - but maybe that's just me! Loads of people are moving up here from Hackney/Stoke Newington at the moment, so the area is bound to change (probably more cafes ;) )

We live around Bush Hill Park by the way - Enfield is a large area and very diverse, so maybe you have heard some "bad things" about specific areas in Enfield?

Hi I'm the local editor for Mumsnet Barnet and Mumsnet Enfield. Do feel free to visit the Local sites for the two boroughs and ask any questions about the area in our Local Talk section:

local.mumsnet.com/Talk/local_barnet

local.mumsnet.com/enfield

Happy reading and chatting!

Oops, here's a more direct link to Mumsnet Enfield's Local Talk section -
local.mumsnet.com/Talk/local_enfield