Talk to me about nice places to live in Hertfordshire

[HeartyHattie]

Nowhere too rural, needs to be in or very near to town or village, and easily commutable to central London.

Looking for 4/5 bedrooms minimum and a good sized garden.

Can go up to about £650-700k but would like to get it cheaper if possible.

St Albans?

Harpenden?

A lot of Herts fits what you have said, any other requirements

Really like the look of St Albans but clueless about which bits of it are nicest. Will definitely go and have a look around at some stage soon, but any pointers?

Also really hoping to find somewhere that doesnt need too much work - modern kitchen, bathroom etc - but am quite fussy about the type of house. I hate those really ugly new builds.

I can't think of any particularly bad areas.
I would look at schools if they're needed as catchments are very tight and then look at houses find what you like then check out the area.

I know Harpenden better, very good schools, no really bad areas.

It's all relative though isn't it

I live on the Herts/Beds/Bucks borders. Its lovely here. I'm very close to Whipsnade Zoo

Harpenden is very nice, as is Berkhamstead. I don't like Hemel Hempstead at all (sorry to any Hemeloids reading). Tring is also nice. I think the schools in this area are very good. My DD is at school in Bucks.

character property in Berkhamsted in the nice part of town. Berkhamsted is lovely but it's all about walking into the town centre and station which rules out Northchurch - it's nice but a bit of a sprawl.

There are plenty of 60's houses, detached, not quite walking distance of the station - 20 minute walk rather than 5. If you want character in Berkhamsted you are then closest to the station generally.

Yes, Hemel is not great but I live in the nicest part - Boxmoor, walking distance from Hemel station - again, it's the character properties and the 'moor'/cricket ground that is closest to the station. Also the town centre has Debenhams and a few nicer shops now - it is not as nice as Berkhamsted or St Albans but you will get much more for your money.

this one is MUCH bigger/better than you would get in Berkhamsted for the money

60's house but in a really nice, quiet road

St Albans - the best bit is again the character properties close to the station. If you go on Rightmove and find the cathedral on a map and draw a square 2 inches around it you will get the lovely properties along Fishpool Street (appearing in many period dramas). The rest is a sprawl with plenty of nice houses but it is crappy to drive into the station and stupidly busy.

Not character but incredibly central and cheap

town centre character but probably a bit overpriced as it's not that special

In general you probably need to narrow down your specification a bit as a lot of round here is driving to places, a lot of good detached property is 5-10 minutes drive from the town centres - if that's not what you want then stick to central character.

ooh, I liked boxmoor. We used to live in Hemel. In grovehill we went to the boxmoor lodge every year on our wedding anniversary

I liked the villages around and about - feldon was nice, tring isn't bad and the little bits around - great gaddesden and all that. They were nice.

Hitchin is fabulous. I have lived here about 8 years now and have no intention of moving away. Your budget would also stretch to the very best parts of Welwyn Garden City (west side, near the station) or Welwyn. Both have good links into London.

Hecate you could probably buy a whole street on Grovehill for £650k.

I grew up in Gadebridge.

Oh yes. I wasn't on the Waveney or anything, mind. I lived over the other side, near the school.

When we first moved to Hemel, we rented a flat in woodhall farm. Then we wanted to buy a house. We had no idea about the reputation grovehill had!

I used to work at dacorum council, in housing. Bloody hated it.

I work in St Albans, but would say, nice though parts of it are, it's been massively over developed and I would never choose to live there. It has some outstanding schools but they're so oversubscribed and the houses within their catchments are £££££. Decent sized family homes are usually over a million.

Most of Herts is nice, apart from Watford, Hemel & Hatfield imo.

Would second Berko. DH's home town

I'm in Grovehill now, it isn't as bad as I expected.

But yes, I second St Albans

we moved to bishops stortford a few months ago, absolutely love it: nice town with decent shops and restaurants, 35 mins to london liverpool st, tons of great state/private primary/secondary schools, loads of stuff for kids to do, people are friendly.

If you want a character property theres this in Hitchin.

Going a bit east, I love Bayford/Epping Green/Little Berkhamsted.

St Albans is nice, but avoid London Coney. You could get a nice house for £650K in St Albans and it has excellent travel links. I agree with Hecate that Boxmoor (hemel) is nice.

It is quite noisey if you live in the centre of town. If you want somewhere more peaceful then Harpenden or Berkhamstead is better.

sorry I meant the centre of st albans is noisey

Hitchin

I live in St a town centre and love it. The primary catchments are tiny so really do your research. We just sold our town centre house and had 5 offers over ask g price so it is a competitive place to buy.

Hitchin, Harpenden, St Albans, Welwyn village. Avoid Stevenage, Hatfield, Letchworth. Welwyn Garden City is ok.

The modern one Laurie linked to is in a fab location by verulamium park - quite fancy it myself!

Harpenden is lovely and it does have great schools BUT they are also very over subscribed at the moment and the last year intake was particularly difficult with children being sent to the weakest school in the area as they couldn't get into those nearer to them. St Albans is lovely and bigger, I like Welwyn, Hitchin, Tring and Berkhamsted are lovely. Some of the outlying villages around Harpenden - Kimpton for e.g. are nice but there are issues with secondary catchment there.

If you are interested in St Albans, as well as starting from the cathedral area as someone else suggested, look at Fleetville (east side of the city) - lots of 3/4 bed houses, good schools (primary and secondary), great park, walk to the station and a strong community. I have to say that you'll be lucky to come in on your budget though if you want 5 beds, walk to the station and a big garden!