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.

Hi I hope it is ok to join this thread,I am looking to move to Hertfordshire next year,I have been researching places online as we live in OZ,I like the look of both Hertford and Hitchin we like character both house and town,are both places nice and friendly to newbies.DH family live in Essex so need a reasonable drive for visits.We have lived in SouthWest London but want both town/rural.Thank you in advance for your suggestions.

I am in Welwyn Garden City and love it , we have a nice town with a great John Lewis and its 20 minutes on the train to Kings Cross and 5 minutes to the A1 which takes you everywhere.

Its not busy like St Albans but personally I prefer a more litter/noise/traffic free environment yet you can drive for 15 minutes and get all that from St Albans or go to London

The west side of WGC is lovely really green, nice houses, good schools and your budget would just about run to it although theres not much for sale at the moment and you dont often get any bargains !!

I do like Hertford and Hitchin too they are lovely old towns.

Have to agree avoid Stevenage and Hatfield but with your budget you can afford to but not sure what you would get in Harpenden or St Albans as they are very expensive

Royston is lovely, can get a massive lovely home for that amount, good schools and train into London can take 35 mins (my husband gets it every morning/evening and is home by 6.30)

Also got Cambridge in easy reach too and midlands easily accessible.

I would be interested to know what Royston is like at night,is there big groups of youths hanging about?Is there nice pubs,restaurants and cafes?Also are there plenty of nice places to walk dogs?Appreciate your views.cheers.

I live in Rickmansworth, which is pretty nice, some nice houses around and about, more blingy ones in Chorleywood. Good access to London, I have to say though it is dull, I don't drive so the issue is compounded but there isn't a great deal to do.

Lot's of lovely things to do around the area though, but travelling can be a bitch when you don't drive.

I would go, st Albans, welwyn, welwyn garden (west side), codicote, hitchin, whethamstead and some of the little villages around welwyn garden.
London links are pretty good in most areas. Personally would never live too near the towns.
Some schools are good,some excellent, but in like in most areas, there are pockets of bad areas to aviod.

What's the best way of finding out what those bad pockets are? We are thinking also of moving to Hertfordshire, our budget is 500k, so far nothing in harpenden or Berkhampsted for that really, well nothing nice. There seems to be better value in bishop storford, any views on that?

We also have a 2 year old so we would be looking for an area with good schools

Radlett is a thriving community with a mainline station and enough shops for everyday needs, lots to do and see around it and nice open country on the edge. I can only find one house in the village that meets your spec though!

Kings Langley or Abbots Langley could be worth a look. Also Croxley near Rickmansworth may be within budget. Personally I wouldn't rule out Watford - it doesn't sound very exciting but it's a vibrant town with great transport and schools. Lovely park too. Nascot Wood and Cassiobury are the better areas in Watford.

Don't completely rule out Letchworth - it is a beautiful town/first garden city in the world and has some beautiful houses, an independent cinema and an outdoor pool. Town centre is not the most exciting but the station is in the centre of town and I think it is 20 mins to London (and 5 mins to Hitchin!) This is lovely

we have been looking in hertfordshire, in particular berkhampsted and Tring but we are not finding anything near nice for our budget 450K, so we are now looking further into Bedfordshire, Biddenham looks nice, im hearing mixed views on Bedford, does anyone have any views on Bedford. We have a 2 yearold so we also need to be in a good catchment area....

I would strongly advice against Bedford- we looked there as a possibility but its busy, dirty and full of 1960s tower blocks, like some parts of London.
I'm from St A and want to move back near, and find somewhere affordable. I personally think it's best to do away with a bedroom and a big garden to get somewhere in one of these lovely places- St Albans (love the bit around the ridgeway/quadrant), Harpenden, Wheathampstead, Redbourn, Tewin, Welwyn Garden City.
The schools are better, and it's so rural- there's a reason why they're expensive, and IMO it's worth getting on the bottom rung of these areas than a mansion in Bedford!
Be interested to see any more places listed, I know there are lots of nice places near St A.

For schools I would recommend moving to Bishops Stortford. The town is an 30 minute journey to London and has amazing schools. The schools are very good and the girls school was 4th in the country for state schools this year and the other schools not being far behind. It is not to loud and not to quiet and everything is a reasonable price.

Hello everyone! This my first ever post! I've been using the website for ages, getting advice on things etc so I thought time to join!

I'm currently in Australia (my lovely native country) and am moving back to the UK to become a secondary teacher. At the moment I teach ESL to adults in a really lovely school but have decided to study further and am drawn back to the UK.

I'm really interested in Hatfield and the University of Hertfordshire, above all, because of the fantastic commute time into central London.

My question is : How safe is Hatfield? I can't find a great deal on the internet and the information I have found is contradictory, for example, one blog has made Hatfield sound very dangerous indeed and another, like a quiet, rural community with lots of students. HELP!

Enjoy your day and thanks in advance for any help!

I went to school in letchworth. My family are still there. It's beautiful and quaint and has some stunning arts and crafts houses.

Berko. Tring. Oxhey Hall. St Albans. Napsbury Park in London Colney is ok. I actually really like Bushey. Pinner. Harefield.

Or any of the streets near Cassiobury Park in Watford. I'm no towny but I'd live there if I could.

Hatfield is a university town so it has the issues that come with that, there is a police presence though, having lived in Hatfield, letchworth and hitchin for study I'd say the latter are more rural about 25 mins away from Hatfield. There's not much leisure wise to do IMO. The university itself isn't bad I did a business degree, I've had crippling anxiety since ( mostly unrelated to the work) but my friends have gone on to highly paid jobs across the world, Dubai, Germany, Switzerland, London.

I'd say on the whole I never felt in any real danger there

This is a Zombie thread from 2011 and revived over and over. I'm assuming the OP would be settled by now

Dehavilland you might be better off starting a new thread. I'm not too far from Hatfield but don't know it well enough to advise!

I grew up in Hatfield and family still live there. Most of Hatfield is grim - Old Hatfield is OK but the new town is pretty dire. Town centre is slightly better than it was but it's still basically just Poundlands, Asda and the Galleria.

There's a mismatch between locals and students which leads to tension, and nothing much to do in the evenings. It was always a bit rough and I don't suppose that has changed.

I'd recommend living in WGC and commuting to Hatfield if you can.