Nice villages to live in Essex???? Help!!

[dani141]

We're looking to move into Essex to be closer to family but we know very little about the areas!

My husband works in South London and has to drive to work (cannot use trains as he works as a printer so sometimes has to work into the middle of the night when no trains are running!) so we cant really go any further north than a couple of miles above Chelmsford or as far as Maldon. So we're looking for a really nice, but affordable (£300k for 3 bed house) village, anywhere in that search area! We would like a village (rather than town or outskirts of town) with a few shops and school (we have 2 young children).

Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thank you :-)

[kelper]

I lived in Doddinghurst until I was 21, its near blackmore.
its got shops, a pub, infants and junior school, and is in catchment to a lot of good high schools.

[Spickle]

There is the mainline rail station at Billericay, 30 minutes to Liverpool Street, which adds a premium to property prices, so it depends on whether you think easy access to a rail station is necessary or not.

[hiccupgirl]

Agree with Doddinghurst - I go there quite a lot for work and it is a nice village but I think being Brentwood it is pricey.

I don't know a lot about Bicknacre but the impression I've been given by local friends is to avoid it and that the school is not good.

Danbury is perfectly situated for lots of people, that's why it's so pricey. But the traffic is pretty horrendous through the village so personally I wouldn't buy there even if I could afford it.

[dani141]

Hi again!

Has anyone got any thoughts on Cold Norton / Purleigh?

And also Great Totham?

Both a bit further than we'd originally wanted but willing to consider a further distance for the 'right' place! :-)

Thank you x

[Hanginggardenofboobylon]

Purleigh school is good but don't know much about it otherwise.

Great Totham is a bit of a sprawling village including little totham, it's a lovely area, great primary school shared with Wickham bishops. Pubs and a couple of shops in the village. I would recommend it, only 5 mins to the A12. Witham is only a couple of miles away, it can be a bit rough in places but it has all the small shops you could need and a great butcher.

Come and have a look at Great Totham (I don't live there but live very close by) I think you will like it. There are a few decent properties on the market in your price bracket at the moment.

They are planning a big housing development in Heybridge on the road up to great totham which will impact on traffic. You might want to look into that depending on where the houses are you are considering.

PM me if I can be of any more help

[SimLondon]

Purleigh is nice, but I think it's to far out into essex if your husband has to drive to south london to work everyday, to give you an example it used to take me two hours to drive to west London for work from Ingatestone and thats on a good day, the traffic on the a12 can be pretty bad.

[hiccupgirl]

One of my friends lives in Purleigh and there is a very active village community...she has said though that the village pub can be a bit of a nightmare as its very, very popular and they end up with cars parked all over the village at the weekend.

Great Totham and around there is lovely but I agree it's prob going to add 30 mins onto the journey because the roads are windy and slow until you get to the A12.

[MichelloBarner]

I know all these areas really well. I would say that given all you've said Hatfield Peverel would be absolutely ideal.

It's well placed for quick easy access to the A12, which for your DH to get to work is essential. don't under-estimate how much time it will take him along windy country lanes getting from some far-flung village to the A12.

It is quite large and well connected but it really does have a nice village feel to it, lots of cute period properties, wide tree lined streets, lots of open spaces, and some very nice, more modern but small 'executive' estates. There is proper countryside right on your doorstep so although it's near the A12 it does feel like green and pleasant land. There is everything you need on a daily basis in the village, a farm shop, an excellent CO-OP, dentist, Indian takeaway, fish and chip shop, hairdressers, chemist, and a brilliant well respected restaurant.

The school is good, and there are a couple of great nurseries close to the school which is really handy. It's a community school (I think) so if you live in catchment they have to take you, but I might be wrong on that - best check.

The doctors is good, there's a mainline station there, a nice clean, safe park, it's handy for Chelmsford or Colchester for the 'big' shops and it's only a short drive to Witham or Maldon for a wider selection of shops in a nice Market Town environment., The people are friendly, and it is not rough.

You have several big supermarkets to choose from, Witham has Morrisons and Tesco, Maldon has Tesco, Springfield/Boreham (near to Chelmsford) has Sainsburys and Asda. There is an Aldi somewhere too, but I can't remember where.

Not too far if you want the beach, and near to the gorgeous Papermill Lock for lovely walks, plenty of nice gastropubs in the posher surrounding villages.

I lived there for 8 years and I was very happy there. It's not the most obviously appealing place compared to somewhere like Danbury or Little Baddow but it is affordable, and a great, practical, safe and attractive place to live.

[MichelloBarner]

Wickham Bishops is lovely as well. Just outside Witham, quite posh, very pretty, not too far for the A12 and station, but more expensive than HP.

[MichelloBarner]

You won't get anything around Billericay for that money, and some of the more affordable south Essex villages are too close to Basildon and Grays for my liking.

Also if you want to be near your family you need to stick to mid or north Essex.

Personally I would swerve Bicknacre. It is very much Danbury's poorer, plainer, rougher cousin I'm afraid. It's not all bad, but Danbury it certainly ain't. I personally couldn't recommend anything on the 'wrong' side of the line that goes from Maldon to South Woodham Ferrers, via Bicknacre. The countryside is just featureless scrubland, and the road links are completely crap. and some of those places are like Duelling Banjos country, trust me. There is the odd nice little pocket, but generally they are all pretty lacklustre areas full of run-down bungalows with bits of old cars in the front garden.

The other thing to bear in mind is the route, as well as the distance. Try not to pick a village where you have no choice but drive though one side of Chelmsford to get out the other side to access the A12. It might not look far but traffic/time wise it will be a nightmare. Look for somewhere with good access to a not too busy junction.

[MichelloBarner]

Can you stretch a a little bit above 300k? Because if you can, buy

this.

Little Baddow is absolutely drop dead gorgeous and I am amazed there is anything there at all for this price. It's at the bottom of the hill away from the Danbury end, which is no less lovely but it means relatively painless and speedy access to the A12 junction at Boreham. The main road through Danbury can be very congested, so being able to avoid it is a good thing.

This might not look like the most exciting house or street, but it's a good solid buy and the overall area is beee-oo-tiful and highly sought after, so you are getting prime location here. the inside needs a bit of updating but that can be done in time. I'd bit their hand off for this if I were you.

It's only a short drive up the hill to Danbury for shops and schools etc., but I don't think you would be in catchment for Danbury Park school, which is the preferred one, it would be St Johns, but you could try Hatfield Peverel or Boreham schools as well.

[MichelloBarner]

There's this for 300k in Danbury but for location I don't think it's a patch on the LB one. Although I think this one might be in catchment for Danbury Park. That is a big factor in prices in Danbury btw.

[dani141]

Thank so much to everyone for all the info and thoughts, sounds a bit pathetic but i'm really 'touched'! We were aimlessly driving around essex not really getting anywhere before this forum and now we've got so much info to go that I feel like we can make an actual decision!! Thanks for the house links as well, weirdly enough the one in Little Baddow looks perfect in what we're looking for, we would really like to buy a property in need of 'updating'!
Definitely a couple of areas we've 'crossed off the list' now! And I think Great Totham area, HP, LB, and possibly Purleigh, have gone to top of the list!
My husband will have to cross the Dartford Bridge to get to work so would prefer to use the A13 (family in Colchester have said numerous times that A12 can be a nightmare, which from our constant trips up to Colchester I would tend to agree with) so the A13 would avoid the A12 traffic and means less time on the M25! So I think our next 'drive around' will need to also be working out journeys as well!
Thank you again :-)

[Hanginggardenofboobylon]

Yes A13 is much better and I think now the interchange near Basildon has improved I think it's less of a nightmare to 'cut through' - don't quote me on that though.
The a12 to the m25 is not that bad providing you avoid the 'Chelmsford rush hour' between 8:30 and 9:30.

[Hanginggardenofboobylon]

Oh and there is a lovely little play area by that little baddow house. I often meet friends there in the summer or go to the generals arms up the road which has a great climbing frame for kids

[Spickle]

The A13 is a much better road, but I'm not sure it would save much time if you live in Great Totham or Purleigh? Presumably your husband would travel on the A12 then A130, then A13 to M25 - not convinced it would be noticeably any quicker than A12 to M25? You need to think carefully about the journey to South London. Hanginggardenofboobylon is correct about the interchange near Basildon, it has been improved - the junction at Sadlers Farm is now bypassed if you're travelling on the A130 to A13 but from your favoured villages, it is quite a long journey.

[hiccupgirl]

The Sadlers Farm interchange by Basildon is much, much better and you can whizz through from the A130 to A13. But you can only get on the A130 at Chelmsford or Wickford so he's planning to do that route then you don't want to be far from the junctions. Hatfield Peveral would be a good choice for that.

I'm very suspicious of that house in Little Baddow - I'm in Chelmsford and look at rightmove from here a lot. There have been lots of houses up for sale on that very small road so I would wonder why tbh. The one in Danbury would be more my choice - its down the further end of the village though and the road is extremely busy to walk along to the shops...think lots of huge lorries thundering through while you walk along a narrow pavement. Not good with small children.

[Blondieminx]

The A12 used to have a dedicated clear up crew but it was cut in 2011 it is a very bad road...

[MichelloBarner]

I must admit I thought the same about the Jarvis Field house. I'm not sure whether it's just because it's one of the few affordable roads in LB and they are normal sized family houses that there is a higher turnover as people move up the ladder.

But it is definitely worth checking out whether there is anything going on like a gypsy camp or a new landfill/incinerator planned!!!

I wouldn't dismiss it out of hand without checking first though.

[dani141]

Agree with you all about the A13, since Saddlers Farm has been 'sorted out' it has made a massive difference time wise! We use to queue there every time we used it, it's far better now, yesterday we timed the journey from South Woodham Ferrers (just used that as a guideline) and it took only 20-25 mins to the Dartford bridge (We did just about stick to the speed limit I promise! ;-)!! Fab!! This was however at non rush hour time, but then my husband will always be travelling in non rush hour times as he will leave about 5am! He also works 3 x 12 hour days so he only has to consider the journey for those 3 days a week! We timed his journey all the way from SWF to his work in South London (Bromley) and the entire journey was 45 mins, we also timed Marks Tey junction on A12 to work and that was 1hr, 15 mins, he's prepared to travel an hour (and will use the A12 or A13) so taking those times into account I've got to revisit the map to look at areas that fit into the 1hr time bracket!
We still have Writtle and Blackmore on the list but they're the wrong side of Chelmsford to get to family and, though they are closer for my husband getting work, it still puts us a fair distance to family near Colchester and the idea of the move was to be within a 30 min distance.
Ingatestone is somewhere we haven't yet looked at??
Hatfield Peveral I think is going to be the furthest point we can go but still within the limit, having just looked at the map, we weren't sure about it when we first went there but having seen your recommendations I think it's definitely worth another look round. Although lots of countryside is lovely I really do like the idea of shops, a childrens park etc and actually having accessible facilities. We seem to always be popping into our village co-op and we go to the kids park which is currently walking distance frequently! I think the distance does definitely push the Great Totham area out of the equation tho. Argh! Decisions!!

[Spickle]

There are a lot of cars going through the Dartford Tunnel before the 6am charging period starts, but the traffic should be lighter at that time.

Maybe you should be looking slightly south to suit your need to be within reach of Colchester and your husband's journey to Bromley. I'm thinking East or West Hanningfield, Galleywood, Downham, Ramsden Heath, Runwell, Battlesbridge. I would also repeat Sandon. A friend of mine lives in Boreham and absolutely loves it. I have lived in and around the area all my life and my son attends Colchester Uni and commutes there from home. Stock is beautiful (but expensive) and would probably take slightly more than 30 mins to Colchester. I guess Wickford would be out of the question as it's a town, but you get a lot for your money there. It has good schools, shops, parks, excellent facilities really and the mainline train station, and excellent links to the main roads. It would take around 45 mins to Colchester though! The villages mentioned above are prettier but limited shops and secondary schools, and houses cost more!

[hiccupgirl]

Another one I suddenly thought of is Terling - just north of Hatfield Peveral but a lovely village and it does have a village shop, school, preschool and swimming pool.

Sandon and Galleywood I would second as lovely even though they are technically in Chelmsford. They are both very villagey, close to the A12 and amenities. Ok not in the middle of nowhere but also not miles to drive on top of the big road bits.

[MichelloBarner]

I was going to suggest Terling as well - it's gorgeous. Easy access to HP station and A12, but it is pretty rural, so not easy in the ice and snow. I think given the OP's husband's travel requirements she need to be careful she doesn't put herself somewhere idyllic but impractical.

[MichelloBarner]

Bromely? By south London I was thinking she meant somewhere more central. Bromley from Essex is a trek. I know because I used to live there too.

[Spickle]

Ingatestone is lovely, mainline station, shops, sought after Anglo European school. Houses are pricey and selling fast. Close to A12.

This house is one of only two still for sale in your budget:

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-29580234.html?premiumA=true