Oh wow, I was underwater with work for 2 days so could not visit the thread, but I'd like to say
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many thanks to all of you, for the great input! I went from no ideas for places to live to almost too many ideas in a couple days...
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there sure seems to be a heated debate going on as to what is nice and what is not!
I have to say, subtle cultural differences are rather lost on me, as a French person with a French haircut, and also a French definition of posh, which might differ from the British one in places.
So, fwiw, here's - in length - what I meant when I said I looked for something similar to BP:
Imo there are several parts to Belsize Park. The large, stucco-fronted houses are indeed reminiscent of Kensington. They are beautiful, but also quite monumental.
Then there is North Belsize Park going into Hampstead. That's definitely my kind of pretty: cute little houses alternating with large Georgian terraces, tree-lined streets and the proverbial Heath. It is also very, very posh (as posh as Kensington) and crazy expensive.
Lastly there are the funkier, more varied buildings from all over the beginning of the XXth century in the Southern bit.
There are also three separate villages. The Belsize Village proper is hidden away among the large white houses, I almost never go there. The village around the tube station, with the grocery store, the Budgens, the restaurants, the bookshop, I love. I also love the third one, going down south to Eton Road, with a great butcher, a very cool pub, and the best coffee for miles around.
And in between, long roads of quiet houses, but never so far from the bustle that you couldn't hear a car going by somewhere, or a drunk girl giggling on a Saturday night.
Since I started living in the area, I've crossed paths with affluent foreign bankers, young wannabe artists, council house kids, very angry old ladies, very friendly pub owners, and everyone's haircut looked rather different to me. That is part of what I love about being here.
The place IS posh and no mistake, but not as posh as when you come closer to the parks. It's definitely "nice", but the sort of nice that should be replicable elsewhere and at lower cost, in places where the proximity of the posher Hampstead and Primrose Hill areas would not be driving up the prices.
At first glance, I have found that to be the case in Greenwich, particularly around Blackheath. I've been around Dartmouth Park and Tufnell Park as well - they're great and we are considering them too, but I don't think they are more similar to BP than other places.
In the end, of course, nothing can be exactly the same as BP. I feel content enough here that I would stay if I could afford it. But I cannot afford it, so all that's left to me is find somewhere else where I would be equally content, and I have no doubt that place is among these great suggestions of yours!
Of course, my opinion might change if I do move South of the river - after one month, I might well come back crying about how much I miss BP. But right now, I have to say I'm feeling rather ready to explore, even if it means going over a literal bridge. I've crossed a Channel, how hard can a Thames be ;)