Thinking of moving to East Dulwich/ Peckham borders or East Dulwich/Forest Hill borders. Any advice? Good schools? Good childcare?

[Nickname1980]

I've posted here before about my housing dilemma. Currently live in Hackney but with £850k to spend, we have to move to a different neighbourhood.

I've narrowed it down to either Walthamstow Village or the East Dulwich borders. I've seen some properties online and can afford both neighbourhoods, I'm after 3-bedrooms and a garden.

I don't know either neighbourhood all that well. What I really want is a friendly vibe, lots of artsy stuff going on, restaurants nearby that aren't chains, and a great place to raise a family.

Can anyone tell me more about ED? Will I miss Hackney terribly?

We have amazing childcare here. I'm wondering if there's any amazing childcare in ED?

Which end is better? The one near Forest Hill or the one near Peckham?

Just looking for the best possible place to raise a family in my budget, really! I don't really want to shift neighbourhoods again so want somewhere we'd all be happy to stay and love living.

legalialien - that house is in an amazing location. It's actually walking distance to Dulwich College and Dulwich Village, alongside being walking distance (uphill though) to the Crystal Palace Triangle...

I wouldn't buy a 3/4 bed in ED in this current market.

I live just off Bellenden Road and I love it. At Christmas there was a street fair, the lighting of the Christmas tree, carols etc. in the summer there was a street party., Great shops, really nice community feel, excellent choice of places to eat and good transport links (even though London Bridge is dire at the moment). I'd be staying here if we could afford to buy we can't. I very rarely see places come up for sale here but if you do I would definitely recommend coming to have a look.

We are buying East and this thread has really made me sad about the fact we have to leave Peckham!

This is all sooooooo helpful! I just discovered the new responses.

We are excited! And going for a proper, full-on explore at the weekend!!!

Thank you so much!

Iloveinterior, I'm so glad to hear you sing the praises of SE19 because I just encouraged one of my good friends to buy a family home there as I thought it would be a great investment. I thought it was underrated when I went there with lots of potential. Hope we were right!

Iloveinterior I just looked at School Checker on Rightmove on that house -amazing schools so close! That's so good and kind of rare to have so many good 'ins nearby. Will definitely be adding SE19 into our visit when we have an explore of ED/Peckham/etc!

I live in the stow so am biased but I prefer it to se from a transport and cycling point of view. But have friends in brockley and it is lovely there with a big community feel. Enjoy house hunting as much as possible (I am house hunting too and find it hidesously stressful but you sound like it is enjoyable!)

Are you planning to stay in Walthamstow, dynvoran? Which bit do you like best? It's still on our list - the choice is pretty much SE, or Walthamstow and I like the village.

I think the research and visiting new places is fun... But the rest is definitely stressful! Mortgage, moving to a new place, leaving friends.... Argh! But it'll be worth it in the end!

Yes looking in upper Walthamstow / wood street areas mainly. Upper Walthamstow has lovely houses just out of my budget and upwards but well within yours. It's a quick walk to the station from there (wood st) and a quick cycle down lea bridge road to Clapton / millfields. Nice mix of people, plenty of good schools. My ds is at a school in Lloyd park but out of all the people I know across the borough from ds's preschool days and through friends I don't know anyone who isn't happy with their kids school so plenty easy to be near a good one.

For your budget you can get a lovely garden in upper Walthamstow...roads like hillside gardens and around there worth looking at. Nice pubs and lots of stuff going on.....although like I said I get v good vibes at crofton park / brockley too when I visit my friend down there. Both nice areas so I'm sure you'll find something wonderful either way. Good luck!

Thank you dynevoran! It's so tricky! So much to weigh up. We know almost no one SE so it'd be like starting over again. Walthamstow is close(ish) to where we are now, which makes it easier, and we have a few friends there.

Either way, we'd be leaving our very, very lovely childcare behind. Argh!!

Decisions, decisions!!

How old are your kids and what gender? There are lots of schooling options now and primary provision has been massively enhanced in previous years. Secondary is set to improve with Charter East Dulwich opening, but depending on where you ended up you could be more in the Harris catchment which will depend on whether single sex is an option you would consider?

Hi northerngoldilocks! My little boy is two - I don't really want single sex school for him, at least not at primary level. State school a preference but not an absolute. I had a little look at the Rightmove School Checker button at schools around East Dulwich. The majority were "2"s rather than "1"s but that doesn't necessarily put me off as I know being rated Outstanding isn't the only thing that counts.

Do you know any East Dulwich schools, regardless of how they did in Ofsted, that parents seem to really love?

Single sex only kicks in from secondary at state level and even then it's not all single sex, just worth considering re where to live. Wrt primary schools it's very subjective and also most people who 'love' their kids school have no comparator anyway as it's likely to be the only one they have attended. Pretty much all east dulwich schools are very popular. The new Belham primary in Peckham is likely to be popular as a sister school and to dulwich hamlet. I'm not as familiar with Peckham schools as east dulwich though. Good luck with the search. For what it's worth I suspect you're likely to prefer the SE15 /SE22 side to the SE22 bordering Forest Hill side, but definitely worth a days exploring if you pick a weekend the overground doesn't have engineering works!

Ooh northergoldilocks that new primary school looks great! Yay thank you for telling me about it!

I think I also have it in my head - after this thread - that I'm going to really like the Peckham/ED borders and Bellenden Road. So exciting to hear there's a new primary school opening up nearby.

The Belham opened this year but is on a temporary site until it's permanent site on bellenden rd is complete. PM if you have more qns if you like re the area