Moving to Braintree?

[Clooki]

Hi all, we have seen a house we like in High Garrett Braintree but havent a clue about the area, we have a 6yr, 5yr & 2yr old children & my hubby works at Liverpool Street London. We currently live in Thurrock & kids go school in Upminster which is lovely but we are now wanting to move out & get away from the dartford bridge traffic etc. Would love chelmsford but the price of what we want is too highly xx

There are a few villages near Braintree which might be of interest? Stisted is one and is beautiful, the station would be about 10 min drive.

If you're happy to be a few miles from Braintree the surrounding villages are lovely, and pretty much all have good local schools Tiptree, Rayne, Coggeshall are all lovely, Bardfield is a bit further out but also fits the criteria.
Braintree itself is a typical small nondescript town, fine but nothing special and doesn't have the range of shops that other towns have, Colchester or Chelmsford are much better for shopping.
The trains from there run once a hour and There aren't any others as Braintree is the end of the line. I used to commute from there into London years ago and it was fine, just don't miss the last train

Heheheh that's a bonus as the Hubby sometimes ends up in shoeburryness on last train 😂 then half asleep having to get a cab back to Upminster 😱 X

Traffic on High Garrett road can be terrible in the mornings and from school run time until after rush hour. There are traffic lights on the road with the junction to Gosfield and this causes quite a log jam at times. It's not a road I'd choose to live on.

Primary schools are OK (not great) but the local Braintree secondaries are really not good. There are grammar schools in Colchester & Chelmsford but 11+ competition is fierce and a tutor is essential if you want to stand any chance.

I have to agree about secondaries in Braintree, though there is one good one but getting a place even if in catchment is very difficult and far from guaranteed.