Anyone here know Bishop's Stortford well?

[ACatCalledFang]

So we're planning a move to Bishop's Stortford from London, and got some great advice on here previously about different parts of town. We had an offer accepted on a house in the Thorley part of Bishop's Stortford but things aren't going to progress any time soon as our vendors' purchase has fallen through. There isn't very much on the market that we like the look of at the moment, but we are keeping an eye on Rightmove.

Does anyone know what the north side of the town is like? Most of our recce-ing has focused on the area south of the centre, ie Thorley and the areas either side of Villiers-sur-Marne Avenue. But I've noticed a few properties for sale in the north-east part of town, eg north of Parsonage Lane. We weren't sure about this area when we visited, though didn't explore it thoroughly, but am now wondering if we're missing a trick.

Also, what's the north-west side of town like? Have seen a few houses here which looked promising if not quite right.

Thanks in advance for any help!

Anyone?!

When you ask 'what's it like?' - what kind of thing are you looking for? Is there a particular school you're interested in? Will you be commuting - where to? Hard to say what's suitable or not without knowing what you're looking for.

Thanks for replying! We need to be within a mile of the mainline station as one of us will be commuting into London daily and the other at least three times per week, and we would prefer not to have to drive to the station. We are also keen to be able to walk to shops - we do plan to get a car but would prefer not to be dependent on one.

Looking for a four-bed, ideally (though would consider three bed with scope to extend), would prefer semi or detached, open to older or more modern properties. A garden is important, and not on a main road as we have a cat.

We're flexible on schools but would like to be in the catchment area of a good primary, though my understanding is that none of the primaries in town are exactly sink schools.

We're looking for a quiet residential area with nice neighbours. We're moving from an area which has a number of badly managed rental properties so we are keen to be in a less transient area with neighbours who are not noisy, don't dump mattresses in front gardens, etc. (Whether those neighbours are owner-occupiers or tenants is irrelevant to us, our issue is the behaviour rather than people's status!)

Would appreciate any insight you're able to offer on the north side of Bishop's Stortford! We like the Thorley Hill area, and quite like the area around Villiers-sur-Marne Avenue, though some of it is further from the station than we'd like (might be feasible if there are buses but we haven't looked into this yet).

Hi

North and North East of the town considered best. Parsonage area not as nice IMO. Thorley Hill area is ok.

Bit of a walk into the town centre from Thorley/St Michael's Mead/Bishops Gate. Would concentrate on searching around the town or north east. HTH.

I wouldn't call Parsonage area north east? Might be wrong geographically. I'd look close to Northgate school or town centre.

Thank you - that's really helpful! We viewed a house in Bishop's Stortford at the weekend and went for a walk around the Hockerill area, which we were less keen on than Thorley Hill. Will focus on the north side of town for our next visit!

That's useful to know about Parsonage Lane - we weren't keen but wasn't sure if I'd written it off too quickly. I'd thought it was north-east from the train station but I could be wrong. Is the area you're referring to around roads like Barrels Down Road, then?

Stay clear of Hockerill if you can. BBC news segment highlighted it as one of the worst polluted places in the country. Have a google.

Yes around that road is perfect; nice houses, walk to town and station and good school catchment.

No worries - anything else just shout. Glad to be able to help.

Hope your not referring to Hockerill college!

Haha no - just the area around the crossroads!

God, yes - that junction is awful, trying to cross that every day with a pushchair is enough to put me off that side of town full stop!

Thanks again - we've put in an offer for a house on the Thorley side so are now waiting to see whether a) we get it (seems positive as the vendors have asked whether we can up our offer to match another one), b) whether our buyers are still happy to proceed after survey, and c) whether our potential vendors are still happy to sell as it's dependent on them buying a particular house. So plenty of variables !

Roughly where are you in London currently? We moved here from East London some years ago. Easy to get back in though of course.

North-east! Not far at all from the M11 so a nice easy run back to see friends once we've moved. Think it's a very common move, although we have yet to bump into anyone we know on viewings