Brentwood/Billericay/Upminster

[deptfordgirl]

We are planning on moving out of London as expecting dc2 and can't afford a 3 bed house in our area. For various reasons we have narrowed our search down to these 3 areas. Does anyone know anything about them? Dh will be commuting into London, not far from Liv St. I would like somewhere with things to do (am used to living in a city), particularly for babies and young children. Also my ds will be going to pre school and school soonish so would like somewhere with good primaries nearby. Our budget is max 475k. Thank you.

Brentwood is lovely has ok schools and a lovely family feel. However that budget won't stretch very far there as quite pricy houses - though if you go out to the villages ie doddinghurst etc it's slightly cheaper. The season ticket to travel into london is circa £4k. Billericay is fab and has a great craft market and farm kids activities etc but need to get everywhere by car and has quite an aging population. I wouldn't touch upminster with a barge pole overpriced houses quite small not a great community feel and too much like london in my opinion. Have you looked at south essex? Chafford hundred leigh on sea etc it's great for young families and a lot cheaper to commute into london

That won’t go too far in those areas, although Billericay would be your best bet. If you move out slightly you’ll get better value for your money. Wick ford, laindon (about to have shopping centre redone so great time to buy now) or as pp suggested Leigh on sea is great.

I'm vey near to Upminster and the house prices are ludicrous in part due to there being three outstanding primary and secondary schools and becuase it had great links into London but is still in zone 6 so cheaper commuting.

I like Upminster and Hornchurch but Brentwood and Billericay are great too.

I'm not a great fan of Chafford Hundred. It's a really massive ugly estate and has some very complex social problems. They're also building a new Thames crossing too which will undoubtedly lower house prices due to poor air quality, which is currently a problem in that area anyway.

Leigh on sea is lovely but my god the traffic in the summer is to be seen to be believed!

Thank you. We have looked at potential properties and we can afford a 3 bed house in all of those areas, not that big but adequate for us. Im not working at the moment but will be in a couple of years so our income will increase hopefully. I love London and would ideally stay so not out off with Upminster having that feel. Really want somewhere we love and has a nice family feel as hopefully will stay for a while.

Have considered Chingford/Highams Park? You can get a 3 bed there for your budget and it’s on the line into Liv street.

Regarding the commute to Liverpool St - Brentwood trains tend to stop at a lot of stops so while nearer to London than Billericay, it does take longer to get there. Billericay to Liverpool St will take around 30/35 minutes, stopping at Shenfield, Stratford and Liverpool St in peak hours. Doubtful your dh would get a seat though!

Not sure why PP said you need to have a car to get around in Billericay? No different from anywhere else. There are buses (100 bus from Lakeside to Chelmsford for example) as well as the main railway line into London and Southend in the other direction. Possibly one reason the population could be aging (I'm not sure it is), is that it is expensive and therefore many first time buyers are priced out of the area, but the same could be said of any expensive area. The areas you have chosen are all quite expensive and, while you would get a bigger house in some of the other suggested areas, I believe location is very important too.

Schools in Brentwood and Billericay are pretty good. Brentwood Ursuline is a catholic school with an excellent reputation, also there are private schools. Billericay's Mayflower and Billericay School (and the private St. John's school) also have a good reputation. There are grammar schools in Chelmsford and Southend (and Colchester though a bit far).

Where in the Brentwood/Basildon/Billericay area you can find a "good" 3 beds for £475K? Essex is not London and you need a car to be happy around. Commute to London is a joke. Packed and not a chance for you to fin d aseat. Re state schools in Brentwood and Billericay: a lot of good ones. I think most of them marked "good" and a few "outstanding". Catholic ones like Brentwood Ursuline has an excellent reputation. Mountnessing has a state school with a mix of forest school. Re private schools. we heard a lot of positive comments from friends about Brentwood school (their Google reviews are strange?) Woodlands Warley (more village school) / Hutton (more posh) or New Hall. Negative comms about St Johns especially about bullying and lack of supervision example some parents smoking at sports day not far from the kiddos running. Billericays Mayflower has a good reputation and good report. Billericay School has mixed reives. King Edward VI Grammar School is supposed to be so good? We know nobody there though, just reading from online comments.

Out of the three I would choose Billericay to live in; close to Chelmsford
which is good for shopping, has some nice green areas around, high street has some alright places to eat and drink, schools are good, good access to a12 and the train journey is only 35 minutes to Liverpool street. But commuting is horrid, very packed but trains do come frequently (when there arent delays or issues with the line which seems to be rather often...)

Hi,
I’m moving to Brentwood from a West London suburb.
I need to know the good/outstanding CoE schools you would recommend for my 7 year old boy.
The CoE school he is at now the kids still wear shirts and ties. This, to me, in my opinion, is the sign of a good school where a proper inform counts for something.
My main worry about changing schools from where we are is finding good schools these days is hard.
But I thought I’d come on here and ask some advice from those of you who have first hand experience of school in and around Brentwood suitable for me.

I really grateful.
Thank you 😊

Hello @holidaymom40 👋
I'm in your same boat. Looking for a house In this area or Epping with food nursery and good 2nd school.
Any advice appreciated as i ealise this may be outdated now.

Thank u