Moving to Aylesbury

[Jamie123456]

We’re moving to Aylesbury for DH’s work, with DSs ages 3 and 4 months.

Found a nice 3 bed property on Weedon Street in our budget but I don’t know the area. Any advice from locals welcome!

Thanks

*Weedon Road

Don’t move to Weedon Road. Weedon Road is essentially the Quarrendon area and you need to check which school your children would go to. Thomas Hickman or Haydon Abbey are the local primary schools. Both are greatly improved but this area of Aylesbury is not the best. South side is better but houses cost more. The Vale of Aylesbury academy is pretty poor too, and quite a distance away, for secondary. Hardly anyone from this area gets to the grammar schools.

It’s not exactly a rough area but it’s a main road and not desirable because of that. People tend to prefer the areas around the better schools (although no secondary modern school is great) and most villages are greatly preferred but at a higher cost of course.

Aylesbury has a great theatre but shopping is descending into Poundland. I hardly go into Aylesbury these days. It has a Waitrose which is frequently half empty. It has a university building which does not appear to have any courses. Aylesbury has really become a dormitory town and is struggling to know how to improve. It spends a lot of money on projects but it’s not an area with high disposable income. The villages are very different.

Anyone with a job in Aylesbury would be way better off in Winslow or Wing. Haddenham if you can afford it or Wendover. They are all much nicer than Aylesbury.

Aylesbury is good for FTB but not a lot else really.

As PP said, most of it is run down although the new theatre & Waitrose is a step in the right direction.

Watermead is about to have a crematorium built on site. Fairford Leys is usjally on tje more-affordable side but the school is massively over subscribed with residents within 300m not getting accepted.

Buckingham Park is the new estate still being built I believe but last week I think from reading the local paper (The Bucks Herald) saw 2 men shot and a stabbing (murder). Maybe get online & try to read it?

The Hartwell side by The Willows, Stone & Oakwood Park developments are going to be ruined by HS2, as are some beautiful AONB’s such as Waddesdon, Gt Missenden & Wendover which currently are beautiful villages close by.

You need to look online at the HS2 interactive map.

Weston Turville & Stoke Mandeville are currently being extended with new-builds with all of the green land disappearing.

Thame, Princes Risborough, Haddenham as well as Chinnor are far safer bets.

Princes Risborough is having massive new housing development and upheaval due to a new road to the station. The schools are average though. I agree Thame is worth a look. Houses are still selling in Wendover. It surprises me, but they are. Just not near HS2 and the Aylesbury/Halton side is ok. I agree that Weston Turville will have a lot of new builds to the north but Stoke Mandeville may be worth a look. Weston Turville children can get into the John Colet School in Wendover at 11 so that’s an advantage. No Aylesbury secondary school is good for long!

I would still suggest Winslow and Wing though. Winslow is a small town and has a new secondary school and a large primary school. It’s big enough to have plenty going on and cheaper house prices than villages to the south or west of Aylesbury. More Weedon Road prices. There are great villages such as Whitchurch and North Marston.

Don’t forget Waddesdon and Quainton. Not that near HS2 but they have the huge advantage of being in catchment for Waddesdon C of E Senior school which has a tiny catchment. It’s the best school in Bucks if you are not going to a grammar school.

Thanks for all the info, really appreciate it! Might have to rethink...

About the job or Aylesbury? If you could pay more, you could go to a better area.

If you have children, have a long hard think about moving to Buckinghamshire in general.

It's a fully grammar/secondary modern county, with a few exceptions. If your child is suited to and gets in to a grammar, that's great but if they either aren't suited to it or don't pass the 11+ then most of the secondary moderns don't have a great reputation. This is particularly true in Aylesbury.

Is the job in Aylesbury? Or we're you thinking of living there to commute to somewhere else? Thame/Chinnor are over the border in to Oxfordshire which has comprehensive schools (Lord Williams). Just north of Aylesbury you have Waddesdon which has a good secondary (though very small catchment) and Winslow has a free school, Thomas Hickman, which I think is pretty decent, though again small catchment.

Surrounding villages/towns are nice but I don't think I'd like to live in Aylesbury itself. If I had to it would be turnfurlong/bedgrove area but then you're a bit stuck for schools if your child doesn't pass the 11+.

I don't live too far away but don't use Aylesbury town centre at all, it's rubbish apart from the theatre/cinema and Waitrose. I do use Aldi for food shopping but for retail shopping I go to High Wycombe, Milton Keynes or Oxford.

Uummm ! Thomas Hickman is a primary school in Aylesbury! Sir Thomas Fremantle is the secondary in Winslow. It pretends to be all ability, but with the Royal Latin Grammar up the road in Buckingham, it clearly isn’t. It’s had a light inspection as a new free school. It has the most awful new building - like a warehouse for children.

Yes, typo on my part Thomas Freemantle is the secondary in Winslow.

I work in Aylesbury but commute from 40 mins away. You have loads of options other than Aylesbury but depends which side your husband would be working on...

Thank goodness we found this website [albeit that we are already on Gransnet]. We haven't lived in the UK since 1975{!} and were thinking of relocating back to England as our children live in Rickmansworth. It seems the concensus is that Aylesbury, where we were thinking of buying a townhouse on Pipet or Goldcrest is not such a good idea. Can't afford anything around R'worth, and as we currently overlook Lake Geneva are not content to live in a BBB = Boring British Box. Any recommendations most welcome, for which thanks in advance.