Moving to Bucks

[joy15]

Hello All,

Am new to Mumsnet!

We are planning to move to Bucks county for better life style - closer to country side and good schools. My husband needs good commute to London and we have 2 kids - one in primary and the other will be sitting in 11+ next year. We started looking for some properties in villages around Chesham and Amersham. Since we are relocating from South London, welcome your advice and suggestions.

We recently viewed a property in Codmore Crescent, Chesham and really liked it. Since we know nothing about the area, good to get your views on this area.

I personally love Chesham but others dont. To put it bluntly Chesham is a mix of working and middle class and has a high Asian population. Amersham is basically middle class white. Chesham High used to have a 'bad' reputation don't know if it still does. Amersham has a better high street in my view, but only has Tesco where Chesham has Waitrose and Sainsburys. Amersham is an easier commute as the connecting train from Chesham to Amersham can take forever to arrive. Chesham has lovely country walks. Chesham Bois is between Amersham and Chesham and is very posh.

As for 11+ I assume that will be DCGS (in Amersham) or DCHS (Little Chalfont by school bus) or were you looking at other schools?

Have you considered Little Chalfont as well? Its also on the tube

I moved to the area a couple of years ago from London and personally I'm not a fan of Chesham, it has much more of a 'London' feel than most of the rest of the area. The traffic is slow through the centre as well and most of the shopping area is a bit run down.

It's also not great for commuting as the tube isn't that regular.

Amersham is better for commuting as it has both the chiltern line and metropolitan but it is quite a 'commuter town'. Old Amersham is lovely but expensive and quite twee.

Are you looking at Chesham Grammar? Or Dr Challoner's? Check the catchment maps carefully as both have shrunk a lot in the last year.

If you want somewhere a bit quieter and more rural then have a look at some of the villages on the chiltern line - Little Chalfont as previously mentioned, Great Missenden, Wendover. Wendover is lovely but I'm not sure what schools it is in catchment for.

The other villages you would need to drive to the station, depend whether that is an issue for you.

What's your budget and what sort of property are you looking for? Do you need primary schools as well? State or private?

Thanks all for your inputs. Given me a lot of points to think about.

Yes, we are looking at both Chesham Grammar and Dr.Challenors for my DS. But also need good Primary schools for my DD. The property we looked at in Codmore Crescent seems to be within the catchment of these Grammar schools and Brushwood Junior school seems to have good rating. However, we are not sure about that part of Chesham (on the map it appears to be on the eastern edge of the town) in terms of safety and other social aspects. As we are a young family, we prefer to have a community feel and want to avoid the bad pockets.

With respect to travel - DH needs to go to Central London. Looking at the commuting difference between Amersham and Chesham, we could not see much difference when we include the tube changes, etc. Although we could see more frequent trains from Amersham.

We are looking for a 3-4 bed house and have been checking out all the Chalfonts and Holmer Green so far. If there are any specific villages that you would recommend, please let us know.

Your inputs are much appreciated!

We moved to a village near Chesham from zone 2 a few years ago. I’d much rather be in Chesham itself. The fact that it’s more urban and multicultural is a huge plus. Codmore crescent is walking distance to the grammar. It’s nice enough area (very quiet) but I would prefer to be somewhere more central within walking distance of the station. Eskdale Avenue area or the roads around the park would be my preference.

People move to Buckinghamshire for the schools & then bitterly regret getting involved in the grammar school system. I don't know that area but what are the upper schools like there? 70% of children do not go to grammar schools.

Having your child end up in an upper school is not the death sentance some people would make it out to be. From someone who knows. Lots of nice villages around Amersham, Chalfonts, Seer Green, Missenden etc. good luck

Ive lived in chesham for 24 years and i love the area. There are now through trains for commuting to london morning and evening. The best areas for housing are at the top of eskdale, white hill, lye green road and manor way. Closer to town is stanley avenue which has some beautiful Victorian and edwardian houses and then up the hill is chartridge lane which goes all the way up to chartridge village. Will depend on your budget where you can afford. I think prices in chesham have risen a lot lately because amersham is getting too expensive so people are buying in chesham instead. You are only 10 mins from amersham and in the other direction is berkhamsted which is more expensive but has lovely shops and restaurants.

Only move if you're pretty confident of a grammar schools place would be my advice. Check out great missenden - it has a station into London plus a v good secondary modern for back up. You'd need to check catchment for grammar schools - possibly would fall outside challenors but into chesham/ayelsbury/Wycombe (all good grammars but a bus away).

High Wycombe and surrounding villages may cost less and the royal grammar school for boys is very good. The high Wycombe mainline into Marylebone is far faster than tube/mainline to amersham/chesham I think.

Ditto Berkhamsted (Herts) or villages between Chesham and Hemel (bucks/Herts border). Fast line into Euston from Berkhamsted or Hemel, still in catchment for Chesham grammar, or Watford grammar (Herts, different test from bucks) an option. Good comprehensive options if he doesn't pass.
Same Trainline - Tring. In Herts but surrounded by Bucks borders. Guaranteed a train seat and faster in than Chesham. In catchment for Ayelsbury grammar schools and a bus away.

Berkhamsted is very nice/posh. Tring also very nice.

Aston Clinton - a village in bucks to check out. A shortish drive from stations at Tring or Wendover. Near Ayelsbury grammar.

I agree that moving for the grammar schools might be a mistake, unless you are quite confident your dcs are/will pass. The competition to get into the Challoner schools in particular is fierce, to say the least.

I know someone who bought a house opposite Dr Challoner's (at vast expense, naturally). And then their dc failed to get in. Cue many Liberal posters in their windows, as the Libs at that point had vowed to abolish grammar schools. Talk about sour grapes.

I live in the middle
If that area and have privately educated my kids to avoid the insanity of the Grammar system. Only 30% achieve a place but at least 50% spend Yr 5 being tutored to death and then go through the misery of 'not being good enough' to get in.
Hertfordshire is lovely!! And a lot cheaper!!

Tx again guys - very helpful information.

We are now a little clear with what areas in and around Chesham/Amersham are better. Nevertheless, as some of you said, sometimes we have to go with our gut feel and take some risks!

Will come back if we find anything that we like (or with more questions).

I second the PPs who suggest considering Tring/Berkhamsted just over the boarder into Hertfordshire. You’d then get the option of the Hertfordshire comprehensive schools as well as the Aylesbury (Buckinghamshire) grammar schools. Personally I wouldn’t want to make the move into Bucks and get stuck with the upper schools. They are OK for some children but by no means all of them (as are the grammars, of course). We actually left Bucks specifically to escape the 11+ system!

We moved the opposite way - herts to bucks. We're more rural than townie but love Chesham. We are on the outskirts but love that we can walk one way and into town with tube, park, shops (can get everything you need in Chesham), children's groups etc, but we can also walk the other way, almost directly onto a footpath over fields and barely see a road other than to cross it.

Also think Chesham is much more attractive than Amersham which is split into old town and new, which couldn't be more opposite ends of the scale. Great Missenden high street is really busy and narrow, Berko is nice but expensive, as are Tring and wendover. Aston Clinton/prestwood and a lot of other areas seem to be lacking in a central shopping/community area.

Kids aren't at school age yet but certainly don't feel constrained by the potential options.

Milton Keynes is in Buckinghamshire and in catchment to three grammar schools (Aylesbury and 2 in Buckingham). 25 -30 mins to Euston. Can live in a nice area on the outskirts and have a very good drive into the railway station.

Hi, just came across this thread, which has loads of useful info. I wanted to get a bit of advice…

I am currently looking at moving from North London to either a) near Tring / Berkmamsted (Herts) or b) near Amersham / Great Missenden (Bucks).

One of the main reasons for moving out of London is for secondary schools. We have two boys. The state school options near us in London are not great (and we aren’t in the catchment anyway) and the private ones are super competitive to get into and apart from Highgate (which is very hard to get into it seems) are all very urban and right in the city anyway.

Am getting very stressed about the whole situation, perhaps not helped by my unreasonable (?) expectations – I am looking for schools very good academics, good Oxbridge entry stats, surrounded by nature / lots of greenery, not super expensive and not too far away from where we would end up living.

I don’t want to go to the huge upheaval and expense (stamp duty) etc of moving, only to find myself commuting more and in an even worse situation regarding school options.

I am very confused by the grammar school catchment areas for Herts and Bucks and also the private school options.

GRAMMARS:
For Amersham / Great Missenden, it looks like the grammar options are Dr Challoners, Chesham Grammar, Aylesbury Grammar, Royal Gramamar High Wycombe and William Borlase?

For Tring / Berkhamsted, I can’t work out what grammar schools you would be in the catchment area for?

PRIVATE:
Also, what are the private options (as a fall back, as I understand grammars, in Bucks in particular, are very hard to get into)?

For Amersham / Great Missenden, are the private options just Merchant Taylors (which sounds very hard to get into as well)?

For Tring / Berkhamsted, is it just Berkhamsted (although I’m not sure if it is very academic)?

Any advice appreciated.