Bishops Stortford or Saffron Walden

[Qosaclan1]

Hello Mumsnetters - I have two children who are in year 7 at secondary school in Bishops Stortford. We currently live in Goffs Oak and the commute each day is proving tiresome. We were looking at moving to Bishops Stortford, but you don't seem to get much for your money (our budget is c£600k) - we visited Saffron Walden at the weekend and loved it (shame we didn't find sooner!) but with the kids coming into their teenage years, wonder if it is too quiet and also with no station, how people working in London find the commute ( thinking of the kids as we work from home) I would REALLY appreciate any views/advice out there. Thank you!

I think it depends on if you were going to change your children's schools or not, as if you lived in Saffron Walden it would take you at least 30 minutes to get to Stortford for the schools and at the moment due to all of the building work going on it could take even longer due to the awful traffic so you could still end up spending a reasonable chunk of your day commuting. Have you considered Stansted at all? You get more for your money than in Stortford but still have the convenience of the station for commuting into London or Cambridge.

Lilbup thank you so much for taking the time to respond and for the advice on the commute. We would consider a school move, but I am guessing the secondary schools - namely Saffron Walden High School are probably very over subscribed? Do you think it would work if the children took the train from Audley End to Stortford, I will check if our school buses run from there. I hadn't considered Stanstead as I thought the air traffic would be a turn off? Really appreciate your advice - we are nearer to Cheshunt than Goffs Oak and just want a nicer environment for the children to grow up in - wish we'd made the move when they were smaller.

County High does tend to be oversubscribed but it might be worth an ask. A lot of children from Saffron Walden go to Joyce Frankland in Newport as well. They could take the train from Audley End to Stortford, although I'm sorry I don't know how long it would take and what the traffic to Audley End is like in the morning. If you're on Facebook, then look up Saffron Walden Yummy Mummies and Bishops Stortford Mummies Village as there are lots of people on these groups who will be able to give you better advice on this.

Stansted is actually very quiet as it gets very little noise from planes as it isn't under the flight path. Places to avoid for plane noise are Little Canfield, Takeley, Thaxted, Hatfied Heath and the Hallingburys as these areas are directly under the flight path. Lots of children in Stansted go to the Stortford schools - they can either catch the train or get the bus.

It's a lovely area around here so I'm sure you'll be happy wherever you choose.

Littlebury is a lovely village between Audley End house and Saffron Walden. Very close to Great Chesterford and Audrey End train stations too.

Lilbup and GingerRogers84 thank you so much, it's lovely that you have taken the time out of what I am sure are your busy days to help, very much appreciated. I will definitely take a look at the areas you have mentioned.

Saffron Walden County is over subscribed. I don't know how much churn there is - worth a call to ask. If your want a place there you need to be in Saffron Walden itself. Children in many of the villages aren't getting places now due to a mix of new housing in SW not backed up by new school places, and the school in Newport going downhill so fewer choosing it. Even kids in villages to the north of SW are being sent south (passed SWCH) to Newport.

If I were you I would decide if you want to keep your kids at the same school or not. If you do then looking along the train line north of BS would seem sensible as it will allow them to get to school without you and also see their friends, go out, work in London etc over coming years.

If you're open to moving schools then you'll need to find out where has places or where may have sufficient churn to give the places you need. Then focus your search.

shortgreengiraffe thank you so much good advice is there any particular places on the train line north of BS you would recommend/heard good things about? Thanks.

To be honest they are all nice villages!

What do you need for your £600k?

Thank you shortgreengiraffe for taking the time to respond. We started looking in BS which is the obvious choice, but I don't want to be right in the town centre and the school is to the NW, so St Michael Meads kept coming up. We went to look at a couple of houses there, which were nice, well kept, but the rooms and gardens were tiny for what you had to pay, I suspect people choose there to get into the BS schools, but we are already in. My daughter is very musical and really likes Cambridge - obviously too far ( and expensive) so that's what led me to Saffron Walden - a half way house - we visited it and loved it. I don't know much about the villages, a North London girl born and bred and if I'm honest I'm wondering how I would fare in a village, BUT I am at that point now, where we really want a more country feel and a large village/market town seems to tick the boxes - a feeling of more space and a decent size garden. That said, as you have mentioned above, the children are coming into their teenage years, so to be near a railway, with links into London a plus. My husband has his own van and I work mostly from home, so links into London for work is not an issue, but I do like people, so would not want to be too remote. My children are sporty and into everything, so somewhere with access to sports facilities/other events would be good. My work is very flexible, so I can and have done quite a bit of driving, but it would be nice as the kids get older for them to have that bit more independence. Sorry to appear to give you my life story, but hopefully it gives an insight to where I'm at. We could go slightly over the £600k if needed. I'm finding this advice from other Mums invaluable, as there's nothing like a Mum to give a realistic insight and I don't know the BS or surrounding areas well enough, so thanks again.

I think SW is nicer than BS and still enough to do in SW. Advantage of BS is commute to London but if that's not an issue I would go with SW. SWCHS is very large so will have turnover though you may have to wait for places, you need to be in centre of SW to get in from what I've heard - phone Essex LEA or school and ask about waiting lists, helps if you have potential new postcode. Smaller villages maybe a bit dull. SW has a sports centre with pool etc, think tennis courts in centre too, reasonable on sport - Cambridge is probably best place for competitive stuff but can get there from SW by driving or train from Audley End. Are Cambridgeshire villages too but those are smaller, a lot have sports centres, shops and good schools though.

Re: villages. You could try Newport but which is in budget, as in Elsenham although neither are very happening places. Great Chesterford is probably over £600k (pricey as a good primary school and also commuter links to Cambridge).

Saffron Walden has a lot more going on and still affordable. But if you stick with the current school you would be tied to twice daily lifts to the train station. It's perfectly doable though if you're willing!

Wow you were lucky to get into a Stortford School from Goffs Oak! If you are happy with the school loads of children get the bus from surrounding villages where you might get more for your money. Villages such as Stansted and Elsenham also have train stations to London and Cambridge. There are gorgeous villages lije Clavering and Rickling which wpuld mean a short drive to the bus and train but not impossible.

Houses in the Thorley area of BS have larger gardens but the houses are older but a bit closer to town than The Mead or Bishops Park.

Usually Saffron County High is oversubscribed with some pupils being shipped out as far as Haverhill for schools. Hth x

I’m not sure you’d get more for your money in SW than BS. You might in one of the villages but public transport is dire and you’d be in the car a lot. SWCHS is great but it seems that only SW itself can be counted as definitely in catchment. Audley End is on the slow line to London and there are only a couple of trains an hour. We loved SW when we visited but moved away from the area because of high house prices, dire train service, M11 hassles and no guarantee of decent schools. BS strikes me as less pretty but a lot more functional. But I this is only my opinion, others love it.

Audley End is on the fast route to London but you have to get to the station and in the winter you get days were trains don't run, not many but enough to annoy an employer. Think its roughly every 15 minutes (check if its an issue). The cost is of course more than from BS and quite a lot.

I'm also not sure prices are less in SW but its nicer and almost no crime, very friendly. BS is fairly nice still though. Both have good schools.

Wow thanks ladies, lots of food for thought, why can't we have it all right? Daughter is musical and we are a catholic family hence the luck of getting into a Stortford school from here, but always knew we might/would want to move in time. I think from what you've all said, prob safe to stick to the BS/SW area, but not rule out some of the villages - I think though with kids coming into teenage years prob bigger market towns safer bet? Thank you again, a lot of driving coming up I can see, will let you know where we end up.

Ahh stick with St Marys as people will give their right arm to get in there.

Stortford is a nice town as we speak now he has gone to the Youth Cafe in the town and they meet with their friends from all the schools. They like cycling so often on the weekend they cycle to Hatfield Forest or jump on a train to Cambridge with their bikes x

Thanks Hertsmum 765 I really appreciate it and it makes my heart soar to think that my two would do the same in the not too distant future, I am afraid to let my son out on his bike here!

I'd avoid SW with teens to be honest - the lack of a train station will be a pain once they're a few years older and the transport other than trains is disappointing.
Im a big fan of Stortford if you can find something you like for your money.
Stansted & Sawbridgeworth both very easy on train to Stortford to access facilities, and onwards to London, but have a reasonable amount going on themselves too - handful of pubs and restaurants, leisure centre etc. Both protected from flight path noises by Stansted's local community policy things as far as I'm aware too!

strangely aircraft don't fly directly over Standsted Mountfitchet -how about Old Harlow?