Hello,
We moved to the UK 3 years ago and in that time we have moved 3 times, this last move needs to be our final move and we are wanting to buy. We moved to Beckenham a year ago from Clapham/Wandsworth as we just loved the feel of it, the schools (primary), diversity (important to us as we're not from the UK originally), ability to get to London quickly, and high streets were nice. People were friendly and found most families to be business professionals.
Now our son is in year 4, we need to plan for secondary school. Unfortunately I'm not finding any houses that will be big enough for 3 children and 2 dogs in Beckenham in our price range. I've found some in Bromley and Eden park but I am concerned about schools and I am not in love with Eden park, I find it a bit dreary.
So we're broadening the scope...we looked at Orpington and I thought it was a combination of Bromley and Beckenham put together. Schools look great, not too sure what the overall vibe from people is over there. Seemed ok, would like to know your thoughts. Obviously we will steer clear of St. Mary Cray.
Then Bexleyheath came up. We went yesterday and started looking at Danson Park which was absolutely stunning and we fell in love with it. It reminds us of our beloved Beckenham place park. I saw lots of families, and felt confident that this area could work. We went over towards the shopping center from there and never felt like it was really nice...not anything like Beckenham high street or even Bromley. It felt like a step below Bromley. What was even more disappointing was that we didn't see any families except many teen mums and dodgy guys. I am wondering if it's always like this or are there more business professional families there that we're not seeing because of lockdown. Is anyone familiar with these places? We have a few months to makeup our minds but I feel like we're determining our son's future with whatever we decide and want it to be a good one.