St Albans nice areas but not schools

[lesgalettes]

Off the back of another similar thread.

Can anyone with knowledge of St Albans recommend any areas that are nice to live in, but are not near sought after school catchments? It's somewhere I'm looking to possibly move to, but I don't have school age DC, so have the advantage of choosing a nice area that might be a bit cheaper as doesn't need to be near good schools.

What is your definition of nice to live in? For instance do you want to have space/land or have shops on the doorstep? Are bars and restaurants important to walk to? That kind of thing will help people pin down what parts would suit you best I think.

@Whereverilaymycat I'm looking for a 3 bed house or flat, I don't need land or a big garden as have adult DC but will need somewhere to park cars - on street parking is ok. I possibly won't have a big enough budget for St Albans, but just thought that as I don't need to worry about schools I might have an advantage in choosing location. My preference would be a town centre location but I'm flexible.

Do you need to be near the train stations?

You might be ok with flats in the town centre near the park as it’s quite a walk to the station? The secondaries are mostly on the outskirts of the town.

You could look at St Michaels and Batchwood areas. Pretty and less popular for schools potentially.

I like the conservation area round the cathedral - it's lovely and quiet, and nowhere near the big secondaries. This for example www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/115501742?utm_campaign=property-details&utm_content=buying&utm_medium=sharing&utm_source=copytoclipboard#/&channel=RES_BUY

Thanks, that's given me some ideas. Budget will be less than 600,000 so maybe still not possible but I'll start looking.

New Greens is further out on the way to harpdenden. Close to nice walks. Can be a 20 min walk into town and another 20 to the main station but the prices reflect that.

The roads behind cafe rouge in city centre a lovely but maybe expensive, plus roads off Folly Lane and Catherine Street. Alternatively, there is an estate on Mayne Avenue, you only need to walk across Verulam Park to get into city centre or Chiswell Green maybe worth looking at. Marshalswick and Jersey Farm also nice, but Marshalswick is near good schools

Cottonmill area is still fairly good value and not too far to walk to town and park. Definitely an area on the up too. Close to very posh hotel and spa.