Moving from London to Beaconsfield

[ssk106]

Hello,

We currently live in North Greenwich, London and my partner and I are hoping to start a family this year or next. We are considering moving out of London to find more space and a sense of community. Ideally, we would like to live on the edge of a town with restaurants, bars, and some activity, while also having a larger garden. Easy access to London is important for us, as we both work from our office in central London three days a week.

We have looked into the town of Beaconsfield and have found a new build house in Wilton Park by Bewley Homes. Although the development seems to be of good quality, the 3-bedroom semi-detached house we are interested in does not have the best room space. However, the town's vibe and proximity to a buzzing town center have made us fall in love with the idea of living there. The house is priced at £695,000, which seems to be a bit expensive when compared to other larger houses we have seen in Surrey (Godalming, Guildford) for the same price.

I would appreciate it if you could share the pros and cons of living in Beaconsfield and advise if it's worth compromising on the space.

Thank you very much!

My memories of Beaconsfield are from 20 years ago when visiting an ex there, spent quite a lot of time in the area on motorbikes and boats.

It is an exceptionally posh place with many HNWIs. My ex's parents house (sadly both deceased) was probably a £2m home, even though I wasn't particularly impressed with it (just old folk decor, not massive).

Market towns will ALWAYS be popular in England. They're more likely to hold their value than towns and villages that aren't traditional market towns because there's always demand for things that look quaint, and Beaconsfield has that in bundles.

In terms of pricing, well that new home price doesn't really surprise me for Beaconsfield. The Ex's house is 70 sq m and is worth 490k.

New homes are generally sold for 10% more than older homes, so if you're intent on the area, perhaps try something on the outskirts, or a bit older, or a doer-upper.

I'm afraid I don't remember it in minute detail, but I do remember feeling sad when we split up and I no longer had reason to visit it.

Iirc there used to be a train from Chalfont St Giles or something like that straight into London: a lot of stock brokers live in the area.

There are certainly far, far worse places to leave London for. It just comes at a high price.

We lived in Beaconsfield 10 years ago and found it soulless and full of money-obsessed types. We moved to Bourne End and absolutely love it - great community and on a beautiful stretch of the river. The Lizzie line has made commuting easy too. It's full of young families and is in catchment for great grammar schools. Housing is much more affordable than Beaconsfield and there's also The Abbotsbrook Estate which is like a film set.

It is a fabulous town to live in, with some good restaurants and great mums and baby groups. It is eye watering leg expensive to live here though. Wilton Park is on the edge of town and the first new build estate of its kind here. It’s not really close to the old or new town. I personally wouldn’t live there as it feels a bit cut off from the town itself although motorway access is excellent. You would get far more value for money in the surrounding villages like Flackwell Heath, Wooburn, Bourne End even Amersham. These areas are lovely with good baby groups too. I’d also worry that you wouldn’t be able to sell until the whole estate has been built and sold which I think is around 2027 as most people prefer to live in a brand new house

Beaconsfield is lovely, and imho preferable to Amersham et al. The development is on the edge of town near a motorway exit, which may or may not be useful to you. You need to see if the walking distance and route into the town itself is within what you are happy to accept. I believe there are plans for a nursery on site but not sure what other facilities are planned in this phase, so do check the timescales for opening these and those included in any future phases with planning permission. There may also be future phases of building not yet with pp as the site is vast so be prepared for work nearby for some time to come and any future releases may cap market value although it tends not to be an issue to resell or increase values in the area. Obviously Bucks is a state grammar school area which Godalming and Guildford are not although there are several selective private schools there.

Hey everyone, just wanted to say a big thanks for all your feedback! Out of all the towns we've checked out, Beaconsfield seems to be the one that really caught our attention. We haven't seen every single town out there, but we've heard some really good things about Beaconsfield from people we know.

Here's the thing though, we're kinda torn about whether we should hold out for more houses to pop up on the market in Beaconsfield. Do you guys know if houses in our price range are usually available there, or is it more common for them to be way out of our budget?

I think you would struggle to get much around the town at that price. You can look on Rightmove under sold prices to see how many properties sell each year at that price.

This sold last year at £670k for example but seems unusual, most are flats or over £1m www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/details/england-122894570-17056576?s=8ceeec7677b632063226dfa93b5528053fc664cc17b179f94fcad0b8dbb7846c#/

Full list www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/beaconsfield.html

Beaconsfield is nice, as is Marlow.

Just a word of warning if you want to start a family, is that Bucks is a grammar county. Quite a lot of pressure for a 10 year old.

We live over the border in Berks so have access to the grammars (if you live close enough) or the great local secondary schools.

Windsor is lovely and I would check out places along the Lizzie Line if you need access to London.

St Albans & Harpenden would be worth checking out - good train links and schools. Berkhamsted might be a bit too far

All the above towns are expensive but have good town centres, good train links and great schools

That price for the square footage hurts my brain.

Bourne End - great shout

Cookham also lovely

Beaconsfield is a lovely place but you won’t get much there on that budget. You should also bear in mind that your commute will be more expensive and prone to issues than if you were in somewhere like Amersham or Chesham that also has the tube.

I've never heard of Beaconsfield as buzzing... There's standard chain restaurants in the old town, a few pubs, but I wouldn't want to live there.

I go there for the Sainsbury's and the amazing Oxfam book shop!

I live in one of the villages above and LOVE it.
So much more for your money than Beaconsfield. We're by the river, local school is wonderful, people are great. We have every shop you need without throngs of people visiting like in Marlow.
Used to live in Wooburn and imo it's changed in the 3 years since we moved to the next village. Wooburn and flackwell will get you a bit more for your money though.

@ssk106

What is it you like about Beaconsfield? The old bit is nice, the newer bit 'ok' at best.

It is really really expensive and the new builds are quite a way out of the town - not sure you could walk it.

Which are the other towns you have seen but didn't like?

Beaconsfield is eyewateringly expensive. Lovely town though. I wouldn’t really consider Wilton Park to be in Beaconsfield as it’s a a bit of a trek to both New and Old Towns.

Chalfont St Giles or Little Chalfont might be worth checking out, ditto Chorleywood.

I live in a village just outside of Marlow - Beaconsfield is obviously easier access to London. Bucks you’ll pay premium prices due to grammar schools. Furze Platt side of Maidenhead will give you the Elizabeth Line and catchment for SWBGS plus the benefits of being in a comprehensive county (check catchment carefully) with lower house prices.

personally I do love Marlow - all the schools (primary and secondary) are great.

All the villages around Bourne End/Cookham/Marlow are full of families who've moved out from London. You get the best of both: lots of green space, great schools and easy access to London. I also like being able to be able to walk everywhere and leave the car at home. A good starting point would be to walk along the river between Cookham and Bourne End - it's stunning.

@KittyMcKitty & @jacksonlamb both make excellent points. I too live in one of these villages for all the reasons mentioned - more space, excellent schools, access to London.

If you want a 'town' I would visit Marlow, St Albans and Harpenden. High Wycombe is OK but really hilly.

@Compelledtopost I am 32. Yes we love living in London. Our initial plan was to buy a flat in London, but paying such high service tax didn’t make sense. @Pipsquiggle what we liked about Beaconsfield is it’s more towny and felt was nicely balanced with easy access to London & surrounding countryside. And yes the motorway proximity helps as we mostly drive to everywhere.
We ve seen Amersham and Chesham. Amersham is very lovely and houses we saw were similarly priced.

Great Missenden is on the Chiltern Line and close to Amersham and Beaconsfield

From memory, Amersham would make a difference re train prices and options for travel into London. The line is shared between Chiltern Railways and Metropolitan Line - season ticket from there is/was less than one from Beaconsfield (though it’s a long time since I’ve used it so that may have changed).

Personally, I think Amersham and surrounding areas are much nicer than Beaconsfield.

@ssk106

Based on what you have said, I would definitely have a look at St Alban's and see if you can afford anything you like there. Way more going on in St A v Beaconsfield.

Is it possible to stay where you are and save more? It sounds like you don't need any more space now. By renting a flat and saving until I was pg with DC2 we were able to bypass a few rungs on the property ladder and buy a 4 bed detached house.

I lived in St A pre DC and with DC1 it was amazing. We didn't stay as we couldn't afford the space we wanted.

11 years on I am very happy to have ended up in Berks.

It sounds like you love London so not sure why you want to move out to the suburbs before you have to.

Tring and Wendover are both nice.

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/134578181

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/134110379