Beaconsfield / Seer Green / Gerrards Cross

[CriticalSeasoning]

Hello all. We're going to be looking for a new home for the next few years and we have settled on the Beaconsfield / Seer Green / Gerrards Cross / Chalfonts area. Not really sure about all the pros and cons of each, though I have read a great many threads on here, and articles elsewhere, and have thus received a lot of great information.

We aren't a "posh" family, and we don't have a "keeping up with the Jones's" mentality. We're a bit odd to be honest, very "country"...just looking for a nice house with room for the kids to run around outside, and a nice area with friendly folks. We have 3 school aged kids (all girls), and they are all pretty "different" compared to a lot of kids we meet. Video/board/card games, physical sports, hiking/camping, fishing, reading, cooking - those are the things that make up most of their spare time.

We are lucky in that our work agreement pays for the kids to go to private school and pays for a door-to-door charter service for them, so it doesn't really matter where we live from that perspective.

That said, which of those areas do you all think would be most likely to hold folks that aren't so posh and aren't quite as us / them focused? My kids just won't fit into that sort of a community, or lack thereof. My spouse and I wouldn't either, if we're being honest. Thank you all!

Any of these locations would work for you. There is not a homogenous type of family in any of these areas. You will find all different girls with varied hobbies and families of different ethnicities, nationalities, interests and hobbies.
I would pick your school first and work back from there. I know you mentioned transport isn’t an issue but you really don’t want a long commute for your DC. I assume you’re looking at Maltmans, High March or Godstowe ?

Thank you for your response, I appreciate the information. Hearing that about the various areas we're looking at makes me feel a bit more comfortable. We are expats, and want to make sure we are being respectful of others and their expectations of our family as well.

To be honest we haven't heard of any of those schools that you mentioned. We have been looking at ACS schools, ISL, The American School in London, TASIS-England, and a couple of others. That said, all children were recently accepted to the #1 school on our list, with door-to-door pickup. Like you said though, the length of ride could be different depending on where we live. The school provided a map of where their currently enrolled families live and a LARGE concentration of the families are either in Beaconsfield (northern part), or Gerrards Cross. So it seems like most of the children are dealing with a decent ride each day.

I’m not sure that Beaconsfield or Gerrards Cross would be your vibe from what you say. Seer Green or Chalfont St Giles have lots of young families across the middle class spectrum and lots of open countryside. Chorleywood is worth a look too as is Penn/Hazlemere.

Very interesting. When you say "vibe", do you mean we wouldn't fit in, or that we just wouldn't like the atmosphere? Because we're pretty much good with staying to ourselves and entertaining ourselves, we don't need a big social life. The reason we were wanting to include Beaconsfield and Gerrards Cross is mainly due to the fact that our children will likely want to play with the children they go to school with, and those two areas are where a significant portion of the families live that go to their school. Not to mention they both seem to be touted as being very safe, which is our other big concern. Just to add more context, the school they are going to is mainly expats, so there's some common ground there.

We will spend more time looking at Seer Green and Chalfont St Giles. We actually saw a nice home for rent in Seer Green, but just didn't know if it was the right home for us or not. I don't see ANY families from our school in that area, so we'd need to be sure the door-to-door service actually picks them up there.

If you’re not concerned with mixing with the locals and want your children to live near their schoolmates then then either will be perfectly fine. Both are very safe areas.

However you say you don’t want posh/keeping up with the Jones in your intro and both towns typify that in a nutshell so it’s about deciding what you actually want to prioritise.

I'm assuming your children will go to Hillingdon.
You're better off with Beaconsfield or Gerrards Cross as the transport will be quicker and easier and they'll have more local friends.

If you're not American though and planning to stay neither are good options as their student population is too transient for both friend making and educational attainment.

That is a fair assessment, thanks for that. Well, I think being near the children they go to school with is probably a higher priority to us at this time. Luckily, we will have a couple of months to figure that out. Gives us a little bit of time to get a feel for the school, and see how our children are fitting in/who they might be getting close to.

Good guess! To answer that other part, we aren't going to be settling in London/UK, so maybe a few years. Like many of their "prospective" friends, my children are very much transient as well, and have lived in 3-5 countries already (depending on the child).

Beaconsfield and Gerrards Cross are both typically posh, very Keeping Up With The Joneses and very competitive in terms of their kid’s education & achievements. Lots of kids are privately educated in these areas. Beaconsfield has more going on in terms of shops and cafes. Both have green space around them. GX has a thriving American Women’s Association if that’s of any interest.

Thanks for the insight. We are very focused on our children's academic achievements and accomplishments as well, but don't let it completely run our lives. Based on what I've read here, I think we're just going to need to spend more time in each spot and try to figure out which "feels" the best for us.

Beaconsfield and Gerrards Cross are both extremely wealthy towns. Not remotely "down to earth". Buckinghamshire is the 2nd richest county in England. Chalfonts would be slightly better. Further out - Amersham, Missenden, Wendover might suit you more.

I know Chalfont st Peter and Gerrards Cross quite well and found them to be the unfriendliest towns/villages and quickly moved to within the M25. Why? As an "expat" also, had my driving licence thrown in my face in a bank in Gerrards Cross as it wasn't acceptable, despite it being listed. The way she sneered and chucked it at me, I will never forget.
Also, horrible notes left on screen of car when I dared to park my foreign reg car legally on a street of houses.
Anyway, long time ago and would rather go back to forgetting! Moved to London and was far happier.

Understood. Thanks for the input. The problem with going too far out is that we won't have door-to-door service for the children, which is pretty much a necessary thing for us. We aren't from the UK and want the children to feel comfortable traveling to school in a new environment. Seems like a common take on those 2 areas though, so we'll have to see how it all plays out.

That's horrible! Sorry you had to go through that. Glad to hear you are happier in London! I do hear that living in London seems to be better from a diversity standpoint, and perhaps inclusivity. We have actually started looking at other places inside the loop as well now, such as Ealing, Northwood, and even Hillingdon. We just don't have very much insight into those places, so starting from nothing with our research.

Hillingdon, Northwood etc are the worst of all worlds I think - dreary outer suburban London with the associated annoyances of living in a built up area. I’d much rather Beaconsfield, snotty retirees and all.

Ealing can be absolutely lovely and you get the benefit of being in centralish London.

Just to present a different view - I live in GX and I am friendly! Yes there are a lot of kids at private school and yes there are expensive houses but don’t assume everyone is the same.

OP do PM me if helpful

Mayve Ickenham, Ruislip area? Not far from hillingdon but really lovely communities.

Ealing would get my vote! A nice place to live & easy access to London. Certainly over the more suburban places like Northwood (nicer than Hillingdon). Great for the kids as they grow up & want more independence (& I say this as someone who lives near GX/Beaconsfield).
Of course the anecdote above relates to one unpleasant person, not the whole of GX. Anyway they are closing all the banks so it won't be a problem 😂

As a PP said, I’d go for Ealing or GX/Beaconsfield. The areas in between are suburban but GX/B have much more to offer with amenities, access to the Chilterns, quick overground line to London.
As above, GX/Beaconsfield are wealthy areas and you of course get the snobbish types but there are many many lovely people living there. There really are all different types of people. I live in one of these areas and I have local friends with all different interests/mindsets.

I'd go slightly further into bucks if I were you - more country life and quaint villages towards thame/aylesbury

The UK is a funny old place, socially. Speaking very broadly, you've got a few different types of wealth. You've got 'landed gentry' type wealth, which is generally a bit more country estates, hunting, shooting, fishing. You've got essentially job-based wealth (bankers etc). You've got international wealth. Somewhere like Beaconsfield, you're not going to get much of the first category. It's possibly the most expensive town in the UK outside London, and people essentially live there because of its London proximity (and its state grammar schools). The countryside is very pretty, but also very gentle - it's gentle wooded hills rather than hiking country. Do you have the flexibility to live further afield? I think you would find more like-minded friends (as well as decent hiking, fishing etc) outside the commuter belt, where most people aren't travelling to a city job. The international diversity will decrease the further you move away from London, but a lot of the more established private schools outside London will still attract quite a few international families. On that note, would you consider boarding, if you're likely to have to move again in future? You'd then be able to find schools that match your daughters' interests more closely.

Thank you all again for your inputs and suggestions. It's interesting to hear all the different perspectives and obviously each person has different values and priorities when looking for somewhere to live. With regards to the boarding question, I don't think that would work for us. Our children just aren't ready for that yet. We have already chosen/been accepted to a day private school, and the children will be starting there this year, so that's pretty much settled. We have already made a few acquaintances in the past 24 hours from the school, and they are all from the GX/Beaconsfield area. So I think we'll probably end up there just as an extension of the school community and being close to other likeminded families. That, and of course, having a larger garden and "space" to roam.

where did you end up Criticalseasoning?

We ended up in GX and have been absolutely loving it. The people, the location, the nature, the bike trails, the vibe. It's all very quiet, clean, and calm. Very happy with our decision, though we know it would not be suitable for everyone. Especially if you like ANY kind of night life. :) We've met some really neat "seasoned" neighbors and they are so sweet. There aren't as many younger families right next door to us, but there are families scattered around, enough to see kids riding bikes/scooters and such. We do have a few people from our children's school that live very close to us on the same road, so that's nice as well. And the GX park is always busy and a great place to socialize. All in all, 10/10 spot for our family!