Amersham Bucks

[HuntyGirl]

DH and I are looking for a new house in this area. I work in London so will be good for the commute.

Through my research, I see that there is Old Amersham and Amersham on the Hill/New Amersham. Old Amersham is more expensive but New Amersham is more convenient for travel into London etc. We are therefore looking at New Amersham for commutability.

My question is, is Amersham broken down further into smaller areas other than these two? Or is it literally only these two distinct areas? I would be grateful for any guidance on areas to avoid or what is better generally from those who know/have experience. Thanks!

I would pay more for a house and put prep school fees to one side. Not sure what equity you have already but I’d pay a bit more to give more choice.

Just chipping in re birthing choices. Previous poster is right, there is a birthing centre at Wycombe for low risk and everything else goes to Stoke Mandeville which is on the outskirts of Aylesbury. Stoke isn't.....fabulous in all honesty in terms of postnatal care. Fine if you've had a straightforward birth and expect to be out and home in a number of hours but if you're staying longer then it's a shared ward and crowded!

There is obviously the option to go to Wexham which is over near Slough. This is a different nhs trust but you're perfectly within your rights to choose to birth there (journey time may be a factor but tbh journey time is also a factor Amersham to Stoke!) I don't know what maternity services are like there but had to unexpectedly spend a few days with one of my DCs when they were tiny in paeds inpatients and they were fab, lovely ward and resources.

Used to work for the health visiting team in Amersham and they're brilliant!

@TizerorFizz happy to compromise which is why considering main roads when we would prefer not to be. £100k equity. If we can get into catchment of the best state schools we would be happy to do that I think. If not, down the link once our salaries are much higher, we could pay prep fees as if we were to have a baby when we want (fingers crossed), the baby still wouldn't be going to school until after DH is a consultant and I'm senior at work, so our salaries will have increased a lot

@BarnacleNora thank you! Will have a look at journey times

@HuntyGirl if it helps I had my first baby in a different county (ie not Bucks) and chose to birth in a hospital 45 mins away rather than my 'local' one because the facilities were so much nicer (and in all honesty thanks to some very creative town planning I couldn't be sure that it wouldn't take 45mins in traffic to get to our local one!) It was fine, the journey wasn't my favourite car journey ever but it went quite quickly (amazing how labour pains can provide a distraction 😂) and we arrived with plenty of time to spare (absolutely loads of time to spare as it turned out, thanks DS1 for making me go through that....but that's another story!)

In some places that are more rural the only hospital will be that kind of journey length or more so I would always advise going with what you are more comfortable with rather than worrying about a difference in journey time of 10/15 minutes. However, I have heard lovely things about the Wycombe birth centre as well so that's also an option.

Thanks @BarnacleNora ! I will definitely go to the one I think will provide better care. My ideal birth is in a birth centre but I would be worried with my first. I know it's probably silly but I would want to be near to doctors/a ward if necessary

@TizerorFizz just called up about the Stanley Hill house and the house doesn't have any central heating, the downstairs is heated by an AGA and the upstairs by plug in heaters. The price is definitely too high based on that alone

@HuntyGirl Oh dear! Surprised about the heating! I agree - avoid. I’d look at Great Kingshill area as you can get a better house for your money.

As for maternity. From Amersham, Stoke Mandeville Hospital is around 25 minutes. I’m not sure if they still have the private rooms. That’s what I had. Long time ago though. I would not necessarily choose Wycombe over Stoke Mandeville. Certainly don’t bother with Slough. Dreadful
journey. Getting to SMH is largely via countryside, a main road and no traffic lights. It’s easy. Getting into Wycombe means lots of 30mph limits. It is nearer though but journey time isn’t much different at busy times and in the morning it is really really slow! I’ve done it for years as DD went to Godstowe School. What should have taken 25 mins regularly took 45 minutes.

I think you may need to accept that that is the price for the area and someone will pay it. Whether you believe it to be overpriced or not. The school catchments will inflate the prices compared to other areas.

Chesham is cheaper. Has metro into London but it’s slow!

There's other birth options if you don't fancy SM. I had my kids at Queen Charlotte's (I live near Little Chalfont), my sister lived in Amersham and had hers at Watford (which I'd avoid). Friends seemed fairly happy with Stoke Mandeville though.

Personally I think there's nicer areas in your budget than Stanley Hill. As PPs have said, it gets busy as it's the main road down to the bypass.

@sep135 thanks - will have a look. The only hospital coming up for me as QM is in west London. Is that where you went?

I'm glad to hear that! Will keep an eye out. There is one on Station Road at the minute. Is it less busy that Stanley Hill?

Not really! It’s the road up from Tesco to the station. It’s slightly narrower at the top and the houses are closer together. Just off there is the 3 floor end of terrace house I posted. That’s in Highover Park. It’s a better and quieter location than Station Road so more money. Worth a look though.

@sep135 Queen Charlottes in London W12? How long did it take to get there? Stoke Mandeville is much quicker from Amersham and definitely less traffic.

Amersham-born person here, moved back to bring up children. Beacon is lovely - my two older boys went there. Back in the day, girls at Heatherton had tea with the Queen mother at Clarence House once a year, in the summertime. It’s more academic these days but still looks like a well-kept school for well-kept girls :)

New Road has bargains because it is close to the council houses. Lots of bombed-out London families were moved there after the war and in the 1970s, there was still a painful social separation between the better-off Chesham Bois families and the council house people. Less so now: lots of Polish & Chinese families in the ex council houses, ambitious for their children, well-integrated. I know a very high-flying City mother who lives on New Road - it’s on the up.

Houses in the Mortens Wood/Sheepfold Lane area seem to suffer a lot from damp. Could be that there is a watershed in the ground there, hilltops in the Chiltern have them from time to time.

Old Amersham has some beautiful period houses, but bear in mind that houses on the Misbourne side of the high street can be hard to insure (flood risk), and some sinkholes have opened up along the course of HS2, which runs beneath the old town. Perhaps because there are expensive houses up on the hill as well (and a large council estate in the old town) there is not much of an old town: new town divide to speak of.

School wise, then: you go for private the one thing you will have to deal with are crazily wealthy people in £2m houses on roads like Bois Avenue & the like. This emphatically should not put you off choosing the best school for your child, but it’s as well to be prepared for the culture. If you can find families with similar priorities to your own (good schools first, affordable housing second) then the solidarity will help to carry you through the school gates scene.

Stoke Mandeville is not the best place to have a baby. I’m actually a qualified doctor (SAHM currently) and the sheer scale of clinical negligence there when I had my youngest was astounding, even by NHS standards. Cut into an artery on c-section, missed the resulting internal bleed, misdiagnosed the resulting faint and exposed me to needless radiation by doing an (unnecessary) lung scan. Then left me on an open ward while I was too radioactive to be near my own child. They were very skilled at covering up their errors however. If I had my time again & was planning as carefully as you guys are, I would take out an insurance package & go to one of the private London hospitals!

On a more cheerful note: I have loved bringing my children up here. With teenagers the place really performs well too: safe streets for going out to see friends, lots of sports going on at the new leisure centre on Chiltern Avenue (the swimming club here has always been a big feature), a good peer group.

Sorry for the scary hospital story, but I do hope all of the above helps.

Yes, west London. About 30 minutes/20 miles for me (one junction of the M25 and up the A40). I knew I had to have a caesarean and Watford scares me.

My only point was that you don't have to pick the nearest hospital if there's one you prefer elsewhere.

@sep135 From Amersham it’s not 30 mins. I’m that way in W12 pretty often and sometimes it’s well over an hour. A40 route can be brutal. Ditto M35/M4 route. Stoke Mandeville from Amersham is so much easier with little traffic in comparison. Definitely less stress.

I guess there is no rule against using the nearest maternity unit in an emergency - with the private option for a scheduled birth. Would not want to be stuck in a jam on the A40 with a bleed, but would not want a c-section in Stokey either. Thankfully I don’t have to make this choice though, as the ob-gyn at Stoke Mandeville informed me that the damage was so great after the op, I can’t have any more children. Thank goodness it was child 3 not child 1.

@Ponyclubgirl I thought there was a reason New Road was cheaper! The house on there that went recently was completely renovated whereas others need renovating and are £75k more. Thanks for explaining.

I think we've resolved to just up our budget to be honest. We want to be in Amersham and that's the priority. Also, St Mary's looks amazing.

Will avoid Mortens Wood and Sheepfold Lane then.

Noted re the private schools, thank you. (Obviously) we are not coming from generational wealth which could cause a divide with our DC and others at private school. Something to be mindful of in terms of the impact on our DC. Also, this thread has encouraged me to look into the state schools in the area, which we hadn't done previously and I can see that St Mary's and Chestnut Lane/Elangeni are excellent. So that coupled with your point re potential cultural differences has really given us food for thought.

Also, DH feels if we use the excellent state schools and save the money we would have used for fees, we would be in a better position down the line to buy a bigger and better house, which obviously makes sense. Lots to think about.

Awful about Stoke Mandeville! I'm so sorry you had to go through that. I just read the story to DH who is also a Doctor and he was horrified. He definitely does not want us to go there. To put it into context, my friend's mum had a similar experience when giving birth to my friend and she actually died. So for me it hits a nerve.

I have private insurance through work but it doesn't include pregnancy and maternity services annoyingly! I will ask DH to look into whether there are any policies for that alone.

Yes, the leisure centre looks amazing! We currently go to David Lloyd and it costs almost double whereas they seem to have similar amenities!

Your post was extremely helpful, thank you x

Glad it was helpful; am so sorry to hear about your friend’s mum however. All the very best of luck with the move!

@Ponyclubgirl thank you

@HuntyGirl Every single person I know went to Stoke Mandeville. Not just in my age group but loads of people in
my village. Private isn’t close and getting there has risks too. However most people I know are ordinary folk and would not dream of going to London for private maternity. Even the ones in the £2m
houses! One or two scare stories are not really representative of most hospitals and SM is not being investigated for maternity services as far as I know.

You will find private/state school divide everywhere in South Bucks. You will be the poorest if you live in a semi! At Godstowe there’s huge wealth. I definitely save the fees and go state in your circumstances. The Amersham School catchment is vital if dc don’t make the grammars. Or save for private senior schools.

@TizerorFizz yeah I would definitely be hoping for grammar secondary and if not, would have saved for private secondary.

Did your DC go to the grammars?

No. Board Boarding school. DD1 got a place at Aylesbury High. DD2 was at Godstowe and followed her sister. DH was DCGS. Where we live, we are catchment for Aylesbury Grammars. Most people who move to Bucks think DC will get to a grammar but it doesn’t always work out. Bucks doesn’t really have academic private schools at secondary. Boys’ school is Berkhamsted. Girls is the same (it’s Herts) or Pipers Corner at Gt Kingshill.

Just to add on the private secondary school front that lots of boys go to Merchant Taylor's from Amersham, Beaconsfield and Gerrards Cross. (My son goes there and has a number of Amersham friends). It's an easy journey on the Met Line from Amersham (and there's school coaches from the others).

Berkhamsted is also considered a good school academically (and excellent for sport) so there are plenty of private secondary options. I went to Dr Challoner's as did my siblings and they're excellent schools. Perhaps a bit more of a compromise for sport but still decent.

(I had private insurance that paid for the delivery onwards at Queen Charlotte's and I had the antenatal care there on the NHS. Couldn't fault it but appreciate that not everyone wants to go up to London).