Moving to Hatfield?

[CHGri]

Hello all, my fiancé and I are currently in a pretty small flat in South Ealing and are itching to have a bit more space to entertain/live/start a family. We're in our 30s and also just a bit tired of London life!

Our budget realistically caps us at £600-£650k (more likely the lower end given the stamp duty rises) but we are also to get a house that looks beautiful and that we could feel proud of. A lot of the beautiful housing stock in places like St Albans, Hitchin and Harpenden are just out of our budget and we're not sure it's worth living in those places but compromising on a house we don't like the look of.

Hatfield could be a good alternative but we've read so much about how awful the town is! Our thinking is there'd be enough to walk to, to keep us entertained ad hoc e.g. nice gardens in Hatfield (events happening there) and a local pub. Anything more we wanted we could easily get to St Albans etc. We never go out during the week anyway and a lot of the time cook a nice dinner at home on Fridays so we don't need pumping nightlife!

Would really appreciate your thoughts on whether this would be a fair compromise and whether you think we'd regret it! Thank you :)

Which part of Hatfield are the properties you’ve seen in? I’d only look in ‘Old Hatfield’ around AL9 AL10 personally. It’s beautiful.
also try searching for Welwyn garden city or Letchworth Garden city or yes St Albans. Have you looked at Cuffley?

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/157211966

this area is nice.

Hatfield isn’t great although there are some reasonable bits- old town, Birchwood Estate, Hatfield Garden City. Worth coming and having a look, the town centre is pretty dire. You may prefer Hitchin I think…

Hitchin is nice it’s quite boujee in the centre now, feels like a sort of SE London Town centre or something… there’s an M&S food, a Gail’s etc.
have you tried looking Berkhamsted?

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/152556149#/?channel=RES_BUY

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/156813059#/?channel=RES_BUY

There’s also Tring that’s lovely.

Hatfield doesn’t have the greatest reputation unless it’s old Hatfield. Welwyn?

Thank you for your speedy tips! Apologies, should have said we need to commute into London/Highgate so somewhere on Thameslink is ideal. Some places we're looking at are in A10 in Hatfield - I think it's relatively ok there and a short walk to station/nicer old Hatfield?

We're used to travelling at least 20 mins in London to get to nice high streets/cinemas etc so wondering if we could deal with treating St Albans as our social life! The price and commuting seems much easier for us but don't want to buy a '10 year' house if it won't work!

I’d try buy in old Hatfield in that case then. Or Cuffley x

** I meant Welwyn

Honestly… I think Hatfield is totally fine so it Welwyn.

is it a hive of activity? No
are there a clutch of artisan shops nestled between rows of fab independent eateries? No

it has reasonably priced housing… most modern conveinces (cinema, shops, restaurants, gyms, outdoor space). It’s not high crime or dangerous.
There are good and outstanding primaries it’s just not v glam.

perfectly good choice.

btw as someone who moved to a similar area you are 💯 right to think about commute it was a key factor for us and makes life so much less stressful / pickups more manageable now we have 2 babies.

check schools in more detail and go for it…

Enfield area (Gordon hill) has a lot of young families too and some good school options and is quite popular so mayyy be worth a look.

There are plenty of ok parts to Hatfield in terms of housing, the main thing I would dislike is that there’s not really a proper high street to mooch around. But there are very regular bus services to St Albans if you didn’t want to drive.

Have you looked at Wheathamstead? A bit cheaper than St Albans still.

I live and work in St. Albans. I have colleagues and friends who live in Hatfield and come in to St. A for their evenings out. In fact, I've never heard them say that they 'go out' in Hatfield.
I don't know about Hatfield schools though.

Our budget realistically caps us at £600-£650k (more likely the lower end given the stamp duty rises) but we are also to get a house that looks beautiful and that we could feel proud of. A lot of the beautiful housing stock in places like St Albans, Hitchin and Harpenden are just out of our budget and we're not sure it's worth living in those places but compromising on a house we don't like the look of.

Looking at the last sentence I disagree. Location trumps a house appearance every time. You can (within reason- and if not listed) do things to improve/enhance a houses appearance. (I live in a boring/ugly house in a nearby town!) You can't change its location, or what there is to do in the local area. I think Hitchin is nicer and potentially would have something within budget.

normal people cannot afford Old Hatfield lol 🤣 and the rest is “mid”
WGC is better

Thank you for all these tips, super helpful!

This is really honest and helpful and absolutely what we're thinking - appreciate it!

@CHGri What size house are you looking for? Because the 2 bed Victorian terraced houses in St Albans are around 550-650.

So within your budget if you don’t need a bigger house.

You could also look at some of the smaller villages with train stations south of Hatfield.

I grew up in Hatfield and it’s fine, a bit boring but great transport links and if you aren’t planning to spend your free time in the town centre, it’s a good location as a commuter town with easy access to nice countryside. Great primary schools too. As others have said aim for the old town or the garden village areas. Good luck :)

Think about old town Hemel Hempstead and Boxmoor area of Hemel too - lots of character properties. Walking distance to the 'new' town which has everything you need and really kid friendly if you're looking to start a family. good commuting times to London, beautiful countryside on your doorstep especially in Boxmoor, easy access to lovely surrounding places, Tring, Berkhamsted, st Alban's etc. Watford if you need more than the town has to offer. Hemel gets a bad rep but it's a great place to live in the right areas

I'd say definitely find out how good the schools are as you mention wanting to have children. I'm in Hitchin, the schools are good and it has a nice feel to it. Do you want to always be driving somewhere else in the weekend rather than just walking into town? I think you'd find something nice in Hitchin in your budget!

Hatfield is fine. You're so close to St Albans, like you say. I'd make the same choice as you, you won't get much for 600k in St Albans.

Despite Welwyn Garden being nicer the best secondary school is in Hatfield - Bishops Hatfield.

Isn’t that all girls? Let’s hope the OP doesn’t have boys then!