South London to South Bucks!

[HereForTheTea82]

Hey all am not a mum but here looking for different points of view on this. I’m looking to move from South London to South Bucks (Amersham/Chesham, maybe Berko….open really but really like Amersham). My mum will be going into residential care in the area and I want to be nearby rather than a 1+ hour drive away.
I’m 43f single, no kids, work as a children’s nurse. Looking for somewhere not too quiet where I can possibly feel part of community and make some new friends. I would like to live somewhere relatively diverse (I’m mixed race so don’t want to stick out). I know places like those I’ve named have lots of parents (which I don’t mind) but I also don’t want to feel like the odd one out. I like gym/yoga, walks, eating out, gigs and will still be working in Islington so need to have somewhere commutable. Any thoughts please?

Amersham, Chesham & Little Chalfont will be simplest for your commute. You'll get more for your money going further out to Hazlemere/Holmer Green/Wycombe/Penn etc but if you can find something you like within budget in Amersham it's a good balance of the criteria you mentioned.

Amersham is the least diverse place in Buckinghamshire 😬 less than one in ten are not white

Amersham/Little Chalfont is lovely (though I'm speaking as a white married mum with young kids so will have a different experience to yours). The station in LC gets both amersham and chesham trains through so more choice there. Loads to do in the area, though not hugely diverse.

Thanks for your reply! Ah ok….didn't realise it was that much of a small amount 😬 I grew up in a pretty white majority town in the Midlands but just didn’t want people seeing me and thinking “she’s not from around here” which I obviously have no control over anyways! TBH I don’t really care as long as people aren’t unfriendly with it! I know it will be very different to South London but I’m ready to live somewhere nicer!

Thank you for your reply! Have driven around and also liked LC. Good tip about the trains 😁

Thanks for your reply! I’ll look at those areas too then. As long as I can get to Kings Cross/Euston easily I’m happy 😊

I’d recommend going to look round these places quite well- you say you prefer Amersham, does that mean you’ve been scoping them out? Personally I like visiting Berko for a look at the shops and it does have some nice restaurants but I wouldn’t want to live there. For me I wanted
somewhere a bit less down from London! And I wouldn’t say it feels diverse. But others might disagree.

Also what type of house do you want? Are you looking for a cottage? Or something in a small town? What’s your budget? Would you be going into London to socialise? If so I would get somewhere on the tube rather than having to rely on trains.

If you want less of a culture shock have you considered outskirts of London but in that direction? For example parts of Watford/ Bushey are nice and have lots going on and more of an urban/ diverse feel but would be a lot easier to get to your mum.

I would go to Watford, can get to amersham in 20 min drive and can get a quick train into London eustomnthen a couple of stops from Islington.

ruislip is nice and you can get to Amersham easily from there, but can also get picasilly line all the way to highbury and Islington

Watford is a very different vibe to Amersham!
Watford is busy multicultural large town, with a station thats an arse to get to and to park at
Amersham is quiet & leafy small market town that probably still does half day closing on a Tuesday
You'd get a lot more bang for your buck in Watford
Berkhamsted is okay, but expensive, and a bit niche. Lots of places to eat, independant shops - absolutely nowhere to buy say everyday tights on the way to the station in an emergency.

Thanks to everyone who commented, it’s super helpful! What I’ve seen of Watford it’s a bit too busy for me but will do more research/driving around. It’s so hard to choose!

We're family mixed race looking to move out of north London. We've spent number of weekends in Berko, Harpenden and more recently Amersham. We definitely prefer Amersham, it definitely more diverse from our weekends spent walking around, parks or restaurants and just feels a bit more like London with benefit of open space. Amersham high street is excellent. Lots of good restaurants around and pubs. We will probably end up there or Little Chalfont depending on what housing we can find. Good Luck

Thanks and good luck to you too with your search! Amersham just has a nice feel to it doesn’t it! Can I ask what you thought of Harpenden as I have been to about 20 towns in the area but not been there yet.