Hertford- Where to live

[Croutons]

Appreciate this is a fairly quiet folder but nothing beats local knowledge!

I’ll be working in, I suppose south- central Hertford from May, close to the Simon Balle school, and if all goes well the family will follow.

initially that means an Airbnb, scout schools, and work out where we’d live.

For such a small place, traffic seems horrendous, but I don’t object to a 20-30 min drive twice a day, so if this was you with two young kids to school and entertain, where would you live?

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

If you have a mahoosive budget St Albans.

[UpTheIron]

Budget?
House/flat size needed?
Preference for town centre or outlying village/countryside?

2 sMoKiN bArReLs said:

If you have a mahoosive budget St Albans.

30 minutes on a bike maybe, but not in a car on the 414 at rush hour.

[Croutons]

If buying, 8-950 possible, less is better. 4 beds, 5 or annex better. Probably dreaming even at top budget- suppose it depends on where you say is good!

Very happy to walk to work, but is Hertford centre much cop?

Town/ country largely dictated by school catchment it seems, and finding stuff for the kids close by. We’re city dwellers by trade, the kids are used to lots of choice on the doorstep. But they know changes mean just that, so if a house had to provide entertainment and trips out we’re in the car having made decisions first,well tough!

[Gr44]

Depends what you want but I'd be looking at the following

Hertford (it is quite nice)
Essendon
Watton at stone
Tewin
Letty Green
Ware

If you go further afield...

Sawbridgesworth
Buntingford
Cuffley
Brookmans Park
(old) Welwyn
Walkern
St Albans

Further still

Royston (A10 is normally fairly good... Depending on where in Hertford and time of day, you may find it'll take about the same time as from St Albans)

[markiii]

Datchworth puts you right on the country lane route into Hertford, several pubs, restaurants are walkable, as is Welwyn North Train station

[Pinkie15]

Hertford Centre, shops, pubs, cafes, restaurants, is good; not sure what houses are like.
Villages to west of Hertford are decent, with country lane drive into town (Datchworth, Bedwell, Tewin, Burnham Green etc). Your budget should get a 4 bedder in them, if your lucky maybe with 0.5-0.75 acre plot.
Don't know what access is like on A10 corridor & East of town, or surrounding villages.
South of town you've got Hertingfordbury & Essendon are decent
The secondary schools with highest Ofsted ratings are in Hertford & Ware.

[Pinkie15]

markiii said:

Datchworth puts you right on the country lane route into Hertford, several pubs, restaurants are walkable, as is Welwyn North Train station

I wouldn't walk from Datchworth to WN Station on those country lanes, plus its a 10 min drive which probably makes it a good 30 min walk at least.

[Croutons]

Thanks all, I've got some mapping and school tedium to do, appreciate the steers, which seem to be largely West and a bit of South, or the A10!

Our if interest, Welwyn Garden City < St Alban's? Obvs it's closer to Hertford.

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

Croutons said:

Thanks all, I've got some mapping and school tedium to do, appreciate the steers, which seem to be largely West and a bit of South, or the A10!

Our if interest, Welwyn Garden City < St Alban's? Obvs it's closer to Hertford.

WGC is like the land time forgot (but nice enough). A lot less pubs & restaurants than St Albs

[Spindoctor]

Croutons said:

Our if interest, Welwyn Garden City < St Alban's? Obvs it's closer to Hertford.

You’ll struggle to get the kind of property you want in a decent part of St Albans - prices are still way over the top. Yes, the centre is livelier than WGC but can you afford to live within walking distance? WGC is a less unpleasant drive to Hertford. It’s got the garden city feel to it, which I like (Letchworth is better) but that’s not everyone’s bag.

Hitchin is further away so the Hertford commute isn’t great, but it has more character than WGC and house prices aren’t as daft as St Albans.

Have a wander around these places and see what you think.

[Pinkie15]

Would pick WGC over St Albs; but only if I could get something in the older parts of town 'sought after West side', i.e. original garden city houses (though extensions can be a 'mare cos it' s a conservation area). Panshanger area, east side of town and closer to Hertford, is the more recent addition and could be a 'new build' area anywhere. Also WGC secondary schools don't score as high on Ofstead cf St Albans/Hertford/Ware

Wheathampstead could be another option, nice centre & work colleagues who live there say it has good community feel, bit less pricey cos no train line. Harpenden's a nice place too, but need loads of dosh cos of train line.

[Pinkie15]

Oh, and if your kids are as accident prone as mine you might need to consider hospitals (A&E). It's :

Stevenage (Lister)
Watford (Watford General)
Harlow (Princess Alexandra)

WGC (QE II) used to have A&E, but recently bulldozed & replaced with new, but down-graded, 'cottage' style one, no A&E

No hospital of any description in Hertford, St Albs or Ware

[CB07]

Pinkie15 said:

Oh, and if your kids are as accident prone as mine you might need to consider hospitals (A&E). It's :

WGC (QE II) used to have A&E, but recently bulldozed & replaced with new, but down-graded, 'cottage' style one, no A&E

Probably in a minority here in that I would recommend Stevenage as that budget would go very well there in the chancellors road area or Aston End area. You would possibly want to then look at some of the independent schools (Heathmount for instance is halfway from Stev to Hertford on the Hertford Road).

On the hospital front a small tip worth noting here is that the QEII does have what they describe as an 'urgent care centre' which from my experience is far more efficient than the A&E at the Lister. https://www.newqeii.info/services/urgent-care-cent...

[Pinkie15]

I think Stevenage old town is alright, problem is the rest of it (or maybe I'm a stuck up arse). Hence why only going with villages between it & Hertford.

I also find rush hour traffic a pita

Pretty good for leisure stuff and cheapish shopping though.


My Lister A&E experience has been the kids bit, which is usually pretty quick on turnaround and a few couple of overnighter in the kids ward, again an ok experience as far as these things go.

Edited by Pinkie15 on Friday 15th March 12:07

[Spindoctor]

Obviously Stevenage is not a slum, but if the OP can afford to live in one of the other places named on this thread then I suspect he will.

Ware is nice, market town, close to Hertford. The Hadhams aren't too far away if you fancy village life.

Spent a week in the Lister once. Scary. They fixed me though.

[UpTheIron]

How old are the kids? Is it primary or secondary education that you need to consider (or neither if paying for schooling!).

I wouldn't want to do a St Albans to Hertford commute daily, but I've done worse, its not Impossible. Especially if you cycle or run.

If you want a lively town centre at weekend, St Albans or Hertford, with St Albans being the bigger/better/more expensive one. If you don't then Gr44's list is pretty good.

I'm in the unfashionable east side of WGC. £600-700k buys what would cost £1m West Side. There isn't a lot of choice for nice, big, detached 5 bed places anywhere in WGC though.

[Gio G]

OP as others have said school places should be your priority.. I live in St Albans and constant complaints here of oversubscribed schools, unless you go independent. So many young families here, much of the draw are so many restaurants/pubs and a nice historic city + very fast train links into London. Close to Luton airport, Heathrow and M25 on the doorstep.

No value for money when it comes to property - pretty basic 4 bed detached going for 800+ Hertford is a nice town, just a mini version of St Albans..WGC, also nice, but different..

G

[CB07]

Since moving from London we have lived in Hitchin, Stevenage and finally settled down now in Knebworth.

For what it is worth I don’t find we go back to Hitchin much at all, and when there we didn’t really leave much. Now in Knebworth (which is undergoing a bit of a transition at the moment) I tend to find we back head up to Stevenage.

Supermarket Shopping (take your pick) and kids activities are pretty much catered for us with the leisure park there and further afield other sports/activities clubs are in Hertford and soon Datchworth for rugby (they have a great minis).

Stevenage old town high street is pleasant and has the obligatory Waitrose. Costco is arriving in summer on the old JL distribution site. Wine Society if that’s your thing, all manner of screwfix/DIY type places within a stones throw of each other.

If we go out as a couple or with friends it is locally or Old Welwyn or...Hertford or one of the many excellent village pubs dotted around.

For nicer shops WGC has a good John Lewis, Hertford more boutiques and they are redeveloping the shopping centre there (I think) London is 25 mins down the line on the train, St Albans also not far in the car. Kids school for the moment is in Watton.

Now on a more PH note you are also well catered for around here! Plenty of car shows over the summer (Tewin, Knebworth, Welwyn etc) Hatfield has a huge Porsche showroom, then there is a brand new grange unit round the corner from there with Aston, Jaguar, McLaren and Land Rover. Up in Stevenage there is BMW, Mercedes, Ford all in a row.

All of that is just a long winded way of saying I don’t think you can go far wrong with any of the places mentioned above. FWIW If I was to move again from here I would be looking at any of the other villages between Knebworth and Hertford, Datchworth or Tewin. Two friends also have also recently left London and chosen Harpenden and St Albans.

Hertfordshire is great! Good luck with your search.

[Mark83]

Lived in Stanstead Abbotts and Ware until I was 33. I went to secondary school in Hertford and went out in town most weekends until we moved to Hitchin two years ago for the space and commute (work in King's Cross).

Happy to help if you need it.