Thoughts on St Albans

Unclepetey

Does anyone have experience of living in St Albans? My wife and I don't know much about the place but it is a possibility for us as it has very good transport links to London (where I work) and is well situated for the M1 and the north of England (where our families live).

Budget up to £650k and would need 4 bedrooms. Also need somewhere near good schools.

Any recommendations for areas/streets much appreciated.

Thanks

silvercar

St. Albans is lovely, very green, nice town centre, good schools etc.

Downside is that it is expensive.

Train into London is good service (from St Albans city rather than Abbey station). M1 links to North are good, but traffic can build up on friday afternoons.

Sorry don't know it well enough to recommend streets, Area around Fishpool Street is very nice but maybe too central/ too expensive for you.

nightsky224

Unclepetey wrote: »

Does anyone have experience of living in St Albans? My wife and I don't know much about the place but it is a possibility for us as it has very good transport links to London (where I work) and is well situated for the M1 and the north of England (where our families live).

Budget up to £650k and would need 4 bedrooms. Also need somewhere near good schools.

Any recommendations for areas/streets much appreciated.

Thanks

I live off a road called Sandpit Lane and the houses round there are lovely.
We rent so I'm afraid I can't give you an idea of prices but I can tell you a little bit about it.
My b/f works in london and takes the train to farringdon every day. It is quite reliable although the trains get very busy so he often has to stand (Though they are stopping the link to morgate soon I believe)
The town centre is lovey, wide varity of shops, resturants and pubs
The roads are rubbish!! pot holes everywhere lol and The traffic is quite bad esp around the the town centre.
There is easy access to M1 and M25 (we use both quite a bit)
Dont have kids so not sure about schools but there are lots of parks about to take the kids, no cinema though and dont think there is a swimming pool although i'm sure there is one near by.
All in all I love St Albans, any questions just ask

downs523

i dont know it very well either but what i do know is thats an expensive area. no worry for you with that budget though. i drive through it sometimes and thinks its a really nice area to live.

nightsky224

Unclepetey wrote: »

Does anyone have experience of living in St Albans? My wife and I don't know much about the place but it is a possibility for us as it has very good transport links to London (where I work) and is well situated for the M1 and the north of England (where our families live).

Budget up to £650k and would need 4 bedrooms. Also need somewhere near good schools.

Any recommendations for areas/streets much appreciated.

Thanks

Oh and we often go to Derby on a fri eve via M1 (we leave about 8 as nearly all the traffic is gone) We join at Junction 10 as find it quicker that way. It takes us about 2hrs on a good run

Unclepetey

Thanks everyone for the responses so far.

janey_uk

Lovely area - you will easily find what you are looking for for that price.

The town centre is pretty, and if you need more choice it is ten mins drive (off peak!) to the Harlequin in Watford which is massive and cheap to park at. St Albans town centre can be v. busy on market days (good if you like markets I guess haha!) but has everything you need, and lots of nice restaurants.

The city station has excellent links (especially into the city) although cramped at peak times. There is also the 'abbey flyer' station on the other side of town that goes into Watford junction (approx a 15 min trip) which has 20 minute service into Euston on the mainline (London Midland), or there is the west london line (wembley, kensington, west brompton, clapham - Southern Trains). The abbey line is quiet but not terribly reliable - trains just once every 40 mins and prone to problems. Season ticket from St Albans to central London will probably set you back about the £2.5-£3K mark depending on where you go from.

St Albans is one of the 'posh commuter' towns, likely to be high earning, high educated city workers with kids. There are very active local mum's networks and strong community if you want it. Schools are good (look on upmystreet for the breakdown of school results and community demographics - AL2 postcode covers some of it).

blue_monkey_2

You could also try some of the villages, like Knebworth which has a train station. Parking at the station is quite expensive - around £6 a day - so remember to bear this in mind if not living near the station as it is additional cost. There are lots of other villages surrounding St Albans though so you might want to look at these as well.

The roads are a nightmare at Rush Hour so bear this in mind - M1 and M25, I would not travel on either unless an emergency between 4pm and 8pm in all honesty because it is just stop start stop start. It used to take me around 1.5 to 2 hours to get from SA to the other side of Hertford on the A414 at Rush Hour too (temping thank goodness), this road is notoriuosly bad at rush hour so bear this in mind too. All the others are hit and miss.

There are at least 2 'fast' trains from Stevenage that mean between 17 and 25 minute commute into either Finsbury Park or Kings Cross, quicker than the stopping services but there are around 6 trains an hour. Don't forget to look at the surrounding villages as they are lovely and peaceful - unless you are looking at town life of course.

We live in one of the villages on the outskirts of Stevenage and it is lovely here, we are close to town but it does not feel like it, it feels like village life. Villages have bigger houses and big gardens and usually a community spirit (cricket on the green on a Sunday for example, village BBQ's, things like that), you do not get this in towns really so it depends on what you want from the location you are going to be living and whether you intend on staying there for long (and having a family). If you intend on having a family I would think about village schools over town schools as they are smaller and the teachers are able to get to know your children. HTH.

mumoftwins

Hi,

I used to live in St Albans a few years ago then a move up north and now back into Boxmoor in Hemel.

St Albans is lovely particularly all around the Abbey and its grounds. Some of the best residential areas are: Marshalswick, St Michaels and the new estate - Highfield. But it really is down to your choice as to whether you want new or old, near to the town or a bit further out on the egdes (Jersey Farm has some nice roads but is a huge and now established estate) - there are several Estate Agents situated on St Peters Street, Victoria Street and Chequer Street so would be worth a look, and of course there is Rightmove.

For the price you have quoted you would get a lovely 4 bed detached in some of the really nice parts of St Albans.

Happy house hunting and let us know how you get on!

BiggaThanBen

nightsky224 wrote: »

dont think there is a swimming pool

In fact, there are two, one right at the centre of Verulanium Park !

BiggaThanBen

"there are several Estate Agents"

I think "dozens" is missing here )

The best areas as mentioned are Fishpool Street, and also AL1 4 postcode (prices start from £1 million), but I am sure for your budget you will find a nice house in a good area. St Michaels is good, but not easy to get the City station, the same for Marshalswick. I would suggest checking the area north of the Cathedral ..

M1 is good in both directions, M25 is ok eastbound, but westbound is normally a nightmare from St Albans

Almost all schools are good in St Albans

You may also consider Harpenden, which is also nice with good access to M1 and same trains running from there (+ 2 minutes) ..