Where to avoid in Maidstone

dfarry

Hi all... we are currently looking around the Maidstone area for four bed houses, but to be honest there isn't that many on the market at the moment. Also we don't know the area that well generally so it's a bit difficult to know if there are places that are best avoided.

We have seen a nice house in Boughton Monchelsea but it backs onto Park Wood estate - someone I know warned me to avoid the estate... Don't get me wrong I don't have a problem with social housing... as I grew up on a London council estate anyway... but given the choice and considering the money I will be paying I want to try to find somewhere nice for the family.

Also links to the motorways heading into London, less immportant are rail links but they are useful to have - and of course schools, again in Boughton Monchelsea, the village primary and Loose school seem to be the best if the reports are to be believed.

So any suggestion on where's hot and where's not please? with only a limited number of houses on the market I think we could be waiting some time for the ideal one to come up.

Running_Horse

Parkwood, Mangravet, Ringlestone, Tovil etc. Avoid.

St Luke's (Victorian) near the town centre is OK for those who want to be near the station, as is Vinters Park (1960s). Allington is an OK suburb.

I would suggest you also look a little further at some of the nearby villages such as Lenham, Trottiscliffe, Blue Bell Hill, East and West Farleigh. Or even West Malling (but not King's Hill) for that small town feeling.

For a wealthy county town, Maidstone has a fair few rough areas.

dfarry

Thanks for your help..

Well we are trawling Rightmove daily really... and including the other neighbouring towns you mention. We do like Allington but there are hardly any suitable homes for sale there we did see one... but it was just outside our budget and had an offer on it anyway.

Looks like the Boughton Monchelsea house is out of the question now as it is just too close to Park Wood.

Running_Horse

Also avoid anything that involves driving through the town centre in rush hour.

True story. A workmate lives in a nice road in Maidstone and one day had a dozen yobs in her front garden and jumping all over her car. Turns out they were from Mangravet but had moved on to terrorise neighbouring areas after zero tolerance policing in their own estate, where incidentally (or not), not one child learned to read properly in Oak Trees primary school last year.

Having said all that, there are plenty of nice areas. Check upmystreet for primary school results, and see how they vary wildly in the town.

kissingthepink

I had the !!!!! neighbours from hell in Langley. I would avoid this village too. You definitely don't want to be near them.

dfarry

Running_Horse wrote: »

Also avoid anything that involves driving through the town centre in rush hour.

Having said all that, there are plenty of nice areas. Check upmystreet for primary school results, and see how they vary wildly in the town.

Indeed, whilst looking around we've had to cross from one side of the town to the other and even outside rush hour it is really busy. I work in London but work shifts so this generally isn't too much of a problem but a home in the north side of Maidstone (Allington for example) would be better.

We have checked the primary school results and we don't stand a chance of getting our kids into to Boughton Monchelsea Village Primary as it seems to be the best and is massively over subscribed... Loose Primary looks a close second, if I couldn't get places at a decent school then we would not move there.

By the way, does anyone have an opinion on the rejuvenation scheme for Park Wood, also it seems that quite a few new developments are going up in and around Boughton Monchelsea is this likely to be a good thing generally for the area?

Tizzi

I used to work in the community in Park Wood. I wouldn't live anywhere near there if you paid me. Boughton Monchelsea is becoming just an extension of it now, where it's so built up, so I'd personally avoid there too.

Vinters Park is nice - the houses tend to have larger rooms than you'd find in similar houses in Allington, for example, and it's a quiet place with a nature reserve on it. The top end (nearer the Hilton hotel) is quieter than the bottom end, as there's 2 schools at the lower end. It's an easy walk into Maidstone town centre and to Maidstone East station, and a very short drive to jct 7 of the M20.

Allington, as you've found, has virtually no houses for sale at the moment, and they tend to be higher priced than the house would seem to warrant at times. It's definitely one of those places where, unless you're lucky, you get less house for your money than other equally nice parts of Maidstone.

Grove Green is a nice area too, but the houses are a bit smaller normally than those on Vinters Park, and it's a bit further out from the town centre/station if you're planning to walk to either.

Bearsted is further out, but is a nice area, has a train station and very good schools at primary/junior age. Secondary schools are currently more of a problem if your children are unlikely to get into grammar school, as there are none within Bearsted's catchment area and so a large number of children this year didn't get any of their first 4 choices of secondary school. I suspect though, from the outcry and campaigning of the Bearsted parents, that this will change and improve for subsequent years. Read up about the Kent International Gateway proposal before considering Bearsted though.

Hope you find somewhere you like!

dfarry

Many thanks Tizzi, that is helpful...

The search continues..... the house we found in Allington and did put an offer in on was nice but had a tiny garden, I felt it was worth no more than £280K but did offer £285... someone else come along and offered £300K.... way over the top in my opinion but clearly they felt it was worth it.... or perhaps they are still living in 2007?

wheresmydoshat

personally i would avoid maidstone altogether, or at the least try and make sure you are on the outskirts

dfarry

Well we have been looking all over the South East really but I don't want to be any further out of London than Maidstone..... there's not much about in the way of decent homes at the moment.

wheresmydoshat

have u thought about ashford ?

not much of a step up from maidstone, but they are investing huge amounts in the town and theres now a high speed train link to london.