anyone live in or around chelmsford, essex

stolt

We currently live in rayleigh, essex, lovely place but we need a bigger house and have looked in/around of rayleigh but no joy, quite particular on what we want this time round.
We have just accepted a good offer on our house so we looking further afield, Chelmsford seems to have a lot of properties and nice ones at that with a bit of space and nice size rooms. Any nice areas to go for or perhaps areas where there not. Were going up to look around at the weekend to get a feel for the place and to see some houses. I use to go clubbing in Chelmsford years back so it could have changed alot since then, is it good town to live in? pros and cons. i work in Romford so will either need to train it like i am now or car.

thanks for looking

sarah_elton

I lived there for six months (now in Witham) and my family still live there. Get a map from one of the EAs in Chelmsford, my brother works for Balch and they do a good one that has area names on it. All the EAs are in a line on Duke Street, just a few minutes from the station.

Melbourne is the only really bad area, avoid at all costs.

Springfield is good, the part closest to the town is a reasonable distance from the station.

Old Moulsham is nice (oldest part of town), but due to its age and proximity to the town centre you're only likely to have (permit) street parking for the cars.

Anything off Broomfield Road is nice too. Looking at a map, Melbourne is to the left of that, but near the main road has nice parts.

A lot of people like Chelmer Village. Personally I think it's like Butlins. It's a trek from the town centre and has this pedestrianized centre with shops that smacks of holiday village. But each to their own.

If you're getting the train to work you're probably aware it's change at Shenfield onto the metro line to Romford (at the weekend trains from Chelmsford stop at Romford, but not during commuter periods). Still probably better than driving given the A12 traffic in rush hour.

In terms of distance to the station, I know someone who lives in Sunrise Avenue - look that up on the map and it's a 20 minute walk, so that should give you a radius. It's actually quite hard to get really close to the town centre (I live 10 mins from Witham station and refuse to walk further lol), but the town bus system is good.

As a town to live in, well my family like it. The town centre has most things you'd want, and there's no more trouble there than anywhere else nearby. As I said I lived there for six months with my mum, then moved out of home to Witham. I found Chelmsford a decent town with good amenities. To me it always felt functional, never homely, but maybe I wasn't there long enough. Probably would have bought there if I could have afforded anything 10 minutes from the station as I could in Witham though.

stolt

sarah_elton wrote: »

I lived there for six months (now in Witham) and my family still live there. Get a map from one of the EAs in Chelmsford, my brother works for Balch and they do a good one that has area names on it. All the EAs are in a line on Duke Street, just a few minutes from the station.

Melbourne is the only really bad area, avoid at all costs.

Springfield is good, the part closest to the town is a reasonable distance from the station.

Old Moulsham is nice (oldest part of town), but due to its age and proximity to the town centre you're only likely to have (permit) street parking for the cars.

Anything off Broomfield Road is nice too. Looking at a map, Melbourne is to the left of that, but near the main road has nice parts.

A lot of people like Chelmer Village. Personally I think it's like Butlins. It's a trek from the town centre and has this pedestrianized centre with shops that smacks of holiday village. But each to their own.

If you're getting the train to work you're probably aware it's change at Shenfield onto the metro line to Romford (at the weekend trains from Chelmsford stop at Romford, but not during commuter periods). Still probably better than driving given the A12 traffic in rush hour.

In terms of distance to the station, I know someone who lives in Sunrise Avenue - look that up on the map and it's a 20 minute walk, so that should give you a radius. It's actually quite hard to get really close to the town centre (I live 10 mins from Witham station and refuse to walk further lol), but the town bus system is good.

As a town to live in, well my family like it. The town centre has most things you'd want, and there's no more trouble there than anywhere else nearby. As I said I lived there for six months with my mum, then moved out of home to Witham. I found Chelmsford a decent town with good amenities. To me it always felt functional, never homely, but maybe I wasn't there long enough. Probably would have bought there if I could have afforded anything 10 minutes from the station as I could in Witham though.

thanks for your reply, been looking at witham too, heard the a12 was bad and thats what kind of put me off driving, although i'm prepared to move further out to be able to get the house and space that we want.

I'll do as you suggested an pop into one of the EA's to get a map, at the moment I'm only looking at a map that shows places such as galleywood, little baddow, danbury. I like the look of houses in mayland but seems a long way out.

mrsc_4

My best friend used to live in Witham and really liked it, they used to travel to Chelmsford for shopping etc, they worked locally as well. They have now moved to Tiptree which is quite a way out but they found you got more house for your money.

Danbury is lovely as well (best friend is a teacher there) its a lovely school and a very pretty area.

Gillby1

I live in Chelmsford, and absolutely love it here. The only areas I would avoid are Melbourne (very rough) and the Forest Drive area - although you can get a lot more for your money in these areas, and I don't know from experience whether the reputations are justified.

I think that Chelmsford has everything you could want, really. Lovely park areas, frequent trains that take 35-40 minutes to London (when the trains are on time), great shops, varied nightlife and plenty of entertainment (small theatre, comedy nights, Odeon Cinema, alternative cinema, gyms and health clubs, football stadium).

Anything else you want to know?

robwend

well done stolt on your offer. . i saw the pics in the paper and knew it wouldnt take you long. come down to great wakering lol its wovley lol

Ransom

I'm in Tiptree, not too bad. A damn sight better than Romford where I grew up!

ukjoel

Please dont take this the wrong way but are you sure that Chelmsford prices are lower than Rayleigh prices. I appreciate Rayleigh is closer to London but any family property in Chelmsford in a good catchment area is going to be quite expensive.
Would be very interested to see what you get for your money when you go up there to have a look at the weekend.