Considering moving to Slough/Maidenhead area?

Caro75

Hello,

I am currently living in Hemel Hempstead. And because my husband found a job near Heathrow (we don't have the exact location yet), we were considering moving towards the M4/M25 interchange. Basically, I started doing some searches about some locations and I read good things about Maidenhead (also about Datchet, Iver & Windsor) and not many good things about Slough (mainly Britwell). It looks like people want to move out of Slough instead of move in. Because we don't know the area at all I really would appreciate as much information as possible about it.

Basically we are looking for a quietish area with good primary schools.
Also are there any areas to avoid? Any feedback welcome.

Thanks in advance

Caro

Murtle

You have PM

skylight

Okay - so we have some fantastic Grammar Schools (Langley Grammar and Slough Grammar) the the ninth (from last) WORST secondary school (Beechwood), so there is a fair plethora to chose from! Good College and University.

Castleview catchment is the nicest area in Slough (Langley M4 nr Jct 5) with the best primary school (Castleview!) The rest of Slough is very heavily built up. There is nowhere else to build on, so there are currently masses of political arguments about greenbelt etc. Peoples gardens are turning into blocks of flats.

AVOID like the plague, Manor Park, Baylis, Priory and Britwell (in that order!). Slough was basically built up just before and after the war and most areas look like council estates (and nothing wrong with that - I live here, but not neccessarily everyones cup of tea). Wexham, Cippenham and parts of Langley best places to be.

good bits - 2 shopping centres - Europes largest Tesco being built - ice rink - 2 leisure centres - multicultural - 10 screen cinema - and the high street has a pub crawl to die for (actually, bad analogy as people have.....)

Datchet Okay - busy through traffic though but pretty and naff secondary school. Avoid Horton (next village along - I had a 5yr old stone my car while mother laughed.)
Windsor only "sounds" better because its Royal. Its going downhill fast, but staying ridculously expensive. Maidenhead is okay. Don't know it that well - but avoid Cox Green. Holyport is nice. (Both areas just outside Maidenhead).

Thought of Warfield? (Windsor and down a bit! Not as far as Bracknell) Fab schools, fab houses, but a !!!!!! to get to the M4 (cos you have to fight through Windsor)

burbs_2

i lived in Bracknell for a year and it was nice. easy to get to the m4 but is probably a bit too far

chaliepud

OH works nr Heathrow, and commutes from Lightwater (next to J3 of M3), approx 25 min journey, even through traffic works, big village , good schools and great country park. Really depends what you re after from where you live, but Lightwater was the best we could find within 1/2 hr of Heathrow
H

Serco_is_crap

Have you considered Ascot, it not on the Heathrow flight path and is quiet apart from the Race days which do not commence until June 06 now due to rebuidling of the Racecourse.
The houses are expensive, but the schools are good and class sizes kept fairly small - if going down the Private route you are almost spoilt for choice ahaving two very young children myself it is a place where you can raise kids far better than you would in London ie. cleaner air, easier access to parks and fewer safety concerns with kids playing outside.
There are no fast food restuarants so you don't get the usual problems associated with them.

Hope this helps.

Lemoncurd

We've just been through this, we work near Slough and wanted to move somewhere fairly close with good local schools. I was keen to move to a village location, somewhere quiet with a bit of greenery around.

Having lived in Cippenham for 18 months a few years ago we'd completely ruled Slough out. I just didn't feel safe there, I had to report stuff to the police twice (the only times I've ever contacted the police in my life), there were joyriders zooming past nightly and often burnt out or abandoned cars nearby.

The areas we looked at were:
Datchet: ideal location for us but after trying to push my daughter in her pushchair through the village centre at 5pm on a weekday decided against it as it was just too busy and noisy. We'd already ruled out everything the Horton side of the village centre as we drive that way daily and often see gangs of youths and police cars.

Ascot/Sunninghill and Sunningdale: We mainly looked at North Ascot because of the good schools but found it a bit uninspiring, the houses seemed poor value for money and weren't particularly pretty. Ascot High street is a bit drab.

Windsor: Town centre is lovely but most of the housing is to the West of Windsor and again not worth the premium you pay for living in Windsor.

Holyport: looked at lots of houses here but it felt a bit estatey also got motorway noise, if we were going to live here we might as well live nearer town with more of the conveniences. Moneyrow Green just down the road however was lovely.

In the end we chose a place nearer Maidenhead Town Centre, just North of Bray. The area was nice, short walk to town, nearest primary school is one of the best in the area (based on results), close to the river, on the edge of the town and convenient for A4 and M4.

Rex_Mundi

And there was me wondering the other day if there were any other MSErs round these parts.

I live in Burnham. Pretty much halfway between Slough and Maidenhead. It's not too bad round this way. A few problems with gangs of kids hanging round, but pretty quite otherwise.

I only came on to tell the other locals it's Burnham donkey derby and funfair next Saturday (28th) at Burnham Park. Normally loads for the kids to do there.

julesdoris

Hi Caro75, I have lived in Slough all of my life im now 31.
I really would'nt recommend moving here.Its the pits.
I have 2 children aged 10 and 8,we always do stuff out of the area!
I never go for a night out in Slough.
Theres a website: www.upmystreet.com if you type in sl2 ( slough postcode) it will tell you about house prices,crime rates,schools etc.
Hope this has been of some help.
Good Luck