How Wood, St. Albans - good for a young family?

Stalemate1123

We like a property in How Wood, St. Albans and are potentially planning to offer on it. Our budget is limited and this property ticks all of our boxes.

I and my wife work in London so the 1 hour commute (door-to-door) via Watford or St. Albans should be doable.

Based on online research, local schools and area seem good. We are a young family with a 5-month old child and OK with village quite life. We can go to London or St. Albans on weekend, if needed, for entertainment.

Does anyone know How Wood well? Is it generally a nice area and would you recommend it?

Thanks

bramptonbrew

Hello! I currently live in Watford, so I'm not sure about the How Wood area itself. What I did want to mention is the Abbey Line (St Alban's Abbey to Watford) is replaced by a rail replacement bus more often than not, so if you'll be relying on this to get to Watford for commuting, just be mindful that the journey might be a bit longer because of traffic. If you can get to St Alban's City station easily enough (bus or car), that line into London tends to be more reliable (it goes into St Pancras, as opposed to getting in to Euston from Watford). 

ssparks2003

I grew up in the area (Bricket Wood) as has already been said the Abbey Flyer does have some issues running all the time so there is Occasionally a replacement bus service (I don't think it is as bad as has been implied but my knowledge may be a little out of date) st Albans train is 19 mins to King's x on a fast train, but factor getting in and out of St Albans and parking might not be that plentiful as I think they built on a lot of the old station car park. It a nice area but amenities will be limited so as long as you are content to hop in the car it's a nice area, my parents still live in Park Street and have done for the last 28 years.

Stalemate1123

Thanks. This is good to know. We are hoping to work 2-3 days from home so issues with commute might be a bit manageable. 

For some reason, I have not been able to find any thread here and on other forums/social media platforms where people talked about moving to How Wood or talked generally about it which was a bit concerning. It does seem an overall nice area but I'm worried that something may be amiss here.

Bad_Accountant

Stalemate1123 said:

Thanks. This is good to know. We are hoping to work 2-3 days from home so issues with commute might be a bit manageable. 

For some reason, I have not been able to find any thread here and on other forums/social media platforms where people talked about moving to How Wood or talked generally about it which was a bit concerning. It does seem an overall nice area but I'm worried that something may be amiss here.

I lived in St Albans 7 yrs. Personally I think no-one has discussed it much simply because it's a small village near much larger towns. There's nothing wrong with it as far as I know. Check the local crime stats and the schools, look for articles about the town in the Herts Advertiser paper to see what happens there. Check local planning applications. Walk around the area at different times of day/night and see if you feel comfortable there. I wouldn't live there personally as it's a bit too far from amenities on foot for me and I don't drive, but if you like it go for it.

I used the St Albans Abbey link for about 5 months between 2016-2017 and it ran mostly fine - albeit it is a very infrequent service. Currently not running I think, due to COVID-19 reducing the number of commuters using the line.