Discover Hertford Online Forum

Reply ID 729

Which part of London are you moving from, Violet? Depending on what you are used to, anywhere in Hertford could be reasonable. I live on the Sele Farm estate which is generally accpeted as being one of the worst parts of Hertford. Compared to where I used to live (Finsbury Park) it is superb. For commuting into London, Hertford North station is much the better option. The train service is faster, more reliable and more frequent than that from Hertford East. You can get a train direct to Moorgate which stops at Finsbury Park and Highbury & Islington. Foxholes is a fairly new part of Hertford but is on the edge of town. It really depends on how much you can afford. If you've got plenty of money then Bengeo, Fordwich Rise and North Road would be a good choice. I'm not too sure about the area around Richard Hale school but from what I've seen it looks a good place to live. Be aware that there is the possibility of a big development by Hertford East station. I'd avoid that area as it will become a major congestion zone if it goes ahead. There are some new flats which have sprung up recently in the town centre, prices of which seem to have rocketed. Cheapest 2 bedroom houses are now pushing £160k even on Sele Farm. What I can say for sure is that I'm glad I moved here 8 years ago.

Reply ID 730

Hi Violet I moved here about a year ago now from london, and it was the best move I ever made. Yes house prices here are increasing, but if you're moving out of london you get a lot more for your money here. only problem is public transport... hertford north is definately better than hertford east, but trains take so long to get into london as they stop everywhere along the way... however, i think it's worth it to be able to live in a nice place and not feel that i'm going to get mugged when i step out of my front door!! your best bet is to come and spend some time up here - househunting is a good way to see different areas and find out what you like and don't like about a place.

Reply ID 731

Violet I moved back here from Buntingford about 8 years ago and as others have said, best thing I ever did. As regular readers will know I live on Folly Island. In easy reach of two stations, schools, town centre shops etc. Only problem if you read the appropriate board is the parking. As we don't need a car this is not a problem for the Sloop John B family. However prices do start for a simple 2 bedroom terrace at about £180000+ Can only give you the same advice as my manager when I was waiting for an off licence. Look at it in the morning, afternoon and night. Always plenty to eat and drink in Hertford and Fun Day coming up so why not spend a Saturday up here looking around and pestering estate agents.

Reply ID 732

I am a London escapee too and would never live back there in a million years. Hertford is actually one of the more expensive towns in the local commuter belt area and not especially cheap - even compared to most of normal London areas. However it is well worth it and you can still get small houses for less than £200k As for schools - I have yet to hear of a bad one. They are all performing well and are in lovely environments compared to London schools. Hertford North is an easier commute than Hertford East but it depends where you want to get to - let us know and we will advise. Hertford East is really an on-foot station and Hertford North is "out of town" a bit (unless you live up that way) and has an expensive car park. I have two small children and have been very impressed with the schools and day nurseries here. Though be aware that day nurseries are very few, full and expensive - about £850 - £900 per month for five days a week babies.

Reply ID 733

Violet - I forgot to say - Don't come up here on a Sunday because most of the shops and estate agents are closed (quaint, eh?). However, it might be a good time if you just want to cruise around and look at the houses and river. You could pick up a Hertford A-Z and a local paper (Mercury) in Woolworths on a Sunday - the paper has pages of houses for sale.

Reply ID 750

Hi Violet Now you can see from the responses received why my children can't afford to buy in Hertford. However, that is no reason why you should not move into the area. As for Newgirl and her comment about Sunday being quaint I can only presume that she has a problem with a county town being quiet on a Sunday when local poeple spend quite a bit of time walking on the Meads or enjoying the surrounding countryside. However,I would also point out that we do have an high level of burglary and, unlike London, the only police you see are those in cars! Also havign been here over 20 years I am no keen to venture into Hertofrd on a Friday or Saturday night because Hertford does attract youngsters from over 20 miles away. In the main they are youngsters just expressing themselves but there has been a marked change in their behaviour. Having had my gripe it is a wonderful place to live and your child would benefit from the enviroment and being able to (literally) step out of the door and walk in the countryside. Also as the others have said schooling is good, there is a large Tesco on the edge of town (by Hertford East station),but shops - forget it, little choice. However, if you are into cds try Tracks for knowledge. Good Luck.

Reply ID 752

Hey CJ - what makes you think that "quaint" is an insult? It wasn't the last time I looked in the dictionary. I was just trying to let Violet know that the Estate Agents would probably be closed. I suppose the level of burglary is quite "high". I was horrified to read about that audacious thief who ran off without paying for the Washing Up liquid on the front cover of last week's Mercury. What is Hertford coming to?

Reply ID 754

Thanks all for your advice, on the whole seems pretty positive. As suggested think it's worth spending some time there and getting a feel for the different areas. I guess living in surrounding villages is going to make commuting hell. Great to hear about good schools and nurseries. Cheers Violet Edited by - violet on 17 Mar 2004 12:41:25

Reply ID 757

CJ where did you get the idea that the burglary rate in hertford is high, and what were you comparing it to. You can`t have been comparing it to any other surrounding towns or even with in the home counties as I`ve got the figures in front of me and they din`t sggest it was that bad in comparison.

Reply ID 758

Burglaries per 1,000 population: East Herts: 3.1 English Average: 6.7

Reply ID 759

Sorry to be slow in replying but have been away from my computer. Burglaries. I like the statistics but would not personally compare East Herts with the UK average but suggest Hertford with a like sized town. I would also like to point out that quoting statistics does not show the story as you fail to state the conviction rate for our force area - perhaps you can, but not the arrest rate. However, I am aware Herts is in the average bracket. Of course I am biased having suffered three recorded (no arrests or recovery and one,garden shed theft, with a ticket for reporting it (apparently that is the police way of saying the community office will contact you -they didn't and everytime I phoned they promised to get back (2002). I have never in 15 years had any feedback and at the time of the two house thefts had a very high degree of disinterest from the police and absolutely no ability in communicating. Sorry, they did, they took our finger-prints and failed to return them! Where I live in Hertford the police man on the beat disappeared over 10years ago and the only police I see are those in cars. However, as I originally said I would not use that as a reason for not moving here. I do though,once again, have a slight problem with Hertford becoming a commuter town, where poeple whose families have been here much longer than I, cannot expect, because of the property market, their children to live local.

Reply ID 767

I wonder if anyone takes the Times (to read on their journay to work - by train)? Today's issue had two very interesting articles that I would commend to you -"Market towns losing their souls" page 9 and "New Labour has declared war on the countryside and we are powerless to act" page 18. I have voted Labour for the past 10 years but..... Comments please.

Reply ID 769

cj Which part of town do you live in? Having had a chat with a neighbour tonight I am considering standing as a councillor.

Reply ID 772

Hi John, Without breaching the purpose of chat rooms - privacy, all I will say is Castle. However, I would be interested in knowing your area and whether you are looking at Town, District or County. My problem,whilst loving politics, is how national politics affect the lives of local poeple through influencing local decisons eg.John Prescott and his East of England band, rather like Westminster too far away for me. Personally I prefer to see HCC, you can identify the poeple involved and they have to live in the community and be able to explain to "the man in the street" their decisions, whereas Westminster telling us that it is good to put concrete on every bit of greenery we have and then go home to Hull or whereever,sticks in my craw. Good luck if you decide to stand.

Reply ID 2276

I am really surprised this forum fizzled out, just when things seemed to be hotting up!!

Reply ID 2278

[url][/url]http://www.homecheck.co.uk/hcf/Welcome.do;jsessionid=C2C8D69113BFB5D8DAEF772F17DBD827 Check out the above just pop in a postcode for the area of interest, brings up some really good info, i'm sure members on here will assist in giving postcode guides for different areas of hertford, or I think royal mail website has a postcode finder, so you can type in the area and it will give you the postcode. Hope this helps, not sure how accurate the info is, but will surely help when thinking about moving area, try comparing to where you currently live you may have a surprise!

Reply ID 2279

crime This data is specific to the local authority indicated below. Local Authority East Hertfordshire District Council Police Force Hertfordshire Offence Locally Per 1000 population Locally Nationally Robbery 51 0.4 1.3 Theft of a motor vehicle 306 2.4 4.5 Theft from a motor vehicle 829 6.4 10.0 Sexual offences 54 0.4 0.9 Violence against the person 1,032 7.9 16.6 Offence Locally Per 1000 households Locally Nationally Burglary 439 8.3 14.9 That didn't come out very well, firstly it lists the type of offence, then the number of offences within that classification, then the average for this area, then the national average. Hope you can work it out!! Interestingly theft from a motor vehicle is high, but when you take into account the above average statistics for this area, for the number of cars per household, in a roundabout way its actually quite a good figure! Wouldn't comment on how the police deal with it when it does happen as i have been lucky (touch wood) to date.

Reply ID 2280

Tried the HomeCheck thing on my property and the results weren't very accurate. For instance, apparently there are 27 Sports Complexese within 1 km of my property - er, I don't think so.

Reply ID 2282

That potcode checker suggests a high risk of flooding for my street. As I live at the top of the hill - I would suggest that the information is flawed[;)]

Reply ID 2287

Yep, I think the street specific part is a bit off, i expect it is more an area rather than a street. As for sports complexes i expect it will be taking into account all clubs which I could believe.

Reply ID 2718

If I had a pound for every friend I had shown around Hertford and who then moved here I'd have...........errrr............2 quid.

Reply ID 2935

I agree wiz especially as East of England is now coming to the boil!

Reply ID 2940

What I would really like to know is.... Violet.. are you out there? did you finally decide to move to Hertford?