Thoughts of moving to the area have reached the serious stage so would be keen to hear from anyone who can help give the inside skinny on specifics around schools (primary, both state and independent), commuting to the City, local facilities for the whole family and especially any less easy to discover negatives.

Oh, and the riding, obviously…

Used to live in Wycombe, just down the road. Out of the two I’d go for Amersham as it’s not on a silly little spur line of the tube. Also has faster diesel trains for commuting. Probably a bit more expensive to buy than Chesham. Other option is Wendover or Aylesbury which are the next big ish towns out, although not on the tube.

Riding wise you’ve got the Chilterns which I really like and also Aston Hill if you fancy something a bit more gnarr.

Not anymore but I lived near there in my teenage years. Bucks has grammar schools still, and Amersham has Dr Challoners which takes pupils who aren’t good enough to get into Aylesbury Grammar. The Nags Head was always the best for getting served underage, not sure if that’s still the case.

I imagine that’s answered all your questions.

I live in the area.

Primary schools – pretty good in Amersham. Elegani is tremendously oversubscribed, being in catchment is not enough being a very short walk is what you need. St Marys less so, but similar. Woodside is not so good.

Chesham – I don’t know.

My kids went to Hyde Heath infant school and then Great Missenden primary. Both very good schools.

Private schools – lots of them but I didn’t look as I wasn’t interested. People with kids at them seem to rate them. The one that stands out for me is Royal Masonic School (girls) in Rickmansworth – my daughters swim there and have friends who go there. By all accounts it’s a great school with a very nurturing culture.

Commuting – Met line is much better since the Olympics with new trains and signalling but it’s still a long journey. Chiltern Line is better I would say and also opens up Great Missenden and Prestwood as areas to look at.

Chesham is on a spur of the Met so less services overall. Spur is at Little Chalfont, so that may be worth looking at.

Riding – generally muddy in winter although this summer who can tell the difference? Lots of good riding in the area both on and off road. My club’s Summit. You could come along to the Summit 65 on 17th July if you want to check it out.

Negatives – high prices caused by all of us moving out of London. HS2 – construction will make a mess of the area between Hyde End and Wendover ruining the peace of one of my favourite loops but the tunnel is now all the way to Hyde End so minimal other disruption. Lots of UKIP voters. No decent pubs in Amersham on the Hill. Other than that, all good.

@greatape – I don’t think that’s true anymore – Aylesbury and Dr Challoners have different catchment areas.

Nag’s Head is now a posh restaurant with a bar. The Iron Lung has gone. Not sure where I’d go for underage drinking now – I’ll ask my daughters in about 6 years time.

And 11+ is definitely a negative for me (I went to a grammar school but under Thameside system so no exams). The amount of pressure it puts on 9 and 10 year olds is stupid.

Aylesbury and Dr Challoners have different catchment areas.

It was always so, but that didn’t stop us loudly claiming otherwise to our Dr Challoners bound friends 🙂

@thegreatape – cruel, juvenile and very funny!

Chalfont St Giles, so not far away. Son went to Dr Challoners School (grammar): good if a little elitist.Long term head teacher leaving this year. Daughter went to Chesham Grammar and loved it.Both kids doing well since leaving. Out of Chesham and Amersham I’d go for Amersham. Or Little Chalfont which also has an Underground service. As said before the riding can be muddy but not too bad if you know where to go.

🙂

My mother still lives in Prestwood. All in all, the Chilterns is a nice part of the world.

Thanks everyone.

I went to the RGS in High Wycombe about 350 years ago so I know the area a bit, and I have nieces at Borlase in Marlow so we’re eyes open to the pros and cons of grammar. It’s the primary schools we can’t work out. Looks like we might be priced out of Elangeni etc in Amersham so looking at Chesham. General opinion is that it’s ‘inferior’ to Amersham in some way but would be good to get more colour on what that means. If we can afford the house we want there and stretch other costs in the form of independent primary that might be a viable plan, but not if the immediate area has problems. To me it seems a nice enough town and I don’t see what the fuss is about Amersham new town so need educating on why it’s a bad idea…

Chesham can be a little “rough” allegedly . Misty Moon good for look-ins 😀

If money’s tight I’d recommend Prestwood and commute from Great Missenden – bike down the hill to the station in the morning.

Chesham’s big advantage is that it’s a proper small town with everything in walking distance of the centre including a theatre and proper pubs (including some rougher ones and some nice ones e.g. The Queens Head). Some parts are more expensive than Amersham on the Hill. Chesham Grammar is great. There are some (not very) rough bits but the same goes for Amersham.

A house in the old town near the Queens Head would be lovely.

Things to look out for – flooding. The Chess runs under the road at the bottom of the valley and there were bad floods a few years ago. The Victorian houses along the road have steps up to the front door for a reason! Shoudn’t be a problem but check.

What do people mean by rough in Chesham? A couple of places best avoided on a Saturday night, or anything that might be harder to stay out the way of?

Will look at Prestwood / Great Missenden too, thanks for the tip.

Rough = not very rough. I wouldn’t worry about walking through the town centre on a Saturday night.

I lived in Chesham for 6 years. Now live in Hyde Heath.

Cartridge school is ok. Not great. But cartridge area is a nice place to live. Chesham has more life than Amersham. Amersham can be a bit snooty.

Hyde Heath school is really good, that said my two go to great missenden.

Secondary Chesham high is really good if you can get in. Park is on the turn to he better apparently.

Ours are likely to go to gm.

11+ is an issue, but many of the schools are very good regardless. We thought about private, bit there was little advantage to be gained.

Love the area, can’t see us moving away. Especially where I am now.

Road riding is good. Off road is muddy pretty much all the time.

Thanks jobless. Hyde Heath is infants, I think. I’m guessing yous are older, hence Missenden, rather than some other reason not to use the local? And sorry, what’s Park?

We have twin boys, they’ll be starting Reception next September (2017), so the girls’ schools aren’t so relevant 🙂

Does anyone know much about Elmtree? Superficially Ofsted reports haven’t been so hot recently after a good spell, which seems odd.

I was brought up in Amersham, living there / Chesham Bois from the age of 4 until I went to university

My first school was Chestnut Lane, and then I was one of the first pupils to go to the newly opened Elangeni school (opened in 1973). In those days South Bucks still had a 12+ secondary school entry system and I went on to Dr Challoners Grammar School. It was all boys then, but there was a sister school – Dr Challoners High School in Little Chalfont for girls. The main co-ed school for 12+ was Chesham High School

We moved to a new house on arrival in Amersham on a new Costain estate near the town centre – walking distance to there and all the key schools in the town

At the time there was a lack of larger food shops in Amersham (there is now a large Tesco in Old Amersham on the site of the old Bowyers pork pie factory), so we went to Sainsburys or Waitrose in Chesham

It really is a very pleasant area, though expensive for housing. Schools are good, it is pretty close to the M25 (if that’s a positive!!), and the commute into London (Met Line to Baker Street / Aldgate or Chiltern to Marylebone) is easy though a fair distance (and cost!)

There is limited non-food shopping in the area – High Wycombe or Watford are the nearest larger centres

Worth bearing in mind that local bus services are poor, so bear this in mind if you live some distance from the centre of Amersham or Chesham

I think that I’m right in saying that the nearest A&E services are Watford General or Stoke Mandeville (Wycombe used to be the nearest but these closed a few years ago)