JulieW

Our daughter is starting at Harris Primary Kent House in September. We have been very impressed with what we have seen so far and I am sure she will be happy there. The catchment area for Alexandra Infants is tiny . It was our first choice but I am now actually pleased we got Harris. It has so much to go for !

How funny Indiana, we were at the Insotel Punta Prima in Menorca in June as well ! We have a 3 year-old and a 1 year/old and we had a great time. We also went last year and had a great time too. We were in the main part of the resort and it was absolutely fine. Our eldest loved spending time at the kids' club, the staff were just amazing. We are hoping to go back there next June before our daughter starts school !

Thank you all for the useful tips :)

We are refurbishing our new house and need to get new floors for the leaving/dining room and master bedroom. Any advice ? We have 2 young children so it must be easy to clean but I also want something that looks nice. Any advice welcome. Thanks !!

No problem ;)

Hi, I work full time so am only free at weekends. Hope to be able to meet up at some point! Julie

Thank you all for the tips! We will be getting several quotes but definitely more tempted to go with a local builder/carpenter...

We just bought a house and would need to build fitted wardrobes in our bedroom as well as our daughter's. Have been reading some very good ave very bad things about Sharps! Could anybody give advice and contact details of companies I could get in touch with? Thanks!

Thank you zoal for the tips, we have decided to go with Harradines. As we have 2 young kids we are keen to get some extra help with the packing and just want as little stress as possible!! Getting excited now!!!

Great news lizzichu!! We are moving on May 22nd. My son turned 1 last Thursday :) Shoe.lane did you know if Cator Park Montessori has any availability? We are competing on May 8th so will be coming over to do some decorating before the 22nd. Maybe we could meet, even for a very short time so our children can meet? I will PM you both and see if we can organise something! Good news all around!!!

I am French too and moving to Penge next month Marion! Would be great to meet up!

Great thanks! Somebody from Harradines is coming to ours on Friday to provide us with a quote!

thank you!

Could somebody give me contacts for a good removal company please? Many thanks!

So, we exchanged contracts yesterday and are ready to move to Penge ;) The plan is to move end of May so really interested in making connections with families in the area. My daughter is 3.5 and my son is 1. I think the change might be a bit hard for my daughter so if she could make new friends in Penge that would be great. Also, it seems impossible to find nursery places in the area. Would anybody have any tip? We will carry on commuting to ED for the time being but ideally a nursery in Penge/Beckenham would be better. House prices seem to have gone up again in the past few weeks. When will it stop!!??

Hi lizzichu, Indeed we have children of the same age! Hopefully we should find out by next week whether we get the house or not and I really hope we do! Penge seems to be the place to go for! I called 3 nurseries and none of them have spaces until January 2015 at least...so we might have to keep commuting to ED for a while to take the children to nursery there...not ideal but there is not much we can do about it. I will be in touch once an exchange date has been confirmed...I cannot wait!!

Our valuation is happening tomorrow so a bit nervous but once/if everything goes ahead let's get in touch shoe.lane! We are close to Parish Lane.

We have had our mortgage application accepted so getting very excited about moving to Penge too! The challenge is to find a nursery, waiting lists are very long unfortunately. Would be great to organise a meet up in Spring time with people new to the area!!!

We have just put an offer on a house not far from Penge East and it has been accepted! We have a 10 month-old and a 3 year-old and have seen some good nurseries and outstanding primary school (Alexandra infant). I think the area is changing for the best, there is even a Blue Mountain Cafe on Maple Road! We live in ED at the moment and of course we know that Penge is not as nice but houses are more affordable and Beckenham and Crystal Palace are very close. A few very nice mums who live there have told me a lot of positive things about the area.

Strawbs are you still looking to buy one? Very likely I will be selling mine very soon. My son loved it but he has grown out of it...

Hi all, We live in ED but like so many of you we can't afford to buy there. We have put an offer on a house close to Alexandra Infant school and it has been accepted so hopefully we will be moving to the area this Spring so keen to meet people there! We have 2 young children, one is 9 months and the other 3 year-old. Would anybody have recommendations for nurseries? Not sure we will be able to leave our kids in their ED nursery as it might be a bit of a treck to drive them there and back and go to work...it looks like the Penge area is changing for the best. House prices are actually getting quite high now! We had to go into a bidding war to get ours!

And what is Belmont like? Thanks!

Thank you all for the very useful tips. David_carnell 's quote about the Daily Mail comparison is a cracker! My husband and I enjoyed reading your post very much! We have decided to take a drive towards Belmont/Cheam on Saturday just to have a feel of the area. Ideally we would rather stay around ED, Beckenham would be our choice if we can afford it but we thought we might investigate further afield. I love the Richmond area but even Ham seems to be too expensive for us. I might have more questions after Saturday. Thank you all again!

Worcester Park is actually very good for us in terms of transports. Raynes Park probably too expensive for us!

Hi Mustard, thanks for the tips, will check New Malden. I work in Chiswick so ideally would travel via London Victoria or Clapham Junction. I shall get on with the research!!