shorri

Desperately trying to find somewhere to go (the two of us plus 18 month old) for a weekend soon... As usual think self catering only option (ie need two bedrooms). Have been searching for hours on i/net for everything from caravan parks to holiday cottages without much luck. Ideal scenario is a bit of countryside (was thinking maybe New Forest but not fussed). Does anyone know of a bolt hole they could recommend - somewhere nice and fairly accessible???? Someone must have cracked the "got to have a bit of an escape but can't leave little one behind" problem before us!!! Any advice very gratefully received Thanks

Anyone been? Thinking about going on Honeymoon there in Nov. Any recommendations welcomed...

James - not only does it sound like Bell End but it's got a Prince Albert http://fancyapint.com/pubs/pub1686.html

Yeah but Ratty, did they make you go to best and final TWICE! Once is fair enough, but it has to be the end of the story. Totally unacceptable is to realise that there are lots of high offers and that some more cash can be squeezed i.e. go back for another round of offers accepting that say from eight, four will pull out in disgust but the rest are sufficiently emotionally involved to bid even higher... Poor form really

We bought my house through Haart and whilst we were delighted to land the one we got, they behaved pretty terribly. There was a feverish bidding war and Haart came to us asking for our "best and final offer" stating that the vendor didn't want to go to sealed bids. Two days later we got a call saying that it was going to sealed bids after all and what did we want to bid?! I.e. what was our "final final offer". Shameless. I was livid but such was the heat in the market and our desire to move we went for it anyway. Maybe it's too much to ask an estate agent to marshall their buyers but there should be a code of conduct. To cap it all, we had to wait 6 hours on moving day (on the pavement on LL) to get the keys. In the end, sick of waiting for them to call us (we had been phoning them all day to check progress) my fiancee went into the office to see what was going on only to find that the keys were there and had been for at least an hour! I'm not sure Haart is any worse than any of the others though - my experience over the years is that estate agents, as a rule, live up to their image: incompetent and unscrupulous!

Fair play Bob. I am sensitive to that point of view. Market forces and all that. With respect to "need"; I have no idea. With resepect to "deserve"; it's subjective and I am biased as previously stated. But really your point is what?

Pongo - very good. SeanMacGabhann - get your point, forget the "posh" bit. My concern is more around the opportunity to create an attractive stretch of shops that enhance the community feel and avoid yet another uninspiring stretch that we see all around London (complete with Texas Chicken etc). Of course I am biased cos I live there and yes it's a middle class perspective before anyone wants to get stuck in but it seems like BR is on the cusp and could go either way. With a bit of imagination (and funding) could be really good or, as Sandperson says, could just go backwards which would be a shame since progress has been made. By the way, Sandperson, I hear you on the size - def will never be a Lordship Lane - but I think it has enough properties to serve the local area, there are quite a few unoccupied at the moment. Mind you, how the Experiment/Brasserie is still in business f*ck knows - I've never seen anyone in there...

Not sure if there has been a previous thread on this topic, but are there people out there with views on Bellenden Road...? My take is that there was considerable investment a short while ago but little in the way of ongoing planning. It has the potential to be great and really the heart of "posh" peckham but without some kind of ongoing plan is in danger of drifting backwards. Some of it is relatively small things like the lights above the shops being broken/fallen down and the some of the AG bollards being hit by cars then not fixed, but there is also a larger piece around the policies for commercial properties (what should they be allowed to be used for, should they be allowed to be offices/storage or should they have to be retail etc.). Of course there's the argument that it's had a cash injection, other places now need attention etc., etc. but that's not the point of this post! The point is - does anyone else feel strongly that Bellenden Road needs a bit of a push to make sure it keeps going in the right direction and doesn't degenerate? If so are there views on how we could do something about it - pressure local council or anyone else??

Moved to the area last year due to the ED/Lordship Lane draw (predictable "drift" from Clapham like many others - cue abuse...). Ended up going for the Bellenden area and no regrets. SE15 postcode of course but discounted houses as a result. Safety wise no problems at all, in fact quite a community feel. As pointed out by Mike P absolutely nowhere in London is immune to trouble, I think the difference is in frequency. Friend of mine got held up at gun point on Goose Green (SE22!) at the end of last year but isolated incident and hasn't put him off living around here at all. So it happens, but there's a difference between the psyhological battering of continual insults/grief and one off things happening (unless you actually get shot, of course in which case I'd take the occasional "batty-boy" comment!). To the comments in the original post, a word on Peckham itself and the cross over into ED or other neighbouring areas. Yes, there are some undesirable elements in "real" Peckham (east and north of Rye Lane) although fewer than people think. But Rye Lane itself is a real boundary - west of it "posh" Peckham is completely different and in my experience doesn't suffer from proximity. Without wanting to start an ED/Peckham Rye debate, it also has the advantage of being close to both ED and Peckham Rye train stations which offer hugely flexible traval options (a prime reason for us moving here in the first place).

It does indeed look like it COULD be a carpet shop (has some kind of hanging/display rack situation going on). Just what Bellenden needs. In fact, I was only remarking to my girlfriend as we walked through the other day that a carpet shop would be a useful addition since we are already overrun with excellent bars and restaurants...

Thanks - should have searched first.

OK so it's Bellenden Road so not ED but does anyone know what the new shop 3 of a Kind is all about - looks close to completion but I still can't work it out. Not even sure if it is actually a shop.

I am a keen cyclist but let's face it - most cycle lanes in London are a waste of time. A total overhaul would be welcomed but spending ?X'000 on a "lane-ette" to get people over what is a very small stretch of pavement is largely pointless. It's not that much of a big deal to get over on a bike is it?! I for one would rather see the money spent elsewhere - like targeting the numerous people who think it's ok to walk their dogs through the area fouling the pavements and leaving it there for example....

Yes