Introducing some of the neighbourhoods we know and love
If you’re right at the beginning of this process and haven’t yet identified where you’d like to live, perhaps this area guide will help get your search started. Here, we take a look at some of the areas under our broad, er, pagoda – some of the places that we and our clients already know and love. If your area of interest is missing, let us know. And as ever, give us a call for free, no-obligation mortgage advice, any time.
Bushey
Something of a hinterland between London and Watford, Bushey high street falls within a conservation area in part thanks to its neo-Tudor and Gothic Tudor shop fronts. Here, you’ll find Matty’s Kitchen for great coffee, toasties, filled bagels and epic Malteser cookies and Vincenzo’s, helmed by pizza nerd Tom Vincent, for highly regarded Neapolitan-style pizza. The King George Recreation Ground is perfect for a coffee and a hilly stroll, with its own cafe and well-equipped playground. A few minutes up the hill, Bushey Heath has its own little high street.
Fast trains from Bushey go to London Euston in 17 minutes, and to Watford Junction or Milton Keynes in the other direction. The Lioness line takes around 41 minutes to Euston and five minutes to Watford. Bushey has all sorts of property, but is especially strong on detached family homes and mansion buildings converted into apartments. Bushey’s local authority is Hertsmere, where the average house price is £562,000 and the average price paid by first-time buyers is £420,000.
Looking for mortgage advice in Bushey? Give us a call, any time.
Watford
Right next door, our home base is a little more varied in terms of property types – there are lots of flats, Victorian terraces and semi-detached homes. Watford is less leafy than Bushey – known more for its shopping centre, football club and the Harry Potter experience, but also for brilliant green spaces like Cassiobury Park, which has splash pools and a miniature railway. Oxhey Skate Park is popular with skateboarding dads, scooting toddlers and everyone in between. The queue of cars at Costco is famous, Watford-wide. Transport is pretty great, with fast trains to London Euston leaving Watford Junction roughly every 20 minutes and connections to St Albans, Milton Keynes, Birmingham, Glasgow and more. There’s also the Metropolitan line, which goes from Watford Underground Station to Aldgate via Wembley and King’s Cross. The average house price in Watford is £404,000 and the average price paid by first-time buyers is £353,000.
Want a Watford-based mortgage broker? Contact us.
Pinner
The birthplace of Sir Elton John and a brilliant base for those travelling into London for work, Pinner falls within the London borough of Harrow. Pinner has great schools and green spaces, and is popular with commuters seeking a bit of calm – it’s on the Watford, Chesham and Amersham arms of the Metropolitan line. There’s also the Lioness line from Hatch End, which is a mini neighbourhood of its own, with its own buzzing high street.
Pinner high street is picturesque, with sixteenth-century timber framed buildings – it feels like other high streets of north west London, like Muswell Hill or Hampstead. There’s a lively restaurant scene in Pinner – you’ll find Italian, Turkish, Indian, pan-Asian and Lebanese, plus pubs, cafes and dessert lounges.
Stanmore
Another London neighbourhood we know well, Stanmore also falls within the London borough of Harrow. It’s on the end of the Jubilee line, so also popular with clients who need to be in London for work. Stanmore homes include modern flats and roomy houses; there are a few well-known areas for impressive detached homes, including Priory Drive (described by the London Evening Standard as Stanmore’s Millionaire’s Row). Other roads to look out for are The Common, Aylmer Drive, Valencia Road and Gordon Avenue.
Despite being on the edge of London, and so well connected, it also has copious green space, commons, woodlands and wetlands. It’s popular with Jewish and Asian families and has strong family connections, with the majority of buyers choosing to stay in the area.
Need a mortgage advisor to help get your Stanmore property search underway? Get in touch.
St Albans
In a list of the Best Places to Live in 2025 in England and Wales (by Garrington Property Finders), St Albans ranked fifth, with neighbouring village Redbourn topping the chart. St Albans consistently does well in these lists because it’s a convenient commuter town (about 22 minutes on the Thameslink to St Pancras International), with tons of its own personality. It has an imposing cathedral with the longest nave in England and restored medieval shrines to St. Alban and St. Amphibalus. Plus, a Roman theatre, a fabulous twice-weekly market, country walks and great shopping.
There are various property types here, including period homes, modern apartments and new builds. St Albans is one of the most expensive places to live outside of London, with one in five homes in St Albans costing over £1 million. But the average house price is £637,000 and the average price paid by first-time buyers is £470,000.
Harpenden
Five miles from St Albans (and four miles from Redbourn), Harpenden is St Albans’ semi-rural, tree-lined little sibling, with a pretty Georgian centre, cricket green, great schools, numerous hair salons, lovely pubs and strong community feel. The high street is solid, with a good range of independents selling everything from chocolate to clothes to toys, and plenty of places to sit with a coffee or a glass of wine. Locals drift toward Godfrey’s for fantastic fish and chips on Fridays, and to Lussmanns for long Sunday lunches.
Harpenden Station is on the same Thameslink line as St Albans, with trains leaving every 14-ish minutes on busy mornings, and taking around 27 minutes to reach St Pancras International. It also – like St Albans – has a Waffle House, which is a selling point all of its own.
Want expert mortgage advice to help you fulfil your dream of living within walking distance of a Waitrose? Give us a ring for free, no-obligation advice, any time.
Chorleywood
About seven miles from Watford, Chorleywood was one of The Times’s best places to live in 2024, in a list based on: schools, transport, broadband speeds, culture, green spaces, and the high street. They described Chorleywood as “”a reassuringly unspoilt village near the Chilterns” and “a reminder of the virtues of a traditional historic commuter town”. The high street has some lovely independent shops and cafes, right next to the 250-acre common with golf course, bridleways and country walks.
Despite feeling thoroughly calm and villagey, Chorleywood is miraculously on the Metropolitan line. But if you want to get into London with any speed or regularity, you’ll be better off taking the Chiltern Railways line to London Marylebone, which takes about 30 minutes. Chorleywood’s local authority is Three Rivers where the average house price is £590,000 and the average price paid by first-time buyers is £429,000.
Rickmansworth
Chorleywood’s immediate neighbour Rickmansworth – or Ricky as it’s known to its friends – is vibrant and charming commuter town, with the bucolic bonus of the Grand Union Canal running straight through it. The towpath has lovely routes for walks and bike rides, and the Rickmansworth Aquadrome has open grassland, areas of woodland with oaks and willows, pathways and a play area – it’s popular for watersports and wildlife watching. In the warmer months, there are the sort of pub gardens you spend your whole life searching for in other neighbourhoods – the Coach and Horses is a favourite, whatever the weather. The Three Rivers Museum sits in an 18th century house on the site of the home of William Penn. It tells the story of the area’s social, artistic and business life.
You’ll find period homes, modern apartments and luxurious estates in Rickmansworth. There are lots of family homes in Croxley Green. Transport-wise, Rickmansworth is – like Chorleywood – on the furthest reaches of the Metropolitan line, and on the Chiltern Railways line to London Marylebone.
If you’d like to discuss your search in any of these neighbourhoods with a mortgage broker based in the area, contact us at Pagoda Mortgages, any time. We’re always happy to have a free, no-obligation chat.