Hi! We’ve been living in Peckham Rye for years and now looking to buy (myself, GF and soon to arrive baby boy!) in Forest Hill or Honor Oak. We don’t know the area super well, so looking for all your advice on nice quiet roads (toddler services nearby would be a bonus!) within walk of the overground lines. There seems to be a lot of properties for sale on Devonshire Road - why is this? Is it noisy? (From traffic/trains?) …Any advice would be welcome 
I think that the number of Devonshire road properties on the market merely reflects the length of the road, the number of purpose built flats on the road, and the number of large houses that have been converted into flats. The number of properties for sale/rent on Devonshire road is far less than a year / 18 months ago, but that probably reflected more movement in the housing market at that time. In short, there is no exodus, so don’t worry.
I think there was a post on here earlier about the volume of traffic/issues with parking on Devonshire Road. It is a famous rat run. You should be able to search and find it.
Timbo - we made the move from Peckham to Forest Hill a few years ago and love living here. It is friendly, green and the transport links are great and whilst London Road is noisy a lot of the roads off it are quiet and very leafy.
You may need to make your peace with steep hills if you want to live round here but if you are prepared to persevere with some of the steeper residential roads you will be rewarded with a quiet and leafy area to live.
There are lots of possibilities - mentioning just one that seems to tick your boxes is the triangle of roads Stanstead/Rockbourne/Rojack - very quiet (although part of Stanstead is opposite the train line), there’s a local nursery (montessori), very close to the station etc.
I don’t live on Devonshire but it is notoriously busy with traffic (often gridlocked due to parking problems/narrow road). I would generally say that the residential streets around Honor Oak (i.e. to the east of the railway) are a bit quieter than most roads in Forest Hill, but that Forest Hill probably has a little more going on in terms of shops, pubs, restaurants etc. So it depends what your priorities are. Both are great places to live.
I think you’ll be driven by finding a property you love and deciding which compromises you’re happy to live with on any given street. Anywhere in Forest Hill or Honor Oak will provide a great base for a young family.
Just be careful of the school catchment areas, particularly on the west of the tracks. There are some roads that often fall outside most local catchment areas and you will be travelling further than you might plan to get to a primary school.
I think you should consider school catchment areas (which change each year but are typically quite small) as you have a little one on the way - in 4 years time when you are applying for a school you don’t want to find out you have bought in a blackspot outside of all catchment areas. I think this is an issue on quite a few roads, and on some parts of Devonshire Road.
In terms of your requirements, I don’t know FH that well, but in terms of HOP, taking into consideration primary schools, distance to the underground, quiet roads I would look in HOP at roads like Bovill, Whatman, Garthorne and around. These are all quiet due to barriers stopping them being used a a rat run, are generally in the catchment area for Dalmain (and roads further down likely for Stillness), 5 10 minutes walk to the station and HOP high street.
If you could afford Lowther Hill I’d recommend that, but it’s not low budget…
Good luck.
Hello, Stillness is a nice road, also look at Riseldine Road down to Holmesley Road they have good walking access to both Honor oak Park and Crofton stations and you are still in good catchment areas.
I agree with all the comments here. Our road Kilgour is lovely. We are on the set of roads off of Grierson Road (same as Holmesley). We have quite a few young families along here.
Ok, thanks all!! Awesome advice - we saw a place in Perry Vale today just off Sunderland Road. Seems nice - 10 mins walk to the station and leafy streets. Any thoughts?
Tay mount Rise.
A no through road very peaceful children play outside and its very quiet.
Just over the road from Sainsbury, 5 min walk to tube easy access to East dulwich and horniman gardens.
We’ve lived here 6years and love it.
Lovely neighbours too
I used to live on Rockbourne Road & It’s a great Road for Victorian Houses, peace and quiet, and a chilled lifestyle- though personally I love living on Dartmouth Road now - right in the mist of what goes on in our area. I love it 
I think the full post here was generally good, but be careful buying a place with any school expectations unless you’re very close indeed. Between Whatman and Agnew there’s been a bit of a dead zone where you fall outside the catchments of Dalmain and Stillness in recent years.
@maxrocks keep it down.
We don’t want to make it too easy for people. The hill is specially designed to keep people away from finding out about our perfect little community.
And there are other streets around that are almost as nice; Little Brownings, Thorpewood Avenue, Dunoon Road, Canonbie, Westwood Park, Benson Road, Garlies Road, Allenby Road, Garthorne Road, Brockley Rise, Lowther Hill, Round Hill, Radlett Avenue, The Fieldings, Mount Ash, Horniman Drive, Liphook Crescent, Sunderland Road, and Vancouver Road. I’ve probably picked out some of the most expensive roads and there are plenty of other nice roads between all of these - by which i mean to include almost all of SE23.
Stop telling everyone where you live Michael, Taymount Rise is lovely, especially for skiing, sledging, and snowboarding down the hill in winter time 
Oops, I might get myself in trouble now 
I’ll wear a disguise next time & hope I’m not seen on a sledge
It’s a good spot, you get a fair amount of traffic through Perry Vale but it’s not intolerable. Some very attractive period properties in that immediate area, especially what are called the Christmas houses (designed by architect Ted Christmas, with distinctive external features). I’d happily live there and you’re very close to the centre too.
I can’t think of a street in FH that I would advise you to actively avoid as it’s a great area overall. Depends on priorities. As a general rule you will get more value east of the railway line and more the further east you go as you start hitting the Catford boundary.
I’ve no qualms with Sunderland Road. It’s wonderfully quiet and the neighbours in the main are friendly. If you choose the Perry Vale ward side of Forest Hill be prepared for charges that you’re on the wrong side of the track.
When I hear that I simply remind people my walk home after the pub is downhill. Not up.
I guess some people were not brought up with the natural ability to stagger uphill.
I find I can get up the hill quicker in the dark after a few drinks.
I think everybody on my street has a sledge in their house/garage. But you do need to be prepared to be cut off in the winter. Sometimes the snow is so bad that we all have to stay home and have a snowballl fight work from home, rather than risk the icy hill to and from work.
I live on Duncombe hill in HOP. My side of the road and the opposite side of the road on Lowther hill have private access to Brockley Hill Park… one of only two private parks in London. There’s a great community organising events - bbqs, tennis tournaments, fireworks etc. I don’t have kids but it seems the most amazing place for kids to grow up and play.
I backed onto it also and have 2 young children - it’s amazing for them. Of course we are very lucky with Blythe Hill just up the road also, so having this little wood that can be directly accessed from our back garden, with no roads etc around it is truly amazing.
I’ll see if I can dig our a picture of the last time it snowed in there.Also I really should have mentioned Duncombe Hill on my post further up - think I had Dalmain catchment in my mind as opposed to Stillness.
Overall most areas are good. The not so great areas are pretty obvious. Anywhere on the South Circular (for health and noise reasons). The end of Devonshire Rd towards Forest Hill station (its obvious when you go and look). The ambulance station at the bottom of Manor Mount is perfectly fine. They are always on call and they only change shift there. They don’t turn the sirens on until they get on the South Circular, so there’s no noise that comes from it.
If you are concerned about dense social housing, they are also pretty obvious. Or you can look up the London depravity map.
On school catchments. Don’t believe a word any agent says. Measure it yourself using the official report from the Lewisham website. They are notoriously small and there are several areas which are black holes. This will restrict you massively if it’s a concern (and cost you!).
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Weird. It says last year the furthest place was 823m, and Ebsworth (rough calc on Google maps) is 250-300m at most. Having said that half the admissions were siblings. So that 823m could include a sibling. When I was looking at a property on Ebsworth a while ago, I remember the distance was hovering around 350-450m. I think the previous years reports have been removed from the website. I can’t find them.
But yes. The situation is pretty dire. And Dalmain has a massive housing estate next to it which probably makes up most of the intake.
Dalmain extended this year because Fairlawn had a bulge and is in very high demand. Expect it to return to the normal 400 or so meters next year.
It’s a nice place (and less than 10 mins to station from there). We are on perry rise and love it. Good schools/nurseries nearby and beautiful Mayow Park only a few mins walk.
Thanks Will! We’ve been wandering the neighbourhood and quite like the look of Aylward Road - you think a good choice? The estates to the south of Perry Vale and towards the station look fine to me - normal London flats…but presume they are all safe to walk through and no general problems?
I live three min from there and never had a problem in ten years, you already acknowledge London living and I wouldn’t worry about that location, there is no guarantee anywhere to be 100% save
we live not far from the Baptist Church in Perry Rise. been walking, driving and cycling up and down Perry Rise and Perry Vale to the station and Forest Hill centre for many years, all times of day and night and never encountered any unpleasant issues in the area. Usually plenty of other pedestrians about.
356 bus is useful if you are in a hurry. 75 bus goes to Lewisham/Catford. Not too far to walk to either Catford/Catford Bridge or Forest Hill stations so if one train line is out there’s usually another one that will do. Traffic on Perry Vale is a bit speedy, and there is the occasional accident. But socially a good place to live. The All Inn One is a very fine local.
Aylward is a nice quiet road away from the main traffic with a quieter walk to station option via the old church on the hill. Local fish and chip shop, dry cleaners, café, barbers , convenience stores and hairdressers in Perry Vale are all long established and friendly places. The local GP surgery and dentist are both excellent. Did I mention we like it here? It is the right side of the tracks after all.
We moved here 7 months ago and never had any problems at all. Very friendly neighbours and as Thor mentioned, along Perry Vale are some shops, the GP and a great caff. There’s a baby group at the church too. Feels safer than other areas we’ve lived in london and lots of good community events (and of course this forum). Good luck finding a place!
Perhaps consider the roads around Kilmorie Primary School as it is one of the larger primary schools (with a three form intake) and this reflects in the catchment area - although this year was larger than usual. It was recently awarded outstanding in all areas (that is virtually unheard of) and if you read the Ofsted report you can get a feel for the great community and supportive nature of the school. Do not worry about the size of the school as it has a strong community feel and the head teacher and everyone involved with the school are excellent. The wrap around care is very good especially now that it operates from the building that was previously the nursery as it is very well equipped and has a really nice feel - from 7:45am to 6:30pm.
I would back you up there regarding Kilmorie. I have old friends that work there & I’ve known the Head for a long time as well. It had just had an outstanding Ofsted, due to their hard work & commitment.
It was the word on the street when I moved in back in 2013 - good to see the catchment has increased since then.
Both sides of Ebsworth have definitely been in catchment for Dalmain since at least 2012 as I checked when I moved here!
We live close to Mayow Park. 10 mins walk to the station and very quiet, good community feel.
Buying in Forest Hill/Honor Oak? Guys: I think we’ve found the winner of the last Euromillions!
As a Devonshire road’er. I can say that whilst there is traffic and it does get busy, you only really notice this around peak commuting hours, but then this is Zone 3 in London…
Also if you move towards the middle of Devonshire road, its even less noticeable 
Fellow Devonshire Roaders here putting in a good word! We’ve been here almost four years; one of us drives to work every day, and really don’t find the traffic a big problem. Having easy access to Devonshire Rd Nature Reserve is fantastic. It’s about a three minute walk to the station as well as some fantastic pubs and coffee houses. Plus the views across Kent are amazing, and there are plenty of beautiful houses on the street.
Hi! We’re looking at a house on the edge of Brockley Hill PARK (AMAZING!) and my only concern is that it is on the main section of Brockley Rise. We have an 18month old and the park would be perfect for him to grow up in but the road would be less great. How busy does this road get?
Hi Becci
I live on Brockley Rise very near Whites Paint shop, so a bit further down from where I think you are looking at. The main road is busy, you have double decker buses, and during school dropoff time \ rush hour it is busy, more generally free flowing at other times. Cars can travel at pace down it at times. It’s not as busy as the South Circular, but there is no way of getting around it, it is a busy road. At least the police cars as a general rule now seem to have their sirens off compared to when we first moved here!
What I would say is we don’t notice it anymore (we’ve been here since 2005). We didn’t have doubleglazing when we moved in, and that has made quite a difference.
For us the positives far outweigh the negatives - and being able to head out into the back without packing a whole host of items for the kids, especially when they were younger, being able to pop back for a drink or the all important toilet make a huge difference. The back is truly special and for kids more so.
Good luck with your choice - if you want any more detailed information let me know and am happy to PM you.
Al
Thanks for your really helpful response! We’re still mulling it all over…
