Headley Down, show me a town where teenagers don’t try and bum cigs off you

Living in Headley Down, Hampshire

Oh my God people… Seriously? Are you kidding me? Have any of you lived in London? Glasgow? Leeds? Manchester?

I had to laugh at some of the reviews for Headley Down and thought I might throw a couple of comments in myself. Most of the other reviews are from 7 years ago and are from people who don’t even live there. Please show me a park where absolutely no one lets their dog poo and doesn’t pick it up. Or Kids ride scrambler bikes through the forest and the park. Or where teenagers don’t try and bum cigs off you outside corner shops. Let me tell you this happens where the houses cost 3, 4, even 5x the cost of a house in Headley Down.

Secondly, I’ve lived in Luton, Bristol and Birmingham as a contractor. Needles lie on the floor in the streets. Parents can’t let go of their child’s hand for fear they could be snatched. Some poor girl got shot at the bus stop outside the uni halls in her first week of uni because she wouldn’t hand over her mobile phone and a good friend who was walking with his girlfriend in Luton got attacked because they didn’t worship Allah.

How grim is your Postcode?

Headley Down has some beautifully expensive houses over by the fabulous common and even on the Heatherlands estate tidy 3 bedroom houses are commanding £225,000 now. There are some lovely pubs and places to eat if you trouble yourselves to look further than the food centre and Onestop. Every town has these undesirable places now, Headley and Grayshott are not much better. Please tell me what Bordon has going for it now its a Failed Eco town and the Military have moved out?

Headley Down is quiet, I feel safe going out any time of the night and my wife has no problem walking to the shops at 8-9pm at night too. Yes the area doesn’t have much for the Kids to do but the Kids that are here are on the whole good, friendly and certainly better behaved than the stuff that YOU reading this got into in the 1980-90s…….Yes im talking to you back when you could buy bangers and were eyeing up that dog poo bin!

Economically speaking try to find a comparable 3 Bedroom house within 70 miles for £180-200,000 that is in a better area? On top of this the Average housing rent is now £900-1200 and the rare 4 beds are asking £1400! This has REALLY changed the demographic of the heatherlands and wider Headley down area. 10 years ago you could buy a house here for 80-100k and this did see a huge influx of people who some (I’m looking at you people who have bought houses on the other side of Grayshott road) may class as undesirable. But the kids who 7 years ago may have shouted at you from the other side of the road have grown up and moved on.

We now have a huge diverse population in the Heatherlands Estate. Average income of the privately rented or owned households here is now £40K+ it has to be. We couldn’t afford to live here if it was any less! We have engineers, managers, It professionals, aerospace technicians and lots of other highly skilled people who have moved to the area after learning the secret that it is one of the only places you can buy housing in the south East for less than £200k that has: 4G cellular coverage,
fibre TTC Broadband (40 meg minimum),
excellent access to the local road network.
The tunnel means Central London, the airports and major industry centers can be reached in less than an hour,
And If you need to escape the beaches at West Wittering and shopping in Portsmouth/Southampton is all reachable in less than an hour. Top that off with some of the most beautiful places in the country right on our doorstep such as Ludshott Common, Waggoners Wells and the Devils Punchbowl….if you can be bothered to go out.

So really, having lived in a terribly scary large city, coming from a real hole called Gosport to now be settled here in Maple way on the Heatherlands Estate over 8 years ago. Grow up people, try to live happier less whingey lives by seeing the good in this. There is worse and you will always find the negative if all you see is the negative.