This one is for any Kendal locals.
Every town has its nice and not so nice parts.
Are there any particular residential areas of Kendal you would preferably avoid when looking to buy a house?
Thanks in advance!
Where’s nice:
Kendal Green, Greenside, Fellside, Windermere Road etc (Generally the northern side of town) and the old Sedbergh Road has some nice pads on it.
Where’s not so:
Would argue there’s nowhere in Kendal that’s particularly unpleasant. I’d be more focussed on the impact flooding, traffic and parking may have on your home.
We live on Windermere Road with Kendal Fell as our back garden, would recommend highly!
Avoid anywhere with a flood record.....Aynum Road, Castle Crescent area...for example. When you check for flooding remember much of the damage from Desmond didn't come from the river, but from run-off from Benson Knott. South of the town suits us - access to north Lancs crags, the Dales, and quick access to the M6. No real crap areas in Kendal - great place to live, good move!
Thanks WV and Ply, im really looking forward to moving to Kendal after wanting to for the past couple of years.
Absolute pleasure. Best of luck with your move. Exciting times!
As the others have said, nowhere desperate in Kendal - spend a couple of weekends here and you'll soon get a feel for it.
I live on Kendal Green. The north end of town with easy access to Windermere Road has the advantage of quick access to the Lakes without navigating the one way system around Kendal, and runs up onto Scout / Cunswick Scars, (if that is also your thing,) are on the doorstep.
I'm another one on the North Side, although the bottom of Windermere Road, parking is less good but I don't have to cycle up the hill at the end of every ride!
Agree that there are no particularly bad bits, a friend who was born here thinks there are but we all refer to them as "rough for Kendal". Agree about trying to avoid places that may flood, the East side got it worst but that was some pretty exceptional weather. While houses near the Kent did flood a lot of people had water come up through the floor as it was making its way to the river from the fells.
I remember when we first moved to Kendal we bought the local rag, the westmorland gazette and the headline was "toilets vandalised in windermere". We thought then, if thats the extent of the crime wave we can live with that. I'm not in Kendal anymore, we moved to the Eden Valley but its a nice town with a good vibe with no areas to particularly avoid. It just depends what you can afford.
"Boy caught kicking paper cup into shop doorway" was another Westmorland Gazette classic!
This is one of my all time Wezzy Gezzy favourites, albeit Milnthorpe focussed:
https://www.thewestmorlandgazette.co.uk/news/15030876.christmas-tree-still-...
As others have said Kendal has a few areas prone to flooding which should be avoided at all costs. Beyond that the very few chavs and addicts are mostly on Hallgarth, Kirkbarrow and Sandylands estates.
Thanks again everyone, really appreciate the local insider info.
Definitely aware of the flooding risk. There is a gov website that lists all places that have flooded and overlays it on the map, also gives the likelihood of future flooding based on previous.
https://flood-warning-information.service.gov.uk/long-term-flood-risk/map
Every time i look at a house and realise it's close to the river, no matter how nice it looks i discount it. I cant imagine how devastating it must be to have your home flooded.
I’m on High Tenterfell up by the golf course. Like those on Windermere Road, I am straight out of town onto the golf course, woods and the scars, don’t need to get involved with the one way system for most travel (since I mostly go into lakes or out to m6) and can easily walk into town. Suits me nicely!
I guess one other thing to consider is the importance of aspect to you. The west of the town is on a generally east facing hill and it’s easy to find yourself somewhere where you lose the sun over the hill quite early in the evening. We lose it at around 7.30 in peak summertime - not bad, but worth considering if that’s important to you. In return though, you do get nice views out over the town and to the hills in the east.
Have you looked at Staveley? It's a brilliant village full of climbers, paddlers, cyclists, fell runners etc. Really good vibe and community, although it also has a few flooding issues to avoid.
And it appears that at least half the population of Staveley own a campervan!
I used to live in a village on the edge of the Peak District and our local paper had "window cleaner's ladder stolen in Ashbourne".
We were having a giggle about it with our neighbour over a glass of wine. The following morning we drove off for a holiday and passed a huge collection of police vehicles. Turns out one of the cottages had been converted into a cannabis farm.
> Have you looked at Staveley? It's a brilliant village full of climbers, paddlers, cyclists, fell runners etc. Really good vibe and community, although it also has a few flooding issues to avoid.
I'm not sure about the people who live there, weird sorts, but it's got a great pub
> I'm not sure about the people who live there, weird sorts, but it's got a great pub
The Watermill is in Ings technically
You are all forgetting the 2007 burned office chair! I remember it 13 years later and I don’t live anywhere near Kendal!
https://www.andrewthomasmedia.com/blog/the-strange-saga-of-the-destroyed-ch...
You also need to consider the topography. It's true there are some nice places on the Windermere side, but it's a bugger walking that way up hill after a 'good' night at the Brewery.
Gravity sometimes prefers you to live on a more level route home.
> You are all forgetting the 2007 burned office chair! I remember it 13 years later and I don’t live anywhere near Kendal!
I remember I told my auntie and uncle about that, and they were much amused.
> I remember I told my auntie and uncle about that, and they were much amused.
That’s a great story!
Though this wasn't in the original post, I was wondering if you'd considered the weather question? Rainfall is considerably greater in Kendal than in Milnthorpe and considerably greater in Staveley than in Kendal. There is a very steep rainfall gradient in the area.
There's a very steep rainfall gradient in Kendal on occasion as I remember. Fellside vs the town centre...
There's a few mentions of flooding on this thread. Yes it's worth being aware of the flood risk and this is probably the most detailed information available for flood risk in Kendal.
https://www.cumbria.gov.uk/elibrary/Content/Internet/544/3887/6729/6735/427...
Also worth being aware of flood resilience where homes can be designed so that occasional flooding is no more than a bit of a nuisance. A great deal in Kendal have retrofitted resilience measures.
https://nationalfloodforum.org.uk/about-flooding/reducing-your-risk/protect...
I’m in Kendal too, I like Staveley, we have friends there so spend a fair bit of time in an around the area but it’s becoming a bit of a pain for parking and traffic at busy times, especially now the Mill Yard is implementing a Parking Eye system which will push visitors out onto the already busy Main Street.
Just avoid the council estates, Kirkbarrow, Sandlyands, Hallgarth etc, in fairness there is some nice areas on them but also some pretty unsavoury parts.
Windermere Road and Kendal Green are indeed nice but prices are high as a consequence, in contrast I’m in the south of the town and it’s pretty good down here too, no views of the fells but if you choose well no through traffic, I’m a 5 minute walk to town, 15 minute run to the Scar, 5 minute ride to country roads, 5 minute drive to the train station, 10 mins to the M6.
We moved close to Kirkbarrow and I was a bit worried, but I've only had good experiences with the Kirkbarrow residents. Having said that, if you actually bought onto the estate you would want to check your immediate neighbors, but I think that goes for wherever you move to. There are some lovely positioned houses on Kirkbarrow for example that have great views ( just above Pete Bland Sports), and have big gardens, and of course, you can walk into town easily. So if the price bracket suits, and you are a bit restricted, all is not lost. 50% are now privately owned which has helped smarten things up. The council seem pretty good at enforcing rules on the tenant owned properties as well.
Just don't bring your car with you : )
Staveley's always seemed to me to have Cham-level air pollution from wood fires (also coal, tho that might be a thing of the past soon). If you don't like continual road noise, ithe prevailing wind blows the sound of the M591 in (something that houses on the western side of Kendal also suffer from).
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