Focus on Earlsfield: The hidden wonder near Nappy Valley

But it shares all the same attributes that made Wandsworth so popular with middle-class “yummy mummies”, earning it the nickname Nappy Valley. Schools and catchment areas play a big part in the housing market in this part of town and Earlsfield has been mopping up the “overspill” from these areas for some time. “It’s young families who arrive and want to be in Wandsworth, but can’t quite afford to be in the centre of it, or they had been living in that area but they couldn’t get near the good schools. But if you go down the river Wandle a bit, you get to this little valley of value,” adds Grieg. 

 

Earlsfield is awash with good primary schools, with Earlsfield Primary, Beatrix Potter, Allfarthing and Wimbledon Park all held in high esteem. The borough is even building a new primary school, Floreat Wandsworth, to cater for high levels of demand. Garrett Lane is the centrepoint of Earlsfield, with a number of restaurants and high street chains marking it out as an area on the rise.

 

In fact, it’s literally on the rise, as developers start to build new developments targeted at young professionals and first-time buyers. Traditionally, the housing stock has been made up of Victorian and Edwardian terraces, period conversions and maisonettes that have been snapped up by families looking for a spot of garden to call their own in the big city. 

 

 

But 661 apartments will soon appear on the site of the old Rams brewery, which is being developed by the Greenland Group, while Linden Homes hopes to blend the existing architecture with Westfield Waterside, its development of family apartments and townhouses (from £549,950, lindenhomes.co.uk). The National Rail station has also had an £8m revamp recently. 

 

All the while, the market remains stable and one of the few places in London where supply outweighs demand in the sales market, according to Rebecca May, sales manager at Kinleigh, Folkard & Hayward’s local branch. “Since the start of 2015, activity has heightened,” she adds, “Seeing this amount of activity so early on in the year indicates a strong market here – vendors are setting their asking prices at realistic levels and buyers are far more confident and happy with current price levels and mortgage rates. We’ve seen a 99 per cent rise in the number of buyer registrations when compared to the same period last September.”

 

 

Time to Canary Wharf	32 mins
Time to Liverpool Street	35 mins
Nearest station	Earlsfield

 

 

 

1 Earlsfield rail station, named after an old Victorian estate in the area, was revamped in 2013. It runs a service to Waterloo that’ll get you there in 12 minutes, and another to Victoria via Clapham Junction.

 

2 Louis de Berniere lived in Earlsfield while he wrote Captain Corelli’s Mandolin. His novel Sunday Morning at the Centre of the World is a homage to the diverse community that passed by his window.

 

3 Touring theatre company Tara Arts is based on Garratt Lane. Its venue, Tara Theatre, is being refurbished and it’s currently performing an Asian version of Macbeth, where the three witches are played by drag queens.

 

4 The River Wandle meanders past Earlsfield, and it’s recently been the target of a huge council-led clean up. Its pub namesake, The Wandle, is well known for its steaks, live music, regular pub quizzes and buzzy atmosphere.

 

5 It’s a great place for young families with good primary schools and, It’s a Kid’s Thing, an award-winning sports and play facility for babies up to nine-year-olds. Mini Potters, a pottery painting studio, also throws children’s parties.

 

 

RAVENSBURY ROAD £1.2m

TILEHURST ROAD £1.25m

BROCKLEBANK ROAD £545,000