Dulwich

Yes, we are those parents:  parents who are already thinking about how to get their not-even-yet-one-year-old-child into Oxford or Cambridge.  We want our offspring to have every opportunity in the world.  (Can you blame us?)  That's where Dulwich comes in.  I had heard from a number of people that Dulwich has excellent schools.  After a bit of research, we were intrigued.  Notable schools include Alleyn's School, Dulwich College and the James Allen's Girl School (whose music staff included both Ralph Vaughn Williams and Gustav Holst!!).  All of these schools are right around the adorable Dulwich Village, which is where Jason, Charlotte and I spent our Saturday afternoon.

There is a bus (#37) that runs from Clapham Common to Dulwich, but we decided to take the overground train (the same train that Jason takes to work in the mornings!). 

It was a short trip over to the North Dulwich station which is about a five minute walk from Dulwich Village.

Dulwich Village is the sweetest little village!  It has a very small town feel with an adorable main street peppered with shops and restaurants.  There were loads of families wandering around walking their dogs, sipping lattes and just generally being happy and adorable.  It told Jason that being there made me want to have five more children.  (Just kidding!)

(Well, maybe.)

(Not really.)

(Never say never.)

(Haha!)

(Hmm . . .)

Here is a shot of the main street:

Anyway, the point is that Dulwich is a wonderful place to raise a family.

Take, for example, this park:

Now, Clapham has the wonderful Clapham Common, but it is generally filled with twenty-somethings and fewer families.  Still lots of families (this area isn't called "Nappy Valley" for nothing), but not nearly as many as we saw in Dulwich.

Charlotte approved too:

We are still keeping our options open at this point, but it would be a lie if I said we weren't seriously considering a move to Dulwich.  It isn't nearly as convient to central London as Clapham and doesn't have nearly as many useful shops, grocery stores, restaurants, etc., but it would be a much sweeter, calmer and generally more adorable neighborhood for us to raise our fifteen children little family.