Living in Tring: area guide to homes, schools and transport

There's plenty of charming Victorian terraces and spacious family homes on offer in the Hertordshire market town of Tring, a popular commuter spot where one of the Rothschild dynasty made his home.
Anthea Masey12 February 2016

Tring owes this homage to taxidermy to a remarkable member of the Rothschild banking family, who lived for many years at Tring Park on the outskirts of town. Lionel Walter Rothschild (1868-1937), known as Walter, showed no interest in banking. His passion was zoology, and he was supported in it initially by his father, Nathan, who built him a private museum as a 21st birthday present.

Nathan’s patience eventually wore thin and Walter was disinherited in favour of his younger brother, although he remained a wealthy man. As well as the museum, the Rothschild family gave Tring a public park and numerous picturesque Tudor-style buildings.

Property in Tring

Tring's town centre has pretty roads of Victorian terrace houses. Those in the conservation area in and around the museum are particularly sought after. 

Elsewhere the houses are mainly modern, from the Fifties onwards. The Grove close to Tring School and the station is the most popular area.


Aldbury is a picture-postcard village three miles from Tring with a church, a pond, a shop and rose-covered period cottages.

 

Crossroads: the heart of Aldbury village

 

Renting

This is not a big rental area; there are nearly five times as many properties for sale than are available for rent. Even so, the town is popular with young professional renters.

Best roads

Park Road, in the central conservation area, is sought after. In The Grove, the aspirational choices are Grove Park Road, Tring Hill and Station Road. Toms Hill Road is Aldbury’s top spot.

 

The area attracts

According to Carolyn Murgatroyd, of Hunters, there is a strong local market in Tring, but she also sees many buyers from north London. “People are exchanging their two-bedroom flats in the capital for a house in Tring. They are attracted by the countryside, the good schools and the easy commute to London.” Commuters also make their way to Aylesbury and Milton Keynes.

 

Staying power

There is friendly rivalry between Tring and nearby Berkhamsted, but many people say that Tring, which is smaller, is also more neighbourly.


Up and coming

Carolyn Murgatroyd suggests the Miswell Lane area of Tring. There is a mix of Victorian and later houses, and the area is generally cheaper than The Grove. It is also in the catchment area for the prized Goldfields infants school.

 

Travel

Tring lies between Berkhamsted and Aylesbury on the A41 which connects with the M25. The commute to Euston station takes 40 minutes and an annual railcard costs £3,744.


Pictures by Graham Hussey

Lifestyle

Shops and restaurants

The Herfordshire town has a very varied mix of shops and boutiques with some unusual retailers as well as typical high street shops and supermarkets.

Open spaces

Tring Memorial Gardens has been awarded the coveted Green Flag Award.

Three things you may not know about Tring

How did a Roman snack make its home in Tring?
In 1902 edible dormice accidentally escaped from Walter Rothschild’s wildlife collection. They bred and now there is a colony established in an area bounded by Beaconsfield, Aylesbury and Luton. This large dormouse with a bushy tail was eaten by the Romans as a snack after it was fattened in special jars with acorns and chestnuts.

What links the Akeman in Tring with the Chequered Skipper in the tiny village of Ashton on the outskirts of Oudle in Northamptonshire?
Both pub buildings are the work of architect William Huckvale, the Rothschild-employed architect who left such an indelible impression on Tring including the Akeman. Up in Ashton in Northampton he built a model village for the Rothschilds using local stone and thatched roofs rather than the Tudor beams and red tiles he used in Tring.

Who embellished his nose with a ring?
In the Edward Lear limerick:
There was an Old Person of Tring 
Who embellished his nose with a ring.
He gazed at the Moon, every evening in June
That ecstatic Old Person of Tring.

Schools

Tring is the kind of place parents dream off: good state primary schools and a good community comprehensive school.

Primary school

Most of Tring’s primary schools are judged “good” by the government’s education watchdog Ofsted. Goldfields Infants (ages three to seven) in Christchurch Road is judged “outstanding” as is St Bartholomew’s CofE in Wigginton.

Comprehensive

Tring School in Mortimer Hill is the local comprehensive; it gets above average results at GCSE and is judged to be “good”. Some parents, though, opt for the grammar schools in Aylesbury.

Private

Francis House Prep (ages three to 11) in Aylesbury Road is the local private prep school. Tring Park School for Performing Arts (co-ed, ages eight to 18) is a well-respected private performing arts school that occupies the grand former Rothschild mansion.

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