Removals and small moves in Hemel Hempstead

What is housing like in Hemel Hempstead?

Hemel Hempstead was named a new town in 1947 and most of it was built in the twenty years that followed, in neighbourhoods laid out around their own shops, schools and greens: Adeyfield first, then Bennetts End, Chaulden, Warners End, Gadebridge, Highfield and Grovehill, with Woodhall Farm added in the 1970s. The houses are mostly terraces and semis of the 1950s to the 1970s, with flat-roofed garages in blocks and, on many streets, a parking court behind the houses instead of a drive at the front. The older town survives too. The Old Town along the High Street has Georgian and earlier frontages above shops, and Boxmoor, down near the station and the canal, has Victorian and Edwardian terraces and villas from before the new town existed. Apsley, at the southern end, has flats and townhouses built on the old paper mill land beside the Grand Union Canal.

Hemel Hempstead comes under Dacorum Borough Council, which handles parking suspensions and dispensations in the town.

Why do the new-town layouts matter for a move?

In several of the neighbourhoods the houses face on to footpaths and greens, with the road and the parking court at the back. The front door and the vehicle access may be on opposite sides of the house, and the lorry may have to stop in a court designed for the family cars of the 1960s. That changes how long the crew spend carrying, and it is the first thing to describe in an enquiry: which side the road is on, how far the carry is, and whether a lorry can turn in the court or must back out. Some courts have a barrier or a tight entrance, and in that case the firm may send a smaller vehicle, or park on the main road and carry further.

Houses from this period often have open-tread stairs, a built-in cupboard on the landing and a living room at the back opening on to the garden through glazed doors. Check whether a sofa that came in before an extension was built will still come out the same way.

What about Boxmoor, the Old Town and Apsley?

These are a different problem. Boxmoor's terraces open straight on to the pavement, with on-street parking and no drive, so the lorry needs space in the street and the firm will usually ask about a bay suspension. The High Street in the Old Town is narrow, with flats above shops reached by stairs from the street or from a yard at the back, and the Old Town is a conservation area with listed buildings along it. At Apsley, the newer blocks of flats beside the canal and the lock tend to have fobs, lifts and an undercroft car park with a height barrier, so a lorry waits on the road and the crew bring everything down from the flat and across to it.

Is there anything particular about Woodhall Farm and Grovehill?

Both were built later, from the late 1960s into the 1970s, and have more cul-de-sacs, more terraces with an integral garage, and more three-storey townhouses. A townhouse puts the bedrooms on the top floor and the kitchen or living room on the first, so everything heavy is carried up at least one flight and often two. Say so in the enquiry, and say whether the garage has been turned into a room, because then the ground floor may have only one door wide enough for furniture.

What about Leverstock Green and the edges of town?

Leverstock Green, on the eastern side, was a village before the new town reached it and still has its green, its older cottages and some larger houses on the lanes beyond, as well as the estates that grew around it. Further out in HP3, Felden and Nash Mills have detached houses on private-feeling roads and converted mill buildings by the canal, where access is good for a car and less so for a long lorry. Describe the lane and the drive, and say if a gate or a tree limits the height.

What else is useful to tell the firm?

• whether the house is in a parking court, on a footpath-fronted terrace or on a road with a drive
• whether the garage is at the house or in a separate block
• whether an extension or a loft conversion has changed the stairs or the doors
• whether anything is in the loft, since new-town houses often have lofts reached only by a hatch
• the postcode, since HP1, HP2 and HP3 cover different parts of the town

With your consent, the enquiry is sent to one local removals firm covering your postcode, if there is one. No firm is promised and no price is given by this site.