General
East Dulwich is a classic Victorian suburb situated 6 miles from central London and located between Camberwell, Forest Hill and Peckham. It is made up of a plethora of different-sized Victorian properties comprising 2, 3 (and sometimes 4) bedroomed terraced roads directly off the main thoroughfare of Lordship Lane, as well as the grander double-fronted mansions of Underhill Road. East Dulwich stretches up to the border of the beautiful Dulwich Park and down as far as the green expanse of Peckham Rye. In recent years Lordship Lane has undergone a massive “trend” injection and is now full of popular bars, restaurants and shops buzzing with activity. The area has borne some famous people such as C S Forester, Boris Karloff and Enid Blyton. In the future the East London line looks likely to come to East Dulwich, improving what are already great transport links into central London.

Property
The area stretches from the edges of Dulwich Village to Peckham Rye with its enormous Georgian villas, and from Forest Hill in the south to Camberwell (King’s College Hospital). The properties are largely Victorian, street after street of 2+-bedroom terraced houses which have benefited from the gentrification and fairly recent popularity of East Dulwich as an “in” place to live.

Lordship Lane, which runs from Dulwich Common down to Peckham Rye, is the focal point of the community with excellent shops, cafes, restaurants and bars. Roads running off to the east and west of Lordship Lane are made up of solid Victorian houses mainly 2, 3 and 4 bedrooms, such as Goodrich, Bawdale, Hansler, Shawbury and Crystal Palace Road. Barry Road, stretching from Dulwich Library and The Plough (an old Victorian pub which keeps changing its name even though buses stop at The Plough) to Peckham Rye forms a central point for what is really a huge Victorian housing estate such as existed all over London, in particular in places like Fulham and Wandsworth (to mention some that have now become very smart).

On Northcross Road with its cluster of shops and cafes (and popular Saturday market), there are flats above some of the shops which are ideal as rental investments or for first time buyers. Further along, the road becomes Upland Road with more of a mixture of flats and larger 3 and 4 bedroom houses with good sized gardens. Smaller properties, commonly known as half houses, can be found in Heber Road, Pellatt Road, Zenoria Street and Tintagel Crescent. They usually have 2 bedrooms and 2 reception rooms, a first floor bathroom and private garden. They are slightly more expensive than some of the garden flats in the area but still represent good value for money.

To the west side of Lordship Lane are Elsie Road, Derwent Grove, Ashbourne Grove and Matham Grove (to name but a few), these popular streets consist of a mixture of semi-detached and terraced Victorian houses comprising 3 to 4 bedrooms with good reception space.

There also a number of recent modern developments in the area, comprising houses and flats which are especially in and around the Dog Kennel Hill area which is especially good for the station. Another pocket of roads are those around East Dulwich Grove, which links the area with Dulwich Village, namely Trossachs, Tarbert and Glengarry, which are perfectly placed for Alleyn’s School and only a short walk from the Village.

Schools
As with all parts of London, catchment areas cross boundaries and, included in this list, therefore, are schools where the catchment areas include West Norwood and Tulse hill. In addition as children from the area use the nearby Dulwich Schools, these have also been included:

State primaries: Dog Kennel Hill School, Dulwich Infant School, Dulwich Hamlet Junior School, Goodrich Community School, Goose Green Primary School, Heber Primary School, St. Anthony’s Catholic Primary School, St. John’s and St. Clements CofE Primary School. State secondaries: Kingsdale Secondary School (now with 6th form), The Charter School (New Labour flagship school), Waverley School.

Fee paying schools in the proximity include: Herne Hill School, Rosemead Prep School, Oakfield Prep, Dulwich College, Dulwich College Prep School, Alleyns Junior School, Alleyns, James Allen Prep School, James, Allen Girls Schol, Sydenham Girls School.
For details of school results (SATS, GCSEs and A level) together with addresses and map visit schools in Southwark and schools in Lambeth.

Other
Dulwich Leisure Centre on East Dulwich Road has many classes to choose from, as well as a well-equipped gym and a swimming pool. It also has a crèche. If you overdo it there you can hotfoot it to The Vale Practice close by for all types of health care including osteopathy, acupuncture, homeopathy and massage. Dulwich Park is a beautiful park in easy reach of Lordship Lane. It has a fantastic café in the middle of it serving great doorstep sandwiches and kids meals, even wine! There is a boating lake with pedal boats available for hire during the summer, a very well equipped childrens’ playground and various bicycles for hire throughout the year via London Recumbents. The park hosts events during the summer months, the biggest being the Craft Fair in July. Dulwich Hospital on East Dulwich Grove is going to be demolished this year to make way for the new Community Hospital. The Melbourne Grove Health Practice will relocate there in 2007. The Dulwich Festival is an annual arts festival held in various locations throughout Dulwich and East Dulwich. It started in 1993, aims to make a broad variety of artistic events easily available to the whole Dulwich community and celebrates a range of local talent, both professional and amateur. Run as an independent charity by a small group of volunteers, the Festival is tremendously indebted to the generosity of its sponsors and to the hard work of volunteers. A great website that gives a mine of local information is www.lordshiplane.co.uk.

Transport
Train services run southbound to Streatham, Selhurst and East Croydon and northbound to London Bridge via Peckham Rye (12 minutes roughly every 10 minutes during peak times and 20 minutes thereafter). Change at Peckham Rye for northbound services to Victoria, Elephant and Castle and Blackfriars, and southbound services to Nunhead, Lewisham and Orpington. For details of train services go to journeycheck.

Tube connections are London Bridge (Northern – direct train service from East Dulwich station), Elephant and Castle (Northern/Bakerloo – train from East Dulwich station, change at Peckham Rye, buses 40 or 176), Victoria (Victoria/District/Circle – train from East Dulwich station, change at Peckham Rye, bus 185), Brixton (Victoria – Bus 37). Buses include 12 (to Dulwich Library and Oxford Circus via Trafalgar Square), 37 and N37 (to Peckham and Putney via Clapham Junction), 40 (to Dulwich Library and Aldgate/Blackwall), 176 and N176 (to Penge and Oxford Circus via Waterloo), 185 (to Victoria via Camberwell and Blackwall Tunnel via Greenwich), 484 (Lewisham and Camberwell Green), P13 (Surrey Quays and Streatham). A great website re: buses is www.londonbuses.co.uk . Mobility buses are 861 (Peckham and Waterloo), 937 (Bromley and Orpington), 972 Bromley Common and Elephant and Castle), 973 (Catford and London Bridge) and P15 (Herne Hill and West Norwood).