Essex has a reputation for being a very tawdry and undesirable place to live, but Chelmsford really outdoes itself and does the county a big service. It is a very nice town that's quite often ranked among the nicer places in the countrry to live, and having grown up there, it has lost none of its affect as a fine predominantly middle-class place to raise children especially.

While the usual complaints of "chavs" are valid, this is true of most towns to an extent, and it's not over-dialled anymore than what you'd see in the East part of London. I generally feel safe walking home at night on my own, and am a lot calmer than I am walking around London in the same conditions.

It offers some great shopping areas in the town center that I have already reviewed, so I will only reiterate that it gives you a lot to do. Of course, you do get the usual chavs hanging outside around the McDonald's restaurants, though. However, there is a lot to do for both young and old.

It also has a fine bunch of schools and is generally well-regarded in this stead. It has the famous KEGS grammar school near the town center that a lot of out-of-towners send their kids to because of its robust reputation.

For Essex, it is quite a picturesque town; it doesn't have tonnes of construction perenially going on like Romford always seems to, and despite a downright INFURIATING one-way system (which means you have to drive around the world to get to somewhere that's a few hundred meters away!), it is mostly well designed. Also, it has excellent transport links to London via Liverpool Street, making it a fine town for commuters or those who just fancy clubbing it in London every so often.

In short, its reputation as "Chavsford" is wildly overstated, and it is probably the nicest town in Essex, largely regarded as its "capital". It is also the birthplace of Radio quite famously, and so has a rich cultural history.