Cherrybrook Suburb Review

Summary: An upper-tier, family-centric suburb through and through, Cherrybrook is an example of well-maintained, house-proud northern Sydney living that now comes with an additional layer of connectivity to boot. Situated in a location in the Hills that gives it all the associated greenery & views one might expect, its not-insignificant distance from the CBD comes in return for large, roomy living and the shot at some truly impressive homes.

Highly safe and extremely well-kept, Cherrybrook is also known for its array of quality schooling options that combine with its ample parkland to make for a desirable spot for those with (or planning to have) kids. It’s a largely quiet and peaceful suburb, too, with ample snug cul-de-sacs often draped with large, mature trees and manicured lawns making for an overall cosy and premium-feeling environment.

All of this comes at a cost, however, as property prices have ballooned massively, while its lack of any real density and propensity for large homes means there aren’t many cheaper housing options on offer. It’s also somewhat lacking in dining and entertainment for a fairly large & affluent suburb, and while new infrastructure has helped commuters somewhat, driving in and out of here during peak hours remains a tedious chore.

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Sitting at a halfway point that makes it not quite fully Hills district and not quite fully Hornsby, Cherrybrook to Sydney’s north-west mixes together some of the better elements of both shires into a single, premium-feeling package.

This couples with an immense level of ‘house pride’ on behalf of its residents to make for one of the tidiest suburbs you’ll come across while still having a few elements of ‘wild greenery’ also mixed in.

Cherrybrook is a fairly high-end residential suburb home mostly to a mixture of large houses on spacious yet quiet avenues & cul-de-sacs, with impressive levels of tree cover tended to lovingly by its older-than-median residents.

Many of these locals have lived here for a long time and have kept original-condition homes in tip-top shape, rather than rendering or doing knockdown/rebuilds.

This gives Cherrybrook something of charming, ‘heritage’ feel versus other parts of the Hills that have seen more modern builds. It’s been well cared for for quite a long time, and now commands a high price of admission in return, even for what amount to its ‘entry-level’ houses.

This pocket of Sydney walks the line between dashes of suburban development and retaining preserving its natural and communal aspects, and while the knock on it has always been one of distance & disconnection, recent infrastructure developments have now gone a long way to alleviating some of this.

This has made this region even more desirable than it was before (when it was already pricey enough) for families in particular, and Cherrybrook itself is no exception.

One of the key knocks against suburbs such as Cherrybrook and the others that lie around it up in that general Hills-ish region from a practical perspective was always connectivity. It was always a given assumption that in order to get access to the large, roomy and fairly luxurious homes (as well as peace & quiet) this area offered came in return for the sacrifice of a longer commute and a pretty unpleasant daily slog up & down the motorway for those who work in the Sydney CBD.

Present-day Cherrybrook now has had this issue largely removed – for those who don’t absolutely need to drive, at least. It now comes packaged with a still-relatively-shiny Metro station (appropriately complete with actual cherry blossom trees) that has cut what was previously a mandatory 45-50ish minute driven commute down to a 35 minute trip into Central that comes with none of the usual hassle.

The Metro was a much-needed addition that greatly improved accessibility and made what was previously a suburb that mandated a tortuous drive much more bearable; a massive improvement.

The physical location of the Metro station itself on the suburb’s fringe remains a little inconvenient/disconnected relative to most of the housing in Cherrybrook however.

Its distance from houses and schools in the area mean it defeats its own purpose somewhat, as it often still requires driving in some form over to/from the station in the first place. The array of parking is pretty decent, but given the population of the area still feels a little insubstantial.

Given the suburb’s quite large & its layout is fairly hilly, it’s not the greatest station to be able to walk to on foot from home for most residents – although Cherrybrook does boast a good amount of bike paths for those keen to ride to the station instead (an e-bike would be preferable for this to save your calves).

Cherrybrook also offers a small number of bus routes that mainly travel down New Line Road, which will do in a pinch but also have fairly sparse bus stop coverage throughout many of its streets. Fairly long wait times during off-peak hours also don’t help matters much in this regard.

This modern convenience the Metro has added clashes a little bit with the otherwise fairly subdued and historic atmosphere of Cherrybrook that can still be seen in the present day.

Lingering elements of its Christian & other religious pasts still feature fairly prominently here, and it’s a fairly warm/welcoming/communal suburb as a whole that also continues to become more multicultural as time goes on.

Peace and quiet remains one of the suburb’s bigger selling points in general. Its propensity towards its aforementioned lovely cul-de-sacs with minimal through-traffic make for a largely peaceful lifestyle.

Outside of those who happen to live right alongside its biggest arterial streets like New Line or Boundary Roads, the biggest noise you’ll ever hear will likely be the frequent sound of lawn mowers/vacuums/leaf blowers from people tending their yards.

In addition, while Cherrybrook’s pretty much a high-end example of that ‘white picket fence’ lifestyle, its homes are also typically unfenced. This is reflective of the high level of trust and its low crime rate (which ranks as one of the lowest in the city, and remains low even though the Metro addition has bought in a slight amount with it, as any public transport system tends to do).

There are few better signs that in affluent neighbourhoods the residents trust in its community’s overall safety as this, rather than the “high gates + security cameras” combo you often encounter elsewhere.

New Line Road remains its major thoroughfare for travelling from east to west, and is generally busy and highly trafficked, while generating a fair bit of ambient noise. It also comes with a notable lack of crossings or traffic lights for substantial portions, which can make it a bit of a bitch to cross on foot due to the near-ceaseless flow of vehicles.

Traffic getting in and out of the suburb during peak times remains pretty terrible, as everyone bumrushes to get onto Pennant Hills Road or the motorway and join the daily crawl to their workplace.

While the Metro alleviates this somewhat, not everyone has the luxury of working in the CBD, and there’s still plenty of people who need to drive to work in the mornings. The rapidly-ballooning population of the Hills region in recent years in general has exacerbated this, and Cherrybrook like other suburbs still experiences associated flow-on effects.

Cherrybrook’s fairly high quantity of schools also contributes to this somewhat; there’s plenty of added congestion during pickup/dropoff times in several spots throughout the suburb as a result.

Amenity-wise, Cherrybrook is adequate, if unspectacular. Cherrybrook Village is the suburb’s sole main decently-sized hub for shopping and dining, and is thus pretty much eternally busy due to a relative lack of other options.

This is a well-equipped little shopping centre in terms of overall dining and retail, with several sit-down and takeaway eateries as well as all your typical standard suburban shopping centre fare. Think supermarkets, interior stores, pharmacy, fruit and veg, butchers, bottle shop, etc.

It’s also got an adjoining, large Ampol servo with attached foodary (and associated servo pricing) for fuel & other goods.

The problem with everything being concentrated here in a suburb where ~20,000 people live, is that you both have to fight for parking in the carpark, plus make a bit of a trek if you’re living further out in the suburb’s extremities; particularly if you happen to live on the south side of the suburb.

There’s the smaller little cluster of stores at the Appletree Shops small complex on Cherrybrook’s north side which comes with a handful of misc. services, cafe, bakery etc., and serves its purpose in a pinch for those who happen to live nearby.

As a whole, Cherrybrook as a suburb feels like a ripe target for someone entrepreneurial to start an extra restaurant or cafe or two, or perhaps an IGA in the southern part of the suburb in particular. You’d think this would do fairly well given the generally affluent and not-too-price-sensitive nature of the residents here, without needing to drive further afield to the likes of Oakhill Village shops a little bit further away.

This should eventually change around its Metro station at least in coming years due to Landcom’s continued “Metro Northwest Places” initiative that aims to build out station-adjacent residential/commercial/retail precincts, but this will take time.

For the time being, Cherrybrook sits in a little bit of a “major amenity No-Man’s-Land”, as the nearest spot for bigger-box retail shopping requires a bit of a drive to the often-crowded Castle Towers shopping centre. Especially if you’re planning to buy bigger/bulky items and can’t just do the quick trip over to Castle Hill on the Metro.

In all, this results in it not having the greatest dining scene or cafe coverage. It’s also lacking in pubs, with the West Pennant Hills Sports Club – quite a nice venue which has been upgraded & that does good food for a locale of this kind – being the closest thing, while offering bowls and tennis facilities as well. High-quality, sure, but not exactly the most exciting stuff for younger residents in particular.

For a pretty large suburb there are big chunks of Cherrybrook without any dining or even corner stores nearby, so if you’re the type who likes the ability to casually wander down to their local joint it’s not really much of an option here. It also makes for an even more car-dependent place in this regard.

The requirement to drive from A to B is compounded a bit by Cherrybrook’s topography. This is a suburb that’s quite hilly in spots, which reduces walkability in some areas despite it generally having good quality/nicely-maintained footpaths elsewhere (along with adjacent lawns often mowed at perfect right angles).

However this also often results in some nice views, and the potential to get a very pretty outlook should you be able to get a home positioned higher up.

Cherrybrook’s natural appeal is one of its other major strengths, which comes in several forms both man-made and organic.

Most of its lawns and gardens are impressive in and of themselves; there’s a constant spectacle of people passionately tending their front gardens – many replete with abundant flowers – and its streets are dotted with colourful deciduous trees with lots of pretty Maples in particular.

It’s also kept pretty immaculately clean in general, with minimal amounts of litter even along main roads.

The only real ‘man-made’ downside comes courtesy of its propensity towards cable towers and high-voltage power lines, although this is mostly just an aesthetic thing rather than having any other tangible negatives.

Outside of this, Cherrybrook otherwise fares well in terms of quality public green spaces. In addition to sitting alongside pretty large swathes of Aussie bushland concentrated in its north & east, its parks and reserves are about as well-maintained and presented as you’d expect from a suburb of this quality.

The most unique among these is probably its ‘Lakes of Cherrybrook‘ which is a lovely little forested area that feels tranquil despite sitting alongside fairly busy roads. It’s home to a walking circuit, fenced playgrounds and offers plenty of tree cover from many towering trees and is very picturesque with its fountain, ducks that can be seen swimming, etc.

The suburb is also home to some solid walking trails, highlighted by its Calicoma Walk which extends pretty far up into the bushland and offers the chance to see a nice mix of native birdlife and flora. It’s not the most well-signed place for a walk in the world, though.

For sporting and athletics, Greenway Park is its main hub venue and quite large and well-equipped, with facilities/fields for baseball, cricket, basketball and the like. It also has a nice, large fenced dog park nearby which is roomy for the pets to run around (albeit also on a fair bit of a slope).

Elsewhere, pretty much every residential pocket/section of Cherrybrook has at least one decent-quality park within easy distance.

Appletree Park next door to its northern little shopping complex is nicely done, with a lovely array of trees and well-maintained lawn and playground; Edward Bennett Oval to the south is roomy enough for small-scale soccer, with BBQs and small playground facilities; and there are handfuls of other smaller, cute pocket-parks dotting the corners of each of its slices of living.

And again, all are kept relatively spotless and trimmed, and have some form of playground equipment for kids to burn off energy on. Which brings us to Cherrybrook’s other major strength: its schools.

There’s a reason that education has been one of the main drivers of property price increases in this area over the years. Many home buyers choose to move to Cherrybrook almost exclusively to be included in the catchment zones for its schooling facilities which are consistently ranked in the top 100 of HSC results in the state.

Chief among these is the Cherrybrook Technology Highschool, a high-performing non-selective public highschool with an emphasis on technology and science and a strong academic culture in general.

Likewise, its feeder school John Purchase Public School traditionally scores highly in NAPLAN results and provides a popular pipeline for families with younger children.

Add in the high-quality facilities of the Tangara School for Girls (private) and Cherrybrook Public School itself, and there’s an array of highly-regarded education options to choose from just within the suburb itself, let alone in surrounding nearby suburbs.

Housing-wise, as mentioned previously Cherrybrook leans heavily towards standalone houses, with over 80% of the suburb’s supply of houses being separate detached dwellings.

Many of its homes are larger in size, trending towards double rather than single storey in order to maximise land usage… and also take advantage of views in many cases.

These homes also typically sit on pretty generous blocks; combine the two factors, and it’s not hard to see why housing is generally so expensive here. Despite most houses here being multiple decades old, almost every house here has been lovingly maintained; you obviously don’t move to Cherrybrook in order to half-ass it in terms of home care.

There’s been relatively little knock-down/rebuilds, and houses are almost universally un-rendered brick, which gives it a bit of a vintage charm feel on the whole.

It also is host to several complexes of villas/townhouses and other semi-detached dwellings (just under 20% of its housing profile) to break things up a bit density-wise and help “somewhat” in terms of affordability.

We say “somewhat”, as nowadays you’re still paying quite a price premium even for most of these, and even by Sydney standards.

Current median house prices for Cherrybrook sit around $2,310,000.00, which is over 40% above the Sydney median, and prices often easily eclipse that given the suburb’s propensity towards some truly lavish homes.

That’s quite a price to pay, even when factoring in Cherrybrook’s many ‘premium’ aspects; you’d want to be a family that really cares about your kids education and/or doesn’t mind living in a place that some may find a little too uneventful.

Cherrybrook also is almost completely lacking in apartments/units of any kind. There’s minimal higher density to speak of and which keeps the barrier to entry fairly high, without providing the option for those who would otherwise be content with a smaller living space in return for enjoying the suburb’s other benefits.

The Verdict

Cherrybrook’s a place where it’s not hard to see the overall appeal as a place to live, particularly if you happen to fall into one of a few particular demographics or life stages.

There’s a lot to like about it from an aesthetic perspective, and at least if you’re going to be forking out a decent chunk of change for housing, you definitely know you’re getting a high-quality, low-crime overall living environment in return.

This is now also easier to justify for city-working professionals with its added public transport connection, while those with a primary focus on giving their growing kids a quality education have always been able to benefit from living here, and nothing’s changed in that regard.

It’s also obviously a suburb with little to offer the ‘young adult’ crowd, which can be said for much of the Hills in general. Although at least now you can even more easily pop on over to Castle Hill or elsewhere in shorter order for some more lively entertainment, which applies to families with older teenagers as well.

Distance from the beach is an other pretty obvious negative for this part of Sydney as a whole; but if you’re a regular beachgoer or consider that a core selling point, you likely aren’t even considering living here in the first place.

However if your chief concerns are some combination of safety, peace and quiet, and being surrounded by many gorgeous homes and front gardens, and are happy to keep your entertainment oriented around local sports, walks and at-home DIY, then paying the price may just be worth it.

Likewise, if you’re a wealthier retiree or pre-retiree currently living somewhere more hectic, Cherrybrook may make for an appealing ‘tree-change’ spot while still offering access to medical facilities via public transport in a pinch.

The rapid climb in dollars required for entry in just a few short years may have made the barrier simply too steep for most, however; and for those after a little more excitement in your daily life, you’ll also likely want to look elsewhere.