The Estate

A council estate in North London.

As part of the BBC's look at housing estate life, BBC website readers have been sending in their experiences of living on estates in Britain.

Here is a selection of your views from across the country.

Send us your stories.

RICK SNOW, ANDOVER ESTATE, LONDON

I lived in rented accommodation in London before buying an ex-council house on the Andover Estate in north London.

Everyone makes out living on a housing estate must be really bad, but it's not. Occasionally kids scream and that, but on the whole I've had no problems and I feel as safe as I would anywhere in London.

There are all sorts of people here - young, old, families. There's a really nice family upstairs and their kids play football outside, which is really sweet. People are just living their lives and getting on with it.

Rick Snow bought a house on the Andover Estate.

Where I live isn't luxurious, but the apartment is great and is a good size - much better than the places I rented.

I bought here because it was all I could afford and it was a great opportunity to get on the housing ladder. I come home from work and it's really quiet. I would recommend it.

Basically, the only thing that's different between my estate and the private housing at the Barbican, for example, is shed loads of money to keep the place looking better.

Where I live is not really high rise; there are trees and nice paths. Sometimes there is rubbish around, but it's because people don't have cars to take things to the dump, so they pile it at one end of the road for the council to take away.

Ann Widdecombe came here for her TV documentary and described it as being fraught with danger and people living in fear - that's just not true.

MOANNE ANGUS, CAIRNCRY ESTATE, ABERDEEN

I've lived in the Cairncry Estate in Aberdeen for 12 years now and have lived on council housing estates all my life.

Everyone knows everyone else here. It's a mixture of low-rise flats and multi-story housing.

I live in one of the multi-stories with my 13 year old daughter June and my husband Jack.

It's really nice - the communal areas are carpeted, we have a caretaker, everywhere is nice and warm. There's no graffiti anywhere. The only complaint my daughter has is that we can't have chickens!

There's a little play area outside for toddlers and for older children there's the community education centre with loads of activities such as an after school club and street football. The local swimming pool is nearby and the youth club has different activities every night for various age groups.

I know about 90% of the people who live here. I see them on the street, at the bus stop, in the lifts. I would notice if I hadn't seen a neighbour for a while or if they weren't in the lift at the normal time each day.

I have knocked on my neighbour's door round the corner a few times to check if she's ok when the weather has been bad and when I wasn't out much due to a bad leg, people were asking my husband if I was all right.

ANDREW BYRNE, BEESTON HILL, LEEDS

I moved up to Leeds from London and bought a house on a housing estate in the Beeston Hill area of Leeds, just bordering the Bismarck Estate. I've been here seven years now and I love it here.

I much prefer it to living in London; the people here are friendlier and I would say there's less trouble.

You get the odd bit of kid trouble, but it's nothing much. Where I lived in London - Fulham - is an expensive area but people were killed, I was burgled twice and my cousin was beaten up three times. In Fulham I wouldn't go out at night, whereas here I don't have any problems.

I also have the best neighbours I have ever had. On one side there's an elderly couple and they sometimes bring me food. On the other there's a young couple and they're lovely too.

When I was away from home while my dad was ill they looked after my house. In London I was ill for a month with pneumonia and even though my neighbours knew I was ill not one of them came to see if I was ok.

No-one helped me when I moved away from London, but when I moved in here on a freezing December day people brought me hot cups of tea.

I moved to Leeds for work and I was a bit worried about what it would be like to live on this estate, but I love it. I could afford to live elsewhere, but I don't want to move.

The vast majority of people work. It really annoys me when people say housing estates are hotbeds of crime. Before I lived here I used to think that. Now I think it's a great place.

What is your experience of council estate living? Send us your stories and comments.