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BY TJPublished 8 Sep 20241 comments | 8min read
BY TJ
TJ's interest in property was sparked after returning from the UK- where balconies are not counted in one's square footage!- and finding that the Singapore property had totally changed in the 7 years she was away. When not reading and watching articles & videos about property, she is busy cooking and baking for friends, family & her blog Greedygirlgourmet
It’s been a while since we visited D23 which made me think it was time for another visit, so off we go to Cashew Terrace today. Cashew Terrace is a 999-year leasehold estate consisting of mainly terrace houses, located right next to Cashew MRT. What’s interesting here is that some houses have a back gate that literally opens up to the the MRT station, separated only by Cashew Road Playground! In addition, there is a sheltered walkway for those who want to walk to the MRT by the main road – Cashew Road. If you walk in the opposite direction, the same walkway also brings you to 2 schools, Assumption Pathway School and Bukit Panjang Primary.
Before we start, here’s the area map to help you orientate yourself. There are quite a few landed houses in this area – there are even some GCBs across the Chestnut area – but Cashew Terrace pretty much marks the border between the landed enclaves and the condos followed by the HDB estates. The Myst, an upcoming condo which is known for launching with units under $1m as well as finding an old WW2 bomb on its construction site is just around the corner, along Upper Bukit Timah Road. In between The Myst and Cashew Terrace are some shophouses but, sad to say, I didn’t see anything super exciting.
There was this coffeeshop, and another Indian restaurant a few doors down.As well as a Shell petrol station, vet, massage place, and yoga studio. They’re about an 8-minute walk from Cashew Terrace and you can get there via the back of the canal, instead of walking along the main road.
Although it’s not much, it’s better than what you find along Cashew Road as there are no amenities that way (besides schools.) Walk another 7 minutes past these shophouses and you’ll reach Hillion Mall and Bukit Panjang Mall, which you can also reach by taking MRT. (It’s 1 direct stop away from Cashew.)
Alternatively, a 15-minute walk in the opposite direction will take you to Hillv2, which is also 1 direct MRT stop down from Cashew MRT actually. If you continue on the MRT, the next stop is Beauty World (i.e. 2 stops away), where you’ll find many shops. Hence, even though there aren’t many shops and restaurants in the Cashew enclave, you’re really not lacking in amenities nearby. OK enough about the retail side, let’s go explore the area now!
Do you see the orange building to the left of the photo, behind the trees? That’s Cashew MRT station (I couldn’t get a better photo as there were people walking in front of it.) I’m standing right in front of the closest row of houses along Cashew Terrace.The back of the houses. There’s a path right outside but there’s enough space to grow some greens for privacy.As shown it’s a huge outdoor space.Over on the far side of the playground, there’s another row of houses (as shown above.)In between the houses and the MRT station, we find lots of benches and some shaded spots.Walk past the benches and you’ll reach the sheltered walkway along Cashew Road.Turning right brings you to the MRT (and Upper Bukit Timah Road behind it.)However, we’re turning left to get to the houses.Across the road is Assumption Pathway School and Boy’s Town.If you keep walking under the shelter, you’ll soon find yourself at Bukit Panjang Primary School.Along the way, there are 3 vehicular entrances and exits into the Cashew Terrace enclave, which I thought was very generous as it’s quite a small estate. At the second turn-in, there’s a daycare centre, Redpony Centre Cashew.Let’s head in. First impressions – nice generously sized roads that will be very easy to drive along as you’re not obstructed by cars parked on the street.Second impression – gosh, the houses are huge for terrace units! You can park more than 2 cars! (See above.)Third impression – there are some high rise apartments close by, but the area still feels pretty open.Many of the houses were still in original 2-storey condition but, as shown above, there is room to build upwards.Which I guess some homeowners are doing, as evidenced by this construction project. (There wasn’t a lot of construction in the area.)Turn left and you’ll see a few cars parked along the street, but nothing that makes the estate feel cluttered, before reaching an open area.Looking to my right – oh there’s a very convenient nook for people to park here! Right in front of us is the park we started our tour at, so we won’t head in again. Instead, let’s head back to explore the other part of the landed estate.We’ve walked back to the T-junction and this time we’re going to walk to the right.Some houses that have been redeveloped on my right. The land here is also quite interesting as the houses feel like they’re slightly slanted.Hope this photo better illustrates what I mean by the houses slanting.Another photo to show you exactly how much higher you can build. The house on the left reminds me of the ones we saw at Almond Avenue, across the road. The black looks much more stylish than the brown though (to me.)These houses also have huge spaces for their cars – no wonder the streets are not crowded! (Obviously, not all the units are this size, or we couldn’t have had units sold for $3million+ in 2024.)This brings us to the 3rd and last fork in the road. There are more houses on the other side, but no through-road access here. Instead, we turn right and take the 3rd exit out to Cashew Road.Looking to the right – Cashew Road is much quieter than Upper Bukit Timah roads in the evenings but I wonder what it’s like during school drop-off/school pick-up hours, given that there are 2 schools. This is what we see to the left.Cashew Park Condo across the road – note that there’s a sheltered walkway over on that side too!More houses on the other side of the road – that landed enclave is much bigger than the one we just explored.There are some sheltered seating areas along the road, elevated slightly above the street level.Another large condo – this area has some large developments! Oh, it’s Cashew Heights – I’d heard of this 500+ unit condo because of its various attempts to go en bloc.I must say it looks much nicer than I had expected, and I can certainly see the en-bloc potential. The condo feels SO spacious!Anyway, we’d better get on with our walkabout.There are some houses along the main Cashew Road too. Depending on the traffic, it can be tricky getting in and out of one’s house if you live along a main road. However, I was here during peak hour, and the number of cars was manageable.We finally reached Bukit Panajng Primary School. If you walk past it, you’ll reach Petir Road and its HDB blocks I.e. where you can find your community centre, hawker centre, market etc.
Remember how I was wondering about potential traffic issues during school pick-up/drop-off times? I was curious so I decided to google the street to see whether there was any news – all the news articles were about the war relic at The Myst, but there was also an article about dengue having been detected in the area back in 2021. Nothing about traffic congestion in the area though.
The typical response I get to this is “siao ah, what’s so good about that.” But hear me out: old,…
Ryan J ·
25 Feb 2024 ·
0 comments
This brings us to the end of today’s tour – how did you find it? I must say it was one of the more spacious terrace estates that I’ve seen! I also love driving from Beauty World down Upper Bukit Timah Road (when it’s not peak hour), the area just feels so green and spacious, it always makes me feel happy! Let me know what you think in the comments!
TJ's interest in property was sparked after returning from the UK- where balconies are not counted in one's square footage!- and finding that the Singapore property had totally changed in the 7 years she was away. When not reading and watching articles & videos about property, she is busy cooking and baking for friends, family & her blog Greedygirlgourmet
thanks forr review! should have walked cashew crescent which is across the road. its equally nice!