Roman blinds - cord or pulley

Have searched the other threads on Roman blinds but couldn't find any opinions on the mechanism that pulls them up. Basically, the more old fashioned/traditional (and cheaper) way of pulling up Roman blinds was to use cord that was looped through the back of the blind and secure it on a little thingy (?) at the side of the window. Now, that I'm in the market for Roman blinds again, I see that there is a mechanism with a plastic cord for pulling up the blind - very like what's on roller blinds. The latter seems a lot less work and less dangerous for kids (as a lot less cord) but is a lot more expensive - just wondering if anyone has opinions on either or both?

Go for the pulley; much easier to get the blind hanging correctly in the "up" position.

The plastic "cord" looks awful (though some suppliers do a metal version of this).

I have both types of roman blind. I like the pulley ones better but they work best when the window isn't too big as they will break if the blind is too heavy or if they get rough handling. The most recent ones I had made have the string. This works ok and has the advantage of being easy to adjust but the cleat for winding the string around is a bit ugly and requires hole drilling. I think that these are probably safer for children as the metal cord for the pulley seems to attract children to play with it whereas it is quite difficult for a small child to unwind the cord from around the cleat. As for the cost I had the metal pulley ones made at Laura Ashley and the price was pretty much the same as the cord ones made by a local curtain maker. Laura ashley also have frequent sales which can make a huge difference if you are having a few made.

That's a good point about the children; at my age you tend to forget things like that.