Recomendations. Commute to London, good schools, nice area for young family

[rosiechops007]

Hi

We are looking at moving out of East Dulwich. Does anyone have any recommendations for an area that serves a young family looking for good schools, commute into London and a nice sociable village feeling.

Any ideas would be much appreciated

Thanks

[gillandjoe]

Twickenham or anywhere near there!

[bluesuperted]

The age old question! Although when we do eventually move we won't be tied to a London commute so our thoughts are slightly different.

Spent the day in Lewes today, absolutely gorgeous, has almost everything we'd want - although would love slightly lower house prices and the sea to run through the town ;)

We also like Whitstable/Tankerton and Broadstairs, and much further afield Bristol/Clevedon, Totnes and areas of Cornwall.

Meanwhile we stay on in South East London and do enjoy it. One day!

[mrs.lotte]

I did some work in Lewes last year it is a lovely town but by 9pm the streets bars and restaurants are deserted. It was booooring!

[snowboarder]

I've written about this before but anyway...we have moved out to a village in between Orpington and Sevenoaks. The commute to London Bridge/Cannon St/Charing Cross is fast and in some cases a non stop 18 mins, we have a village green, pub and amazing village school with class sizes of 12. Villages like Shoreham/Otford/Halstead/Knockholt are all close by and similar (some bigger/smaller/nearer etc). I think the Otford line goes to Victoria/Blackfriars.

But despite lots of positives (and overall I am starting to admit it has been a good move for us as a family) we do still miss ED nearly 2 years post move!

Good luck - it's so hard and depends on so many things (work location/family etc).

[StraferJack]

Having moved to Lewes.....ooooooh 8 days ago (but spent a lot of time there in last 6 months) I can confirm streets are very quiet of an evening but the pubs and restaurants are lively enough

Definitely doesn't compare to lordship lane bustle of an evening but time comes when that's a good thing

[crystal7]

We are hoping to move to St Albans this year. There are some lovely parts of Kent we thought about but our families are North and West so we didn't want to move any further away from them. Lovely place with good, co ed secondary schools (our 2 are only 2 and 4 at the moment though). Mr C7 will commute to Canary Wharf. Lots of trains to London Bridge, fastest 25 min. Housing is cheaper than ED but that's not saying much. Bit sad to be leaving but we have outgrown our flat and can't afford a house! Good luck with your search.

[tomk]

StraferJack Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Having moved to Lewes.....ooooooh 8 days ago (but

> spent a lot of time there in last 6 months) I can

> confirm streets are very quiet of an evening but

> the pubs and restaurants are lively enough

>

> Definitely doesn't compare to lordship lane bustle

> of an evening but time comes when that's a good

> thing

Are you commuting to london?have thought about lewes and close by but cannot see an evening return train that doesn't take less than about 2 hours with 2 changes?

[StraferJack]

I am commuting and so far so good. Average train journey 1 hour with a bit of walking either side

I used to bus from ed, so that could often be in same ballpark

Depends where you work tho. I'm in blackfriars and walk to london bridge. 20 mins and good excercise in a sedentary job. Than london bridge train is less than an hour direct (Lewes bound). At commuting times

Trooping down from ed itself makes the journey more complicated

[tomk]

Thanks. Is the 18.23 last train back from london bridge? Looks like it here http://ojp.nationalrail.co.uk/service/timesandfares/LBG/LWS/tomorrow/1815/dep#outwardJump

[StraferJack]

Yup. But the changes at east croydon or Hayward's Heath after that only add 10 minutes

[Smiler]

We commute from surrey on a slow (but cheap) train line to london victoria / bridge, takes 75-90 mins door to door. Advantages: nice house with garden (not an option for us in ED), great childcare options (cheaper too), public services and trades are less stretched (eg never a problem getting GP appointment), we can do stuff by car at weekends without getting stuck in traffic. Less pollution. Nice for small children (although so is london of course). Cinema, leisure centre, big DIY shops, town with high st shops all 5 mins drive away.

Disadvantages: commuting so long is exhausting and is "dead time" (neither work nor home), the area is really quiet at night, no good local restaurants/take-aways, everyone drives everywhere, rubbish public transport. suspect this area wouldn't be great for teens.

I miss the ED parks a lot. We have some good green spaces, but they are wilder, no public loos or lattes!

[canela]

how about London outer boroughs like Bromley? very easy commute but big houses, gardens etc. I have friends who love it in West Wickham.

[Earl Aelfheah]

Sounds nice, what villages would you recommend?

snowboarder Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I've written about this before but anyway...we

> have moved out to a village in between Orpington

> and Sevenoaks. The commute to London Bridge/Cannon

> St/Charing Cross is fast and in some cases a non

> stop 18 mins, we have a village green, pub and

> amazing village school with class sizes of 12.

> Villages like Shoreham/Otford/Halstead/Knockholt

> are all close by and similar (some

> bigger/smaller/nearer etc). I think the Otford

> line goes to Victoria/Blackfriars.

>

> But despite lots of positives (and overall I am

> starting to admit it has been a good move for us

> as a family) we do still miss ED nearly 2 years

> post move!

>

> Good luck - it's so hard and depends on so many

> things (work location/family etc).

[tomk]

StraferJack Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Yup. But the changes at east croydon or Hayward's

> Heath after that only add 10 minutes

Thanks. Do you know much about the schools? I am fairly relaxed on primary schools but have never heard anything good about state secondary schools on the south coast?

[StraferJack]

a few years away from having to worry about secondary schools so haven't given it much thought yet (who knows what changes the next 5-10 years will bring to education system? Seems little point worrying about it until then)

But the average teenager walking the streets seems pretty sound and undamaged

[bluesuperted]

My sister (teacher) did a placement at the Priory in Lewes and she said it was a great school, unlike others in the area. Think it just got outstanding but can't remember where I heard that.

[j-mo]

How about berkhamsted? It's our intended next stop as our families are in the midlands so kent takes us further away. Pretty pricey though and when we tried to move there a few years ago we gave up in the end as houses were at such a premium the agents weren't even doing viewings unless you'd already sold your own house. Which we hadn't. Still it's a lovely small town with quick train into Euston. Good schools too.