Ashford in Kent

[HoneyHololulu]

Is it a still a soulless shithole? Is it improving? Very tempted by the 40 min journey to London and the mansions you can get for your money there.

[Bearbehind]

I'm sure you'll be inundated with replies from locals who think it's a souless shithole

[HoneyHololulu]

Fair point, apologies for the language used. Not everyone who lives in a place thinks it's amazing though do they?!

[Youcantscaremeihavechildren]

It is a bit of a soulless shithole, to be fair. Bit there's some lovely villages around it. We live in Maidstone and it gets a bad press, we like it though, lovely parks, good schools and an hour on the high speed to London.

[RatOnnaStick]

Weeeeelllll.... Soulless? Definitely. Shithole? Bit harsh. Its not a town to set the world alight and it's a bit of a cultural wasteland but so are many suburban towns. The primary schools are alright and the shops are average for a small town and theres some good sports facilities. Its no Canterbury but then in fairness it's not Lydd either...

[RhubarbAndMustard]

I don't think it's too bad. Depends what you're comparing it to. The town centre is rubbish, but there are some planned developments which should make it a bit better and like others have said, the surrounding villages are really nice. The quick commute is a real bonus.

[AnneSansTete]

Some fab villages 10-15 mins away - Charing, Wye, Pluckley and Woodchurch are lovely. I've lived in the area and commuted from Ashford for 2 years now and it's fine.

But ..... Ashford itself is pretty soulless - no decent restaurants/ pubs/ parks. The designer village is alright.

[RatOnnaStick]

Yep look at Hamstreet and Great Chart too.

[Callmecordelia]

Depends. If you want a lovely house, and you stay in that lovely house without being bothered about your immediate surroundings, it's very good value. The great thing about Ashford is you can get out of it to interesting places quickly, but you do need a car.

[AnneSansTete]

The other thing to obviously consider is the cost of commuting - season ticket on hs1 is over £5k and then adding on cost of parking as well. But as Cordelia says there are so many fab places around nearby.

[HoneyHololulu]

Thanks all, my dp works within the rail industry so we actually get free train travel so it's seems like a good option, I like the thought of being near the seaside aswell, whitstable & Margate etc.

I'm surprised the town itself hasn't improved considering the hs1, just a decent pub would be nice!

[ParsnipSoup]

Apparently there is a lot of redevelopment which has planning approval in town, so it might be due to get better in the near future.

[QOD]

If you commute by train it's good but can take you half hour to reach the.m20 thru the awful traffic queueing to get out
I want to downsize my mortgage and would move there in a flash if it weren't for the getting out issues

[Callmecordelia]

At rush hour maybe QOD, but that's not how it is at other times.

[GreenTomatoJam]

LOL - Hailing from that neck of the woods, I knew no-one would object to the description :)

[RhubarbAndMustard]

I find the only traffic issues are if you are using the A28 Chart Road which does get blocked around school finishing/rush hour times. I travel between the M20 J10 area to J9 area daily (sometimes through the town) and very rarely get held up.

[Callmecordelia]

Yes, I commuted into Ashford for eight years. It's busy at rush hour, but it's a town, and that's not out of the ordinary. I think anyone trying to get around Canterbury at rush hour would laugh at the idea Ashford was any worse.... Junction 10 can be busy, especially when the sodding lights are not quite right. If Stack is on there are knock on effects, but stack isn't on that much usually. Last summer was a bit out of the ordinary.

[QOD]

I live off jct 11 and moving to Ashford would.add 30/40 mins to my commute cos, well I work. So it'd be rush hour
yet it's only 10mins non rush hour. So 1hr to 1 hr 20 extra travel a.day
But train commuters and non rush hour, I love ashford (and it's prices)

[Callmecordelia]

It really depends where you live. In Finberry for example you can get to junction 11 without going on the motorway at all. There are plenty of ways through from South Ashford. Honestly!

I don't want to derail the thread too much, but it might not be as bad as you think, if you are serious about moving there. Take a look at the estates that have been built in the Kingsnorth/Hamstreet/A2070 triangle.

[QOD]

I'm familiar with it all, but still adds too much time to make us do it.
you'd have to go down thru Aldington? Via Ham Street? That'd still add 15 ish Mins with clear traffic.
maybe when they finally do 10a

[Callmecordelia]

Yes, through Aldington, across to Lympne. Used to do it often, in rush hour. It will add some time to a commute, as you're further away, but really not too much actual traffic. The old lanes all interconnect with the estate roads, so you don't even need to go on the A2070.

[RatOnnaStick]

I used to avoid Stack by going from Singleton through Kingsnorth, Aldington, Lympne, Hythe, Folkestone and the same way back at the end of the day. It added about 15-20 minutes to the journey. Jct 9 used to be horrendous though. I agree about the A28 round Godinton Park was bloody awful sometimes.

[QOD]

Ugh stack
What a mare that is!but as I c9me on at jct 11 and go to 13 to work, A20 is easy

[RatOnnaStick]

I'm pretty sure you aren't all that far away from me QOD

[mangocoveredlamb]

I haven't been in to the centre for about 6 years, but it's got the best Sainsbury's ever, and a really good John Lewis at home.
Some really lovely villages nearby (my parents live in one) and plenty of nice restaurants and pubs nearby too!

[Callmecordelia]

Yes, this is a bit of a stack reunion thread Rat. I'm in Folkestone now. We took the same stack avoidance route....