Moving from Hertfordshire to Surrey/ Berkshire... kids will be Year 2 and Reception

[ourlittlelife81]

Hello!
I am 37 and Mum to a 6 and 4 year old (Year 1 and nursery) living in North Hertfordshire. We are looking at relocating this summer, due to my husbands new job and the ridiculously long commute he currently does.
He is based in Crawley, and we have close friends living in Sunningdale, Berks, so ideally we would be somewhere in between.

He doesn't mind a commute of up to 45 mins roughly.

I don't know the area at all, so I'm finding the whole thing quite stressful. I'm constantly on Rightmove but its futile as I have no idea which areas are nice!

As much as I thought i wanted a village, I don't want to be in the middle of nowhere so I guess im looking for somewhere semi rural.
Good schools are a must obviously. Both are currently in a outstanding school, walking distance to a nice pub on a Sunday afternoon, with a nice high street that isn't full of pound shops and relatively easy access to somewhere with decent shopping, and I can get my nails done etc.
A direct train into London is also a must so I can occasionally meet up with friends.

Does such a place exist?? Were looking for a 4 bed detached with a decent sized garden, up to about 750k. Its a huge increase in our current mortgage so I need to make sure its the right m ove for all of us.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[Ionacat]

Had a quick look. Godalming might work? Good train service to London, nice high street, good schools. However traffic to Crawley could tip commute towards an hour depending on what time he left.

[GU24Mum]

Godalming might be a bit far out of the way from the M25 etc for a commute to Crawley - what about somewhere around Woking - about 15 mins to Sunningdale (my parents live there so I know the drive pretty well!), brilliant train line and not too bad for getting to Crawley. The town itself isn't lovely but is much better than it was and the surrounding bit ts are pretty much all good. Chobham is nice (closer to Sunningale) but probably more expensive. Weybridge is also on the way - Woking is definitely cheaper than Weybridge! Or Guildford / surrounding villages. East Horsley any good? Hope that's some help!