South East house search

[Fere]

We are planning to move in together with my partner. Need to sell both our houses first. My kids are grown up/at Uni so we don't have to be in London neat their schools any more but we would like to stay on the same side of London so they can see their friends when they are back home. My friends are all over London.

We still need sensible travel links to London (one hour or so), our companies didn't yet told us we would be permanently wfh but is heading that way) but want to move to a place where there is good access to country walks and is sociable. The criteria used by younger couple don't apply to us, I feel I wouldn't fit in the typical small village setting (my partner would). I think few cafes and some local interest groups to join would be ideal for me. We have dog that's why I want to have an easy access to the lunchtime/evening walks options.
He currently lives in Redhill but there are very few properties on the market looking at the current searches.
Can you suggest other areas or places we should look at?
Surrey, West/East Sussex/ West Kent.
Our budget is up to 800K

[JoJoSM2]

800k goes a very long way in Redhill. How much house do you want for 800k?

[leafeater]

How many bedrooms or working from home spaces do you need?

[Fere]

@leafeater with wfh at the moment and for the near future we would need 4 beds.

@allJoJoSM2 I keep checking Redhill properties and not that much is coming on the market with 4 beds, once you drom to 3 - houses are pretty but they are 3 beds and if we need to sometime have 4 adults (my dd will most likely wfh from Oct until June, it's her grad job so she hasn't had a chance to even look at properties as she will be starting in Dublin) then at the bedroom has to be big enough for a desk and an office chair - we can't really plan for 3 bedrooms and 3 office spaces (but may have to in the future for when my son graduates). I don't want to be planning for all eventualities, not possible.

[Loofah01]

West Byfleet might be a good option. Plenty of cafes etc, some boutique shops; they're about to rejuvenate the central part of the town and there's a train line in to london. Fast train line from Woking about 5 min drive away too

[Fere]

yes, so all 4 bedrooms need to be sensible size, because sometimes all 4 adults would need to wfh
with properties further away from London it may be easier to find that type of house, or even plan to add 2 offices in outbuildings, or convert a garage

[palmsandwine]

I'm not a huge amount of help as I moved from Surrey to Australia a few years ago.

But my brother just bought a lovely 4 bedroom in Tadworth for £780k. Really decent size bedrooms, master has an en-suite. Huge garden they're thinking of building in a pool.

A lot of my school friends live around Dorking/Betchworth/Reigate and have lovely houses around your budget.

[Fere]

@Loofah01 thanks for that info, we haven't considered West Byfleeet

[JoJoSM2]

I wonder if I’d just have a bit more patience given the coutryside round Reigate/Redhill is lovely, trains excellent and you can get a 4 bed + Reigate has a naice high street which you probably appreciate.

Have you been to Oxted? That’s good for commuting, has a very chilled out vibe (almost villagey), little traffic but still a comprehensive high street.

[BrandNewShinyThings]

Petersfield is a nice market town, on the mainline to Waterloo. Not sure what house prices are like though.

[BrandNewShinyThings]

Very quick search on Rightmove suggests you could get a decent 4 bed in Petersfield in your budget, you're also fairly close to some nice beaches if you like that sort of thing.

[sunshinesupermum]

I agree with JoJoSM2 If you want good transport links to London and great countryside the area around Redhill and Reigate is fab.

This is in your budget and DD1 lives on Watercolour. The lake is gorgeous and there are wonderful walks. The train to London Bridge takes 31 mins. www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-81031870.html

[sunshinesupermum]

Just checked on Rightmove and there are lots of 4 bed houses in your budget in Redhill/Reigate area.

[sarahb083]

There's some lovely countryside around Warlingham/Woldingham and down to Oxted and Godstone. And you'd be a bit closer to London. This is lovely: www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-81696742.html

[Fere]

@sunshinesupermum I remember seeing this particular house on Rightmove a while ago, I think that the price was similar too, market is being busy in some places and some properties are sitting on agents books for ages
I agree that you can't beat Redhill for the connections to London (from Raigate you have to change train) and there are nice walks in the area too

I like the idea of Bookham with walks around Leith Hill but is very small and I won't fit in.

[JoJoSM2]

What about Dorking? That’s a town and you’d have the Surrey Hills all around. The commute is still doable but I imagine it’s pricier than Redhill.

[palmsandwine]

How about Epsom?

[Fere]

Dorking is pricier than Redhill with lovely countryside.

Epsom is the area I didn't look at.
The house above, in Westerham, looks very nice, I think I would be very happy to have view over open countryside.

Apart from the number of bedrooms I'd like space for my collection of houseplants Iown and some space to have veg garden and a glassouse for som plants to grow there. Garden doesn't need to be big though, moze important that it isn't too shady.

We should visit some of those places thinking of it as a potential place to live. I drove througn most of them, in fact been briefly to all apart from Petersfield.

[JoJoSM2]

It’s come definitely worth having a good look around checking out the amenities, local walks etc.