Haywards Heath - does anyone live there?

[pomblewomble]

Just that really, looking at moving out of London to Sussex/Kent and trying to decide on area. Had not heard great things about HH from others but we visited it last week and I thought it seemed perfectly nice, ok not as posh as other places we'd considered like Tunbridge Wells and Horsham, but a slightly faster commute to London (for DH who is in London 4 days a week), way more for our money and I love the fact it's so close to Brighton as well.

So, if you live there, do you like it? Would you reccommend?

I should say, we'd be looking to live within HH itself as, although the surrounding villages are lovely, we definitely don't want a drive to the station necessitating having two cars.

It's your typical commuter town. Decent shops and a good pub/restaurant/bar scene, excellent transport links and to be expected house prices given you can be in London in about 40mins or Brighton in 20 on the train. No its not the 'poshest' but the surrounding villages are very well to do and many are easily walking/cycling distance to the train station.

I thought the house prices were fairly reasonable (I mean relatively speaking, given the location) - our budget is about 500k and it looks like there is quite a lot in the area at that price point.

I didn't think any villages were really walking distance to the train station, but maybe I'm wrong!

If you have DC Burgess Hill has more stuff to do but is a bit less posh. Wivelsfield station is also Burgess Hill, my friend lives a few mins walk away.

What sort of things do you want to know OP?
Haywards Heath isn't necessarily as pretty as other towns but it's very practical, has excellent transport links (train and M23 access) and has decent schools.
We brought our three children up there and I thought it was a great place. Lots of clubs for mums and babies and things going on for primary age children.
Teenagers now head down to Brighton more, although the sixth form college looks set to reopen so that might change.
I like the fact that it's really easy to get to Brighton and London.
You will probably find yourself going out to the bigger villages for nice cafes, little shops etc as shopping in the town itself is adequate but not particularly inspiring.

Depends what you mean by “walking distance”. Lindfield is a real chocolate box village and is 25 mins walk to HH station. Cuckfield is a bit further, but definitely still walkable if you wanted to.

I would say that realistic walking distance is a mile or less, possibly just over a mile. If he has a 45 minute commute into central London, he isn't going to want to add 50 minutes onto his journey by walking 25 minutes to and from the station every day, plus the walk to the office.

I grew up in Haywards Heath and now live in Burgess Hill. I commuted to London from Burgess Hill for 13 years before changing jobs. The commute is good now (was awful in 2014/15 but seems to have got better). Haywards Heath is fine as a place, it's safe, has lots of open spaces/activities/bars/restaurants/things for kids to do and it's dead easy to get to Brighton/Crawley. Not the prettiest place as you say but it was built because of the railway so you wouldn't expect it to be, and there are some gorgeous places within 10 minutes drive.

I think it looks like a good bet for us. I did really love Tunbridge Wells but it's so expensive and a longer commute. Also not keen on grammar schools.

Hi, we are considering HH and would love to know if you ended up moving there?