Marden / Tenterden / Cranbrook?

[AndysLeftEyebrow]

Just wondering whether anyone has any experience of living in either Marden, Tenterden or Cranbrook they could share? Marden being on the train line to London is really useful but I'm not sure there's much there? Tenterden and Cranbrook are more lively (for a rural village lol) but no train line. We'd both need to commute to London 5 days a week 😬 We have two primary school age kids, but looking ahead to secondary schools too.

Thanks!

I would get this moved to property/diy.

I used to live in Staplehurst ( next to Marden) and commute 5 days a week to London.
Pros and cons, and it's grown a lot since I lived there, but it was a decent experience overall. I could walk to the station.

Having to drive to a mainline station ( and pay for parking) from Cranbrook, would have been a huge pain, despite Cranbrook being very nice.

MNHQ please could I have this moved to property?

I don’t have much experience of Marden (other than passing through it on the train on the way to London every day) and am not familiar with Cranbrook at all. I know Tenterden very well and would love to live there. I wouldn’t want to commute to London from there more than once a week though tbh.

Cranbrook is the nicest in my view - lived there and Tenterden. However, getting to stations for London is a pain although living in Cranbrook and getting to Staplehurst station is quicker than getting to Headcorn which is the nearest station if you live in Tenterden. Like you say nothing much in Marden so not so nice to live there. Have you looked at Headcorn?

Thank you! Cranbrook is lovely and we're hopeful ours can get into Cranbrook school, although the primary school doesn't currently have places which is a pain. Also the commute! When I researched Headcorn it seemed to have a bit of an antisocial behaviour problem (as does staplehurst), do you know if this is true?

There are big traveller communities throughout the Weald but they tend to keep to themselves and any antisocial behaviour is unlikely to affect you.

Don’t underestimate the importance of the station in Marden. You’d need to drive possibly 15-20 minutes for a station from either Tenterden or Cranbrook.

Although Tenterden and Cranbrook are both livelier than Marden. Tenterden is best for shopping.

Cranbrook School is super super selective so unless your DC gets a ridiculously high 11+ score they probably won’t get a place. A lot of prep schools in the area are feeders for Cranbrook and put the kids on the 11+ pathway from about 8/9 so they have lots of time to prepare.

The surrounding grammars are some of the best in the country and the place is swarming with private schools so lots of good options. Benenden is the best known in the area.

Yes there are also county lines problems in both Marden and Headcorn purely because they are on train lines to London. Agree with @StormingNorman re some communities which from recollection (some years ago) affected Marden more than Cranbrook or Tenterden.

I ended up moving to Tonbridge for secondary education so think about the future - Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells (even better as a town) are worth considering in my opinion. Trains from Tonbridge to London are much better. In retrospect should have moved to either of these places rather than Cranbrook and Tenterden in the first place. However, if your children are exceptionally bright then Cranbrook School is excellent.

They really aren't that selective? Worst case, get them to supply in year 9. Their entry standards are a lot lower there from what I've heard.