Crowborough?

[Justasmalltowngirll]

Does anyone have any recent experiences of living in Crowborough? We're thinking of moving because schools seem good and houses are cheaper than anywhere else we've seen! It fits everything we're looking for. The only trouble is we'll have to commute to London 5 days a week 😬 Would the benefits of Crowborough outweigh this terribly long commute? Is it safe, is there a friendly community? TIA!

We lived with my in laws nearby for a while, and that train line is genuinely awful. it's so irregular and slow. For 5 days a week, I'd really consider moving near a station on the train line towards Brighton or Eastbourne, or further east towards a station on the Southeastern line down to Tunbridge Wells and Hastings. It will impact your quality of life so much if you have a better commute. I can't even imagine how it will work with you both doing that, with kids. But it is a nice place otherwise.

Hmmmm oh dear! If it helps, it'll just be my partner doing it as I work from home and can do school pick ups etc. We've spent the past six months exploring everywhere within a 1.5 hour radius of London and have hit upon crowborough as fitting all of our needs because our housing budget is so low 🤦‍♀️

I know! I've done years of long commutes including a job for 2 years that was a 4 hour round trip every day (awful!), which is why I'm not about to demand anyone else do it 😆 We're genuinely wondering whether the sacrifice of a long commute - for me too as I'll basically be solo parenting during the week - would be worth it. Not sure at the moment, so would be good to get some thoughts on the area.

You'd be better off in Kent near the fast London train. Romney Marsh is nice.

It’s close to Tunbridge Wells and significantly cheaper because:
Train to London is 80mins vs 40mins
Not a grammar school catchment area
The town centre is inoffensive but utterly forgettable.

What is your budget / requirements and which bit of London are you commuting to ?

Hmmm, it only takes 61 mins to London bridge though, and Tunbridge Wells 46 mins? Not being a grammar school area is actually a plus for me. I'd like to avoid Kent for this reason ☺️ For our budget, we can't get what we're looking for in TW, which is a shame.

It's so strange that so many banned posters have been commenting on this thread! Anyone else have any thoughts on crowborough?

Many Crowborough-ites drive down the road to Eridge Station or Tunbridge Wells to get on the Charing Cross line rather than Victoria.