Horsham

[Charlotteeve]

Hi everyone,

We currently love around reigate but house prices are too high and we can get more for our money if we move out. Looking at Horsham and surround areas and around haywards heath area too. We looking for a village feel bit still with amenities.

My son will be starting school next year, so any advice on areas would be great!

Also whats South water area like in Horsham too?

Thank you!
Charlotte

Hi! I live in crawley. However we have a family restaurant in haywards heath! Haywards heath is nice enough
Nice park. Centre of west sussex. Not far feom brighton. However anywhere in west sussex is pricey for housing. Haywards heath is not good for shopping. But crawley is not far which is better. Horsham is also nice. Slightly better shopping but again crawley is not far away. My sil used to live in horsham and was happy there and kids where hapoy at school. They had a brand new waitrose built a couole of years ago so traffic increased as it is near enough opposite sainsburys.

Overall it is a nice area. But not the cheapest but i would be happy there

Southwater is nice. But i have only been to the big lake/park which gets so busy in summer you cant park and have to get there very early. Last time we went we sat for 40 mins trying to park then left and went to brighton

Oh yes and we moved here from kent

Thank you so much, it's so hard to pick an area!

Southwater is a dump. Loads of houses rubbish doctors. Over subscribed schools. And sadly the same is happining with Horsham. We moved out of the area as house prices are insane. Horsham is however better than southwater. I have never seen so much crime in the 9 months we lived there

I have however lived in Horsham southwater and surrounding small villages from birth till I hit 30. It's only than we decided to move away as so many new houses not enough resorses. We moved a little further south.

I've visited it a few times, it's nice.

I love Horsham. It is pricey (but cheaper than Reigate), has great schools, a fantastic park and is safe. I don't recognise the crime ridden town that the previous poster is describing. I've never witnessed any crime in the 14 yrs I've been in the area. I think it's a great area to bring up a family.

There are some nice villages around Horsham- southwater is fine but not one of my favourites as it's quite new, but Billingshurst, Wisborough Green, Shipley, Coolham, Storrington are all nice.

There is a lot of building work going on around the area and traffic has increased a lot in recent years, which is a bit of a pain. However, I still love the area and the people.

Horsham is a pretty town but quite expensive, Haywards Heath Town centre is a bit rubbish but it's a nice town, village wise I think cuckfield is beautiful, and Lindfield is stunning. Southwater is ok, the park is lovely.

Actually i second the crime. We used ti have a shop in horsham. Still there new owner. We were broken into 3 times. We had shutters and an alarm as well! 10,000 worth of stock gone on one ocassion.

Has been broken into twice since then with new owners

@Coffeeisnecessary is on the money - apart from I would add that Haywards Heath is uuuuugleeeeeee imo, and I am never tempted to live there because of that, despite cheapness.

A lot of people I know like Hassocks a lot and have moved out there to be on the train line but still country. Not my cup of tea, but worth having a look, it's quite popular.

I liked Horsham a lot the two times I visited - pretty town centre, good buzz, farmers market etc. Seemed nice!

There seems to be a lot of house building in Horsham and Haywards Heath that is putting pressure on school and GP places. Something to consider if moving to that area. I can recommend Dorking.

When I lived there, the catchment areas for secondary schools were strict. Theres two secondary schools he can attend, Forrest (boys only) or Tanbridge (mixed). Normally you will only be in catchment for one of those, unless you live central horsham, and it's not likely to get a place in a school in Horsham your not in catchmemt of (or at least thats what it was like when I went to school). So if you want to stay there for the long term then you really should consider secondary schooling (which I know is quite far off for you!) when buying a house. All the schools are good schools, it's just whether you prefer mixed or all-boys.

Also on a school front, none of the schools in Horsham have a sixth form. There is a local college which does A Levels and a couple vocational courses, you need to go to Crawley/Brighton/Chichester if you want to do most vocational courses. If you want a sixth form enviroment some children go to the Wield for sixth form instead (which is in Billingshurst).

Areas to avoid in my opinion would be Roffey and Needles. They are the worse parts of Horsham, but they are not awful at all.

There is more crime then there used to be, but I wouldn't say there was a lot of crime, especially if you don't live in the town centre.

Have you considered Billingshurst instead?

When I say when I lived there I only mean a couple years back.

Haywards heath is not good for shopping

This made me chuckle, as I often go to HH for shopping! It has most of what I want, which is generally Waterstones, M&S and a decent sized Sainsburys, Next for jeans, a few independent clothes shops, and both Boots and Superdrug seem to have a far better range than the ones in towns which are only a little smaller. There's plenty of parking and even if you can't park on the street, the car park is cheap.

It's far better than Lewes (overpriced artisan shite and coffee shops), Uckfield, Seaford, Hailsham or Burgess Hill (none of which have anything much save charity shops) but without the stress of Eastbourne or Brighton.

I only go to a big town now if I really need a department store for any reason.

There are many shops closing down in haywards heath soon. Game has closed. Wh smiths is said to be closing soon. As is the co op and post office. Prezzo has closed. There are others to follow.