Where to live in the South east with good schools/commuter route!?

[minko]

We are stuck at the moment. We want to move to a bigger house in a semi/rural area with good schools and a reasonable commute. We are looking at Guildford/ Godalming/ Beaconsfield/ Maidenhead etc. We need to be near Woking where my elderly parents live though.

Can you recommend where you live!?

There are some nice villages outside Godalming, which will be approx 20-25 mins to Woking. Where are you commuting to, and by train or by car? You could look at Puttenham, Shackleford, Seale, Elstead, Tilford, all of which have good schools I think.

Horsham and Reigate both lovely (I would love to live in either, but don't!), might be too far for you though!

Where do you work in London? If Waterloo would be a good station, then I suggest Fleet. Good state schools and house prices not too bad. 20 mins on the train from Woking. And you can live within walking distance of the station.

You could also look at Guildford or Farnham - Tilford does have a fab junior school which is more or less a state prep. And Reigate is lovely, though I don't know what its state schools are like -you don't say if you want state or private.

Dorking might also be a good option.

And Tilford has the nicest ice cream van i've ever visited! yum.

I would saw Sevenoaks. There are spaces to be had in good schools like Dunton Green and it's an easy commute to London Bridge, Cannon St

I live in High Wycombe (between Beaconsfield and Maidenhead) got great parts and goddamm awful bits. Personally I'd up sticks to Maidenhead if we could just to escape the grammar system here in Bucks! It has some great schools but unless you pass the 11+ it's the pits. Some excellent independents though and Bucks is good for city commuting.

Another vote for Godlaming here - but a lot of it depends where you need to commute to of course.
Nice town, good schools, 45 mins to Waterloo. Also pretty easily reachable to Woking.
We also looked at Dorking before we moved here and although have not experienced living, chose it for the same reasons as here - so could also be an option. The secondary school options seemed better in Dorking (long way off for us...)

We live in West Byfleet which is closer to London than some of the places mentioned and very convenient for Woking and your parents. Schools are good, four trains an hour to London Waterloo (2 fast - 27 ish minutes, 2 slow). Houses are not cheap but no more expensive than many of the places mentioned. The problem with combining semi-rural and commuting is getting to a train station. If you are prepared to drive to the station than there are bits of Pyrford and all the way down to Ripley which are quiet and rural.

Jeanjeannie why Maidenhead? Just interested as it doesn't seem to get mentioned much on these MN "where to move to" threads.

I'd go there mainly because it has good schools but isn't part of the Bucks Grammar system. Although, if you're in Maidenhead and you do take the 11+ and pass, then you're still eligible to go to the grammar schools - so best of both worlds!! And you get a free bus service too!

Maidenhead doesn't have the cache that the other, more costly areas surrounding it have - such as Cookham, Bray, Holyport, Windsor, Taplow etc. It does have some wonderful properties though and is great for commuting.

Other places I really like and are great for commuting are Marlow, Henley and Twyford. Now back to the real world

Aha! Thanks jeanjeannie - am lurking in the hope of finding the perfect place to relocate!

Cambridge?

Actually, if you're looking for cheaper house prices than London forget Cambridge.