Anyone moved to Medway from London? Are you happy hear?

[toja555]

Hi, I am a mum of 2.4yo DS and expecting another DS in 3 months time. We currently live in South London. It is OK at the present, extremely convenient in terms of commuting to work, however we thinking of moving further out in order to find a better quality of life. Although we both have OK jobs in central London, it is not easy to juggle financially, plus as the children grow we probably will face all London related problems, i.e. hanging out with wrong crowd etc. (this may happen or may not, but of course I would love to prevent this). Also cleaner air, friendlier neighbours, less outside noise, all that appeals to me?

I don?t know about Medway much. I have been to Gillingham once. I only recently came across one thread in MN, where someone was telling that they moved from London to Chatham and are so much happier. I googled that Chatham, Gillingham, Rainham and Rochester have good train links with London (very important to me), saw affordable house prices on Rightmove and my mind started rolling? We would even be able to spare some cash for my DH master?s studies (!).

So here I am looking for positive inspiration. I cannot afford to move anywhere else further out, unless I downsize. I Medway I would be able to upsize and even reduce my mortgage. Schools seem to be OK. It is near the sea, which is lovely. So why the properties are so cheap? Is it still an undiscovered gem for those looking for peace and quietness?

Anyone works in London? Is it doable living in Medway and both parents working full-time with 2 children? Will I find there what I am looking for? Are we going to be OK as a racially mixed family? Is there any prejudice against newcomers from London? If we move, we are not likely to afford to move back to London again, so it is very important for us to make the right decision for life.

We are going for a day trip to Gillingham/Chatham/Rochester/Rainham next weekend, will look around more properly, but still I doubt if you can get ?that feeling? before you actually live here.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

[vintage888]

hi!

I'm new here!

I know this thread is an old one but hoping that you can o anyone here in the site can help me. I know all places everywhere have good & bad side ,but I know you're one the the people can give idea about Chatham o Gillingham. I have kids ages 4 & 3 and were planning to move in chatman from London. I heard that Chatham is not really good but it's better to ask people from there rather than reading forum/blogs and not knowing if its genuine . Is Chatham have improvement compared before? I mean about school, community,shops and crimes as before? I need to know more about the place and hoping that you can help me .:)


kinds regards

[Buntingbeth77]

Hi

I live in Rochester, and love it! We live in Borstal, ME1 3. It's a great place to live, really affordable housing, great schools (daughter goes to Pilgrim School) and the Rochester Grammar is 10 mins walk. We have borstal prison and cookham wood prison behind our house and it doesn't bother us one bit. The houses in our road range from £180,000 (3 bed semi) to £400,000. (5 bed detached). Rochester does have a few 'dodgy' areas but in the main it's pretty decent. The high street is lovely, we have a castle, cathedral, independant shops, the only chain store being Costa Coffee. Hope this helps

[morello76]

Hi
I am a mum of 7 years old boy. We currently live in South London. It is OK at the present, extremely convenient in terms of commuting to work, however we thinking of moving further out in order to find a better quality of life. Although we both have OK jobs , it is not easy to juggle financially, plus as my son grow we probably will face all London related problems, i.e. hanging out with wrong crowd etc. (this may happen or may not, but of course I would love to prevent this).
I don't know much about Medway towns , I went to a day trip to Rochester and Walderslade ones.
I am looking to buy a property but I cannot decide which town is best to live with a 7 years old child(I need a good school) I also need to commute to London
Can some one help me please Rochester, Sittingbourne or Maidstone?

[tucker12345]

Just reading all the comments here, must say you carnt go wrong in medway as it's not rough at all I've lived hear for many years, I moved from Rochester into white road purely because it was a new build and reasonable,it is on white road estate been here some years now and had I listened to rumours I would have been worried,however it is quiet here , had reputation 30 years ago, on top of grammar school gym, public transport an 15 min walk train station in to london in 30 min.Unless people live here I don't think you can listen to rumour based comments. Rochester is lovely with castle and cathedral,however people in chatham are friendly,pubs in Rochester bit click. Hope it helps.

[tucker12345]

Also just off chatham maidstone road near the football club,and park!

[meadowquark]

I am the namechanged original poster. We did not move to Medway in the end. One drawback was that I could not identify suitable secondary schools if I wanted to stay in central Rochester. Secondly the commute cost to London was quite mind blowing. I looked at other towns around London (Hoddesdon in Hertfordshire, South Benfleet in Essex - as you can see, nothing posh) and eventually moved just 2 miles from my South London location to ... hrmmm South London (a nicer and further out suburb). If I am honest even those 2 miles was a big change and I can't even imagine how I contemplated that big move in the past.

Good luck to all of you!

[Toopsy]

Hello
I an new here and looking for any recommended school drop off service.
my daughter got admission into Luton Infant School. i work in London and looking for parent we can share cars with. i will always be availble to pick up.
can anyone recommend this service or is interested.
i live in Stevens close. ME4 5Ng
Thanks

[MumPower2]

Hello friends :-) We are looking to rent a house in Rochester near Rochester Grammar School as our daughter has got admission here. We have a 7 year old son too who will go to year 3 this September. It is clear from the conversation on this thread that Rochester is a friendly place and we are looking forward to settle here :-) It would be helpful if any of you could please share your tips, suggestions and experiences about good/better places to live, sport clubs like football or swimming here, any tip for house search etc. as we will be newcomers here. If there are some other people like me who are shifting here, please join in..

[TJAskew]

Hi all.... please help. My hubby works in Kent and London so we thought Medway would be a good halfway point. We currently in Romford and just love that we can get so much more for our money in Medway. We have just out in an offer on a house in 3rd Avenue Gillingham. But there are some scathing remarks on the area and I am feeling a bit unsure. My two eldest are in secondary already so we have missed the boat on grammar. What secondary state schools would you recommend. Is that street a good part of Gillingham and is Medway really that bad. Coming from Romford we have seen our fair bit of chavs etc so nothing shocks us. We are also originally from South Africa crime capital of the world so I am not scared of much bit the idea of young thugs beating me up if I look at them or my teenage sons being targetted does scare me. Please any advise will be appreciated. We have fallen in love with this house.

[noorqt]

Hi TjAskew, I moved from Barking (my mum lives in Romford) early this year to Gillingham. I moved because of the house prices and schools seemed better. How are you finding it down hear?

[TJAskew]

Hi noorqt, we are still waiting for a completion date which should be in October. I am really excited to move now. I am busy looking at schools in the area which is a bit daunting. How are you finding it?

[pryceless]

Hi All, This has been such a useful thread and thanks to you all for the info...I'm a mom of 2 girls 16yo (6th form student) and a 7 year old who just started in year 3, we've recently made the decision to move from south east London (Greenwich borough) to one of the Medway towns. we both work fulltime in London but struggles financially (and I'm sick of fast pace London life) and wanted to sell our property to get a smaller mortgage without downsizing from our 3 bed. I love the river and woodland/green spaces we haven't got a big budget and can't be too picky but good schools (state is fine as both of my girls are currently in state schools) and a good size garden is very important. We still need to commute to London so keen to hear from people in similar situations who have recently made the move to find out how you are all settling in and advise on areas, I can't even narrow it down to streets yet as we are still trying to decide on the town. Went to view a new builds yesterday in Aylesham Village (which I was quite excited about) and really hated it. Also wondering how easy it is to find childcare for after school.. Thanks in advance and sorry about the essay lol

[pryceless]

Hi ITColdBeWorse, thank you so much I will continue my search and let you know when I find a place we like and can afford. Look forward to more of your help on this journey....take care

[jay95]

We did it 20 years ago. We had a small flat in south-east London that needed lots of working doing to it that we couldn't fund and we couldn't afford a house either. We could afford a terraced house in Medway though. The house we bought then has now doubled - at least - in value.
It was a good move for our two kids - the eldest - about eight at the time, found it a bit tough at first but soon made new friends. The youngest loved his little primary school just a short walk from our house.
The area we moved to is Borstal, on the outskirts of Rochester. I worked in London for a good many years and so did my partner - he drove, because he was working in the Bexley area, I got the train because it was more central. He was able to be flexible with his hours and we had the use of after-school clubs so it all worked out okay though I'd be lying if I said it was easy.
Now the kids are grown and more or less flown and although we are still happy in our home the area has changed a lot. Much more traffic, huge building projects underway and not much expansion of the infrastructure to support the needs a fast-growing population. Both of us now work locally but when we get home in the evening it's unusual to be able to park within five minutes walk of our house - even ten minutes - and our car has been keyed and deliberately damaged several times. So we're looking to move again to somewhere a bit quieter for our retirement.

[mummynextyear]

Hi all, could the locals please give us an insight of what the following areas are like with regards to safety? Also, are they a dump? What specific areas/street should I be searching for?

Larkfield/Aylesford
Maidstone around Mote Park (Downswood/Weavering/Bearsted)

I am relocating from Essex, it's just me and hubby (hopefully a baby next year). We need to stay fairly close to Sevenoaks and the Dartford crossing (around 35min), but we also want somewhere safe and nice, a village feel would be great as well as we are not party people (haha).

Thanks a million! :)

[StaplesCorner]

I'm surprised to read so many people are happy in Medway area, we live 30 minutes up the road and Medway particularly Chatham is the local joke - its also widely known to have some of the worst education in the country. But it just goes to show as so many people saying they are happy around there. My DD has just started college in Rochester and that specific area is pretty, but 5 minutes down the road in either direction the housing stock is dilapidated terraces. We thought about moving there but only for a day then abandoned the idea.

I think maybe if you are coming from London you might not notice it so much, and people in generally are friendlier. However, there are really nice pockets around the area - if you go back in a little bit towards Gravesend then Higham is nice but very rural - and Gillingham onwards is better, I think most people coming down from London would feel they were in the countryside from then on!

[Subo2018]

My boyfriend and I both moved to Rochester, we both work in London I get the train and he drives (he starts a lot earlier than me) it's a great little place and has a lot of character with plenty of open green space. House prices are a lot more affordable :). I hope you find somewhere you like x

[nonakish]

Hello there. I am single mom, currently live in Northern Ireland. Planning to relocate a.d start a new life from scratch. I consider Rochester. Would like to know if you moved and if so are you happy with your move. Thanks

[Carats1045]

Hi, thinking of moving to Gillingham, around Coniston Close, does anyone know if this area is ok to live in?

[Mum7432]

Hi everyone
Am living in south east London catford and I am looking to move to Bradford. Am a lone parent and want to purchase my home in the near future. Can anyone tell me if Bradford a good place to live with a 13 yr old . What are the good schools .
I work in london

[Omgodash]

Hi

I am planning to move to gillingham ME7 for grammar schools. I hear lots of negative things about the area and I am very scared.

Would be much appreciated if some can advice me pls?
Thank u