Moving to be closer to family - kent borders - where are the desirable areas??

[Peppaagain]

We have lived in a really lovely part of surrey for some time now, but with two dc's (3 and 1) we've decided it would be better to be closer to family. They are in croydon and crystal palace. We have been spoilt with a lovely village feel and lots of open green space where we live so have ruled out croydon, but would be keen to hear from others where the nicest places are to live? Ideally we'd be no more than 20/25 mins from crystal palace, where my mother lives. Beckenham seems like a good option - but not knowing the area we are not too sure where else we should consider. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!!

We used to live in Crystal Palace and now live in Bromley, we love it, plenty of green space etc as well as 'village like' places, Hayes is quite nice, a nice common too.
Adam

We live in Petts Wood which I love but might be too far from Crystal Palace (I think about 30mins without any traffic). My sister lives in Beckenham and she really likes it but it feels more Londony than Petts Wood or Bromley to me ? but you might think this is a good thing. There are a few parks, the most notable being Kelsey park which is lovely.

I was also going to recommend Hayes, West Wickham is nice too.

Thanks all! We are planning to drop the dcs off with nana one day and have a good drive, walk around to get a feel. So we should include Beckenham, Shortlands (?), Hayes, West Wickham, Petts Wood - anywhere else?

Thanks again!!

Bit further out i think but someone else mentioned sanderstead??

Did a good look around yday - Beckenham was nicer than i recalled from our lasr visit. Kelsey Park and Beckenham Place lovely, just a little worried that we wouldn't get what we want for our budget as looking in the estate agent windows much of the 4 bed detached properties were £1m+.. We happened across Keston too - sooo lovely, but totally impractible as no station or school for us. But looked lovely. Not sure if there are any other areas we should be considering?

How about Orpington, or even Chelsfield? They are just five mins on from Keston and they both have stations with fast trains into London. Both lovely and green, and schools are good around there. You'd get slightly more for your money too.

Bromley itself (BR1 postcode) is really nice. We live within 5-10 minutes walk of the town centre. Excellent shopping, parks, open space, bus and rail transport links and primary schools (I have no experience of secondary schools, sorry).