Tonbridge/Southborough/TW

[Teaonthebeach]

Hmm, my last message didn't seem to make it. Here goes again....

Me, DH and 3 DCs are townies seriously considering a move to Tonbridge/Southborough/TW next year. We have a day off this week to have a drive around and wondered if anyone local to this area has any pearls of wisdom re the lifestyle the area can offer? [hopeful emoticon]

DCs are primary age but I'm not overly concerned about primary schools as I think they are what you make them. The quality of the secondaries are one of the reasons we're at looking at this area. However, we (I!) also want a sense of community that we don't get in London. BUT we don't want quiet village life either.

Do you local ladies think that we could find what we want in this area? Would living in Southborough be too quiet? Is TW too posh?! Would S Tonbridge be better than North in terms of number of secondary catchment areas we'd fall into, and proximity to station? When we do the ubiquitous Rightmove search it seems to throw-up a lot of houses towards High Brooms / St Johns - is this not such a good area?

I'd be so grateful for anyone who has the time to respond

Primary schools in TW are VERY oversubscribed - there are no spaces in Yr1 in any of the 'sought after' primaries for example, so you may want to consider carefully what your options are here.

Southborough is an easier commute if you are needing to be in London as you can head to Tonbridge without too much difficulty. However, friends I know who live there bemoan the fact that they have to get in the car to go anywhere as it's a sort of half way house between Tonbridge and TW. I can't comment on Tonbridge at all - it's not a place I know that well, other than to whizz to Waitrose or the station!

We moved to TW almost 5 years ago and love it - it's a great balance between town and country, has wonderful countyside on the doorstep, is close (ish) to the sea, London, has a great arts and cultural scene and is a great place to be.

High Brooms isn't a great area. St John's is a great area (all the best people live there ;0)), and is very convenient for the grammars, if you think your child/ren are that way inclined. Due to the massive demand for places at the grammars compared to the supply of places, the closer you are to the schools which have a distance criteria (TWGGS and TWBGS) the better. It is also a convenient walk to town and has a lovely community feel here. The southern side of town is perhaps more sought after, but the schools are much harder to get into and in my opinion is less like making a 'move to the country' than a 'move to an affluent London suburb' - depends what you're looking for really.

HTH!

Hi there we are looking at moving specifically to the St. John's area from London, great to hear you say it has a community feel as we have that very much where we live now just the house is way too small for a family of 4! Is there anything else about St. John's and tw that would be good to know for a new family moving in? We have a ds who is 3.5 and another who is 8 months old. We don't know anyone in the area so it is rather a leap of faith and we are feeling a bit nervous about making the big move out!

One thing worrying us is primary schools and I think the one that will be closest is st barnabas but that doesn't seem to get the best write ups, although the ofsted is 2 years old.

Thanks so much to anyone who has the time to reply!

Could someone tell me why High Brooms isn't a great area? I'm not familiar with Tunbridge Wells at all but thinking of moving to the area soon + it seems there are lots of properties for sale in High Brooms but peoples' comments on it seem to be not so enthusiastic, just wondering why?