Anyone know Old Woking...thinking of moving there and need help!

[Feanorous]

Hi everyone
I have been a long time lurker and reader but now I need some help from local Mums if possible :)

We currently live in West Ewell, near Chessington in a 2 bed ground floor flat. We now have a 4 months old baby and need more space so looking for our next purchase.
Ideally we would like 3-4 bedrooms, a garage and garden. Our budget is 350k.

We have seen some new houses being built in Old Woking (Rydens Way to be exact) and I have been trying to research the area to see if its ok or not. I have read a few threads but they seem to be more focused on Woking itself. The houses are 4 beds, garage for £325, but the gardens are very small.

My DH works all over, sometimes in London so the train is handy - does anyone know how long roughly it would take to walk to the main Woking station from Old Woking?
Are there good schools in old woking? I am not sure where to start looking for that info, but I know it is something we should consider now.

I would be driving to Chessington 4 days a week and I am thinking it would take around 40 mins pending accidents on the A3!

If anyone can help at all I would much appreciate it.

Thank You!

Hi, I think it's a bit of a walk tbh, and there's a hill. There is a footpath though to cut through onto White Rose Way. 20 minutes walk I should think.

Not one of the best roads in Woking. Senior schools from there very bad, unless you are Catholic, in which case one of the best in Surrey. Not sure about primary school.

Have a look at Horsell for nicer area and good primary school.

Yes Horsell is closer to the station.

How about West Byfleet? Schools are good,

Old Woking is not great. Parts of it are ok, parts are quite grim. Rydens Way sounded familiar and then I realised that I drive by whenever I take my children to school at SJB (not every day). It's very near to some of the grim bits!

Your dh could certainly walk to the station because you would be very close to both Woking College and St John the Baptist from where hundreds of school children walk to the station or into Woking every day. Old Woking High St gets very busy at rush hours so you would have a bit of slow traffic to negotiate to get to the A3 but it's do-able.

If the houses are the ones I think they are, the site is a bit odd. The houses are being built on what was a narrow green running down the middle of a road between houses on either side. I can quite see why the gardens will be small, you will have traffic front and back and overlooking from both sides as well. Don't think it would be my favoured location and i'm amazed they got permission to build there. If you want to see what the area looks like, you can use Google Maps where the photo seems to have been taken recently enough that the building work is already in progress.

www.windowonwoking.org.uk/sites/cllr.louisemorales/OW has a list of local information on Old Woking village. Town is 20 minutes walk and I drive down the A3 every day to Esher taking 40 minutes if trying to get there by 9 am or 30 minutes if I don't have to arrive til 9.15 am so miss the morning traffic in the high street, which can take up to 5 minutes to get out and 10 minutes to do the next half mile or so to the send turning as the listed buildings either side limit the road width significantly.
The new houses are small inside for the number of rooms and yes gardens are small, but the area is popular with families and the new road layout will slow down cars to make it more child friendly still.

How about Send or Ripley - lovely areas, good schools

Send and Ripley are still difficult for secondary schools. Have you looked in Bookham? You'd get 3 bedrooms for your budget and it's a fantastic place in which to bring up children. It's big enough to have good facilities and thriving shops, it's surrounded by fabulous countryside and the pre-schools, infants and secondary schools are either outstanding or good. Admittedly, both junior schools were coasting for a few years, but their underperformance has been "outed" in the last year or so and new heads brought in. Hopefully, the Eastwicks will learn from the Dawnay's mistake and not allow Eastwick Infants to suffer a lack of attention whilst the issues at the junior school are being sorted. You've got a couple of years to keep an eye on things but you should try hard to buy in Polesden Lacey's catchment to make sure you have that choice. It's reputation is very well deserved and you can choose whichever junior school is better when the time comes.

Hi Feanorous,
I am exactly in the same situation as yours. So glad to find this thread. I am also a commuter to London, have got a 8 months old baby and we are seriously considering buying one of the new 4 bed house on Rydens way. But I have similar concerns like yours - walk to station, reputation of Old Woking area and primary schools.
Did you end up buying a house there or not ? Please help me making a decision by sharing your experience.

Thankyou.

Hi Mums,
Please help me. Is old woking really that bad ? I hear that there were council houses in this area but most of them are privately owned. Is there anything else that makes this area not good for living ? Is it worthwhile to invest and live in a new home in this area ?

Hi I live in the 7 year old development right next to those new houses built! They are really lovely houses, well built and nicely designed. Bigger gardens than ours but not massive but then no new builds ever have big gardens! I would say however, that they are built right next to the worst play area in Old Woking. Right next to a big run down Happy Shopper newsagents, constantly visited by the local alcoholics and rowdy teenagers! If you got one down nearer the college I think you'd be ok though. I still take my children to that park and when I have to, the shop!the owners are actually really nice. But I definitely wouldn't want to live in the houses by there. Saying that, you get bad areas everywhere and unless you can afford to, there will always be Not-so-nice areas wherever you live! Hope that's some help?

Thankyou Amberrt for your reply. We did buy a house over there and will actually shift next month :-(
We will have to face now whatever comes our way ! It is very close to the college though. I wonder why you say the play area to be bad though.

I'm sure that you will be happy there but, had I seen the thread earlier, I would have directed you to make sure that you were happy with a few things first.
Gloster Road leads to Rydens Way and is a road with a very, very poor reputation. Speaking as a resident of Woking for 31 years, this area of roads has historically been considered about the worst in Woking. I used to deliver leaflets around all those roads. Most are fine and the people are lovely but it is Gloster Road and its linked roads and flats that will likely be the source of the anti-social behaviour that does occur in that area of Old Woking.
It is a long walk from there to the station.
The development that you are moving to is not the first in that area and the more such houses are built, the better the area will become, of course.
The new houses are lovely and I wish you much happiness in your new home.

Thanks a lot Mother1. I do hope that the whole area improves with these new developments. It is a bit intimidating to move into a new area, let alone into one which doesnt have very good reputation. Woking is generally considered a very peaceful town with very less crime rate. Sad to know that Old Woking area is notorious.

sorry ive just been drawn into this thread while looking for something else, we moved into Rydens Way 5 months ago, knew the area and the schools,we have bought one of the original houses along rydens way, not too far from the happy shopper!! I would advise buying an original house are much bigger , bigger gardens , down side they have problems associated with properties of that age. My advice would be to anyone looking avoid gloster road(bit which borders Rydens way is fine) and farm/ ford road, and some other surrounding roads, you will know from appearance etc but generally we feel the area is on the up, friendly people, good community, great church initiatives happening, near the park/ swimming pool , children centre, good shops in king field . If you dont get kingfield school barnsbury is very good primary. I commute to work via train and walk through the allotments it's a 20min walk, i feel safe enough though lots of runners / dog walkers though i can see why some women would not want to walk on their own this route. My husband commutes in everyday , we could not afford Horsell prices. We like the area, new secondary coming , Hoe Valley Free school.
Dont be disheartened its a nice area and is what you make of it