Moving from Sussex to Kent

[Lambster]

Hey Mum's Netter's :) Hoping to find some good advice about mid-Kent.
My husband and I are seriously considering moving to Kent with our 15 month old son. We have family in Broadstairs (I grew up there) and Boughton-under-Blean (my brother & family) - we want to be closer to them for visits (and enjoy some babysitting) but not be on the doorstep. I also need to be close to a mainline station, so I can get into London (ideally St Pancras) for work.
We've been looking at houses online, in the Ashford / wider Ashford area (mainly due to quick train into London). Problem is, we don't know which areas of Ashford / outside of Ashford are nice. So am looking for some input from you locals / ex-local Mum's from the area. We're quite happy to live out of town in a village within 3-4 miles - but again, we don't know which are good. We need to factor in a good primary school (and later on a secondary). I've been told Hamstreet is worth considering too - does anyone know? I know Wye and Chilham are nice, but we're struggling to find something in our price-range there (ideally no more than £225k and we need a 3 bedroom house, plus somewhere for my husband to set up his 'home-office' as he works from home).. Any local knowledge would be great or even some suggestions of other places in Kent welcome! :-)
Ps. we're in Brighton at the moment.

Hi,
Well I though I would reply as we moved to mid-Kent 3 years ago and my husband commutes to Swiss Cottage every day. We are on the outskirts of Ashford in a village called Biddenden and we adore it. It's a wonderful place for our little one (15 months). My husband finds it easy to get in to and out of town from our local station Headcorn but I also know people that use the fast train from Ashford that are a few villages across. Have a look at places like Woodchurch, Headcorn, Staplehurst, Biddenden, Marden, Tenterden. I think they would be around your price range (I'm an ex estate agent but not the idiot type!!) We moved here because of the good primary schools and also we are in the catchment of a local Grammar school which Kent has the advantage of having. There is an excellent website called commute from that we used when we moved from London, worth double checking the train times and house prices, not sure how up to date it is but it's helpful. Feel free to message me if you want any other help.
(I used to live in Brighton and we regularly head back that way to Middle Farm and it takes about an hour so your not to far from your old friends!)