Hi all
I grew up in East Grinstead and also lived there again a few years ago, and I also have a lot of family who still love there so know it very well indeed :-)
It is a nice town with a beautiful high street and recent years have seen the empty shops being filled with new retail which is a good sign - I drove through there yesterday to see a new Jojo Mama Bebe is opening which is great!
There are quite a few nice areas to live:
Worsted Farm Estate is where I used to live so know it very well and it is a nice community and very close to public fields which I used to play on as a child and walk my dog on. It is located on the East of the town off of the Lewes Road (A22), down Woodbury Av, and very close to Escots and Sackville School. It's about a 20min walk into town and 30min walk to the train station so quite a walk for commutes into London.
Also off the Lewes Road is the Herontye Estate (off of Herontye Drive) which is another nice housing Estate and where the Worth Way is located which is a fab ex railway line which goes from Forest Row to Crawley and is brilliant for dog walks and cycle rides without worrying about cars - that is one of the aspects I miss the most about E.G.! This is also extremely close to Escots and Sackville schools and even closer than the previous Estate to the town and station.
When you go further south on this Estate it turns into Sunnyside which isn't so nice (big council estate).
Another area off of the Lewes is off of Bourg de Peage / Escots Drive - most of this is nice and not council and again very close to those schools and not too far from town.
On the other side of town is the Garden Wood Estate which is close to the train station and full of nice big family houses. This is close to Imberhorne school.
Areas to avoid would be the Stone Quarry Estate which is near to Queen Victoria Hospital and the houses near to Sainsbury's (council estates with a bad rep).
I commuted into the city from East Grinstead for about 4yrs and although it is a long commute (1hr to London Bridge or Victoria), as it is a terminus you would always get a seat on the train which is a bonus! I believe next year the trains will also go to Blackfriars / City Thameslink which is great for the city.
As an aside, East Grinstead is home to the Scientology HQ to the UK and close to the Mormon temple so there are quite a number of followers of both in the town.
On Lingfield - it is a nice village with a good Indian restaurant (Tarana) and lots of countryside surrounding it. It is on the East Grinstead train line and early enough on the route to get a seat.
I went to school in Lingfield (Lingfield College) which back then was a nice little school (I don't know anything about it now).