Moving from London to beautiful Kent!

[Twixie]

I really like living in London and have resisted the move for years but the pressure is on again to take the plunge!I know it will be wonderful for the children and I'm sure I will settle in quickly - so it's exciting but naturally I am feeling a bit apprehensive and confused!(Also can't take the planes anymore!!)
We are looking at somewhere between Seven Oaks and TW. Something I have been told is that traffic in Tunbridge Wells is awful - I live just off Upper Richmond road in Barnes/Sheen area ...if anyone is familiar with that nasty road, how does it compare to London Rd?and do you really need to be close to schools - does the catchment thing apply?

Any hints,tips,advice for a slightly anxious but looking forward to new beginnings & soon to be ex-Londoner...;-)

Response from Twitter for you!

Has just been suggested that I share this thread with you:

local.mumsnet.com/Talk/local_kent/1959373-Moving-to-Tunbridge-Wells

Lots of info on there!

Apparently traffic is bad - probably be a good idea to come for a visit at a busy time so you can compare it to Richmond!

Also another Twitter user has responded

Hi there,

I used to live off Lower Richmond rd, so can still remember being stuck in traffic for ages on hot summer days. We moved to just outside Sevenoaks over a year ago now and love it. Traffic can be bad but not nearly as bad as London, there is always an option of different routes to surrounding villages, so even if it is busy it never feels as bad as being stuck on the upper Richmond rd, with nowhere to go. As for schools and catchment areas, I am still trying to work that one out myself my two are not at that age yet but from talking to local mums it can be very difficult getting into the right school especially popular ones and catchment areas definitely do matter with these ones. It also depends on whether you are thinking of primary or secondary as kent still has the grammar school system as there is no grammar school in Sevenoaks, so the children here have to travel to grammar schools most of which are in TW and Tonbridge. Hope that helps. I found the move difficult as we loved Putney but it has definitely been for the best and it is still very easy to get back into London and visit friends. I feel now we have the best of both worlds. Good luck and hope you find what you want :)

Thanks for the positive feedback Goodidea - it does make it hard to move out of London when you like where you live!Anyway,we are forging ahead but the outcome will depend largely on finding a school for DS(year 4 at mo,baby only 18 months)will also look at properties in suggested areas - thanks for the tweets girls...watch this space;-)