Anyone live in Hatch Warren with young children?

[Mamarunner]

Hi,

I currently live in North Surrey and have 2 boys aged 19 months and 3 yrs 4 mths. We have a very tiny house in a very expensive area and have been considering a move for a while as we would really like a bigger house (which we have almost zero chance of where we live) and have been considering Basingstoke as DH can still commute to London. After a bit of research we reckon Hatch Warren looks like it might work for us in terms of the kind of house we want. We have had a drive round the area and liked the feel of it. I am nervous though as have life with 2 small kids all set up where I am now (i'm a SAHM) and can get almost everyone I want to go by walking, which is great. Can anyone give advice on what Hatch Warren is like for a young family. Are there lots of groups and activities within walking distance? What are the outdoor spaces like? Pre-schools (i have looked up Hatch Warren under-5s and dandelions online) and schools? Any advice much appreciated!

A good thing about Hatch Warren is you can get by without a car - there is a drs, dentist, post office, chemist at Beggarwood, you can buy most things between Argos, Sainsburys and Mothercare and there are plenty of kid's activities at the Community Centre and Old Down Hall.

Pre-schools are good/fine, depends what you want, some parents go out to villages to get smaller preschools, forest schools, Montessori etc but you need to drive for that. Primary schools - good, and if you are in Hatch Warren and not Beggarwood you should be able to choose which suits your child best. Secondary schools, not so good, kids get bussed to Winchester/Alresford for better schools but I expect this will change by the time your children are the right age as there will be more children so fewer choices.

Bit late spotting this but I second what daffodilys says. If DH is commuting, the Basingstoke buses aren't great as it takes about 45 mins from HW to town (a 10/15 min drive). If he's happy to pay parking (I have no idea of any hints for cheap parking as only go into town occasionally) then Basingstoke/Waterloo is a great service, only takes around 45 mins on the faster trains.
Playgrounds - several for toddlers (baby swing and a little slide) dotted amongst the houses around HW plus a big one more for older kids at Beggarwood Park.

Playgroups both have good reports - I drove out to Cuckoo Meadow in North Waltham as I fell in love with it but I have plenty of friends happy with Dandelions and HW Under Fives.

Primary school is good as is the infants (HW and Beggarwood share catchment for St Mark's C of E school and Hatch Warren Infant/Junior). Junior is OK not great, but new head so may change. St Mark's is closer to most of HW as it is in the middle of it.

Secondary schools are a bit so-so (unless you are Catholic as the best currently in town is Bishop Challenor) but a lot can change - the HW catchment school (Brighton Hill) was equal with Bishop Challenor for results and reputation 10 years ago when my DD1 started there, in the meantime they got a new head, the results went down, OFSTED report was bad, now a new head has to turn it around. DD2 is going to Bishop Challenor though, it's not there yet for us!
If you are after a 4 bed detached one of my neighbours is downsizing, I might bump into you

Link to Community Centre website

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Hi all, thanks so much for responding and sorry for being so slow to come back. We had a couple of visits to the area and basically got cold feet, thinking we would just stay put for now. However, a couple of months later and we are still hating our little box of a house and feeling depressed about our lack of prospects in the area. So thinking about Basingstoke again....Thanks Housemum for your comments on the commuting. That is my main concern for DH- getting to and from the train station from home. At the moment it is only a mile to the station, whereas it looks like Hatch Warren is a roughly 3 mile trip. He has a bike?? But probably wouldn't take car as we only have 1 and being home with the kids I would probably want it....

I think our next step will be just to see if we can check out some properties and get more of an idea. It's just a bit of a leap of faith as I have lived in the general area we live now for pretty much my whole life!!

If you want to be walking distance to town then the Cranbourne area might be worth a look. Houses aren't the same style as hatch warren, fewer modern detatched, but lots of the 1950's semi (I think?). If you look for houses around the Sheppard Road area you'll see what I mean.

The town centre schools are Fairfields, Rucstall (I think), st johns and kings furlong. Seniors are costello, cranbourne and the vyne, which hasn't been great for a while but has potential under what looks like a good new head.