Moving to Berkshire! Wokingham or Newbury?

[PinkSwan]

Hi All,

We (my DH and myself) are planning to move to Berkshire from London. Although my DH works in London, we are looking to buy a house in Wokingham or Newbury. We really liked Wokingham but house prices in Wokingham seemed to be higher than our budget and now we are thinking about South of Newbury. Any suggestions on which might be ideal in terms of price, location and good schools?

Thanks in advance..

I don't know the area to live in Newbury but the town centre is really good - undergone a lot of change recently.

I live in Wokingham and its a great town. we are also undergoing regeneration and a lot of new housing is being built at the moment. I love it. great community feel, may fair, xmas fair, lots going on in and around etc.

Lets hope more people can help

Will your DH be commuting by train? If so Thatcham may be worth a look. I'm afraid I don't know much about Newbury housing but the shopping is good and the town centre has a lot going on with the corn exchange and cinema etc. I tend to use Newbury for shopping more than Reading as the parking and traffic are easier.

I live in a large village between Thatcham and reading but house prices are high due to the proximity of the M4 and train stations on direct route to Paddington. It really depends on your budget.

Thanks You :) @BerkshireLocalEditor, We Love Wokingham too but then the house prices are a no no for us right now. Probably we will be looking somewhere in the Boroughs of Wokingham may be Winnersh, Early, Woodley. which have direct trains to London..
@liquidstatehasrisenagain, yes my DH will be commuting by train. Thanks for your help :)

I live in a village just South of Newbury, it's not cheap but you would get more for your money than Wokingham.

Village Primary Schools in the area are very good, mine go to Ashford Hill Primary school where my DH is a governor and it's a fantastic school, very nurturing and smaller class sizes, as intake is 20 in 5 classrooms. Other parents I know have children in Burghclere and The Priory in Charter Alley, all 3 have similar good SATS results, and also get used as pre-prep for the private schools, so places do come up as children leave.

The sought after state secondary schools seem to be Park House (Sporty) and St Barts, strictly speaking we are out of catchment although children do get in from our school. I have also heard that Trinity is also a very good school too. Lots of private schools here if that's what you want.

Newbury town has everything you would need in terms of shops and restaurants, and the race course too.

Thatcham is fine, I have several friends who live there, housing is more affordable, nice open spaces and safe. Town centre is OK. The train goes into Paddington. That said, I wouldn't choose to live there myself as it lacks a bit of character in my opinion.

If your DH can go into Waterloo then Overton and Whitchurch may be worth a look too.

Hope that is useful.

@GemAH

I live in a village just South of Newbury, it's not cheap but you would get more for your money than Wokingham.

Village Primary Schools in the area are very good, mine go to Ashford Hill Primary school where my DH is a governor and it's a fantastic school, very nurturing and smaller class sizes, as intake is 20 in 5 classrooms. Other parents I know have children in Burghclere and The Priory in Charter Alley, all 3 have similar good SATS results, and also get used as pre-prep for the private schools, so places do come up as children leave.

The sought after state secondary schools seem to be Park House (Sporty) and St Barts, strictly speaking we are out of catchment although children do get in from our school. I have also heard that Trinity is also a very good school too. Lots of private schools here if that's what you want.

Newbury town has everything you would need in terms of shops and restaurants, and the race course too.

Thatcham is fine, I have several friends who live there, housing is more affordable, nice open spaces and safe. Town centre is OK. The train goes into Paddington. That said, I wouldn't choose to live there myself as it lacks a bit of character in my opinion.

If your DH can go into Waterloo then Overton and Whitchurch may be worth a look too.

Hope that is useful.

Thanks so much! We’ll definitely add Newbury to our list of places to check out