Is living in Box Hill practical for children/schools?

[GlasSpidean]

Hi, my family are moving to England very soon & after finding it uber difficult to find a suitable rental we placed a deposit on a house in Box Hill. It falls under Reigate & Banstead and is nearest to Dorking. The estate agent told us it was great for families and schools are nearby so we made a hasty decision on the rental. Now with time to look into it, looks like the area is a retirement area and the nearest school is North Downs which is approx 3.5miles away and is full anyway.

So my question is, can anyone relieve my worries by telling me if families with small children (mine are 5&7) live in the area of Box Hill is driving children to school a headache around this area?

Thanks in advance
GlasSpidean

Apologies for the delay in getting back to you .

We have shared your post on Twitter (@MumsnetSurrey) so you'll hopefully see feedback shortly.

Local Editor

There are a couple of families with children in Box Hill that attend the infant school in Mickleham at the bottom of the hill, and then they go onto St Martens in Dorking after that, they just head down Zig Zag Road, which is fine for the majority of the year except for when it snows (ice skating rink then!) and clear of cyclists on the morning run, but not necessarily on the after school run. A lot of the schools in the area are oversubscribed though, but St Michael's in Mickleham does have spaces in all years - due to being an infant school, and it's rural location, and they have a guaranteed 15 places at St Martens.

I'm biased as my DC are at/were at St Michael's, but it's a really lovely school.

It's a beautiful area, but it is isolated, but then so are most of the villages around the area, unless you're actually in either Dorking or Leatherhead.

I live in Dorking. Box Hill is a bit of a retirement area but I hear great things about St Michael's in Mickleham. St Martin's in Dorking is also very good. Dorking is not very far away from Box Hill and is a good place to be with young kids and I have made friends easily.