Moving to Surrey

[GoRomance]

Hi all,

After having lived in Isleworth most of my life we have now decided to move to Surrey to find more space (hopefully!). I am not at all familiar with these towns and would really value input from those that have lived in or know the areas. Knowing that I am pretty much priced of places like Weybridge, Cobham and Walton and given that I would like to upsize to a larger semi or bungalow that we can convert to a house in a couple of years has resulted in the shortlist of Shepperton, Addlestone, New Haw, Ottershaw, West Byfleet, Chertsey. Things that are important to me are a not too difficult commute to London (don't mind a changeover), road traffic, good accessible schools, space, green scenery. I am happy forgoing the nicer areas if it makes larger properties more accessible within my budget.

Any advice on the above would be much appreciated!!

Please MN users help me!!!

have you considered moving further out. woking/guildford and surrounds very nice, excellent schools and fast links into London, plus easy access to M3/M4. Both have great shopping, theaters, cinemas, restaurants. Plenty of countryside and green space.

What is your ideal maximum commute time into London? WHat is your budget?

I would like to be able to get into Waterloo on a 45 minute train ideally. I've always thought of Woking/Guildford as not as nice, but I may be wrong. Budget it £450k

woking is a fast commute to london, can be as little as 30 minutes, so worth looking at. Some really nice places around there, depedning on what you want. WOrth travelling out of woking for quieter villages like pirbright, worplesdons etc - worplesdon, which has commute under 40 mins to waterloo; brookwood, (same) and even Ash Vale (41 min commute), Farnham area is 52 min commute, and then you really are talking home counties! (Only problem is you have Jeremy Hunt as your MP>.

Most schools in this part of surrey are good or outstanding.

Areas like Horsell in Woking are actually quite leafy. There's quite a lot of investment being put into Woking at the moment, the town centre is rapidly expanding.
In addition to the speed of the commute to Waterloo, the trains come every ten minutes or so, which you don't get if you move further out. I wouldn't rule it out before you've taken a good look around.

Thanks all. I will look into brookwood, Woking and others suggested. I would still really value any feedback on the areas I have mentioned if anyone is familiar with them?

Do you have children and if so what age? The places you have mentioned all strike me as being geographically close to London but not necessarily the easiest to get to via train - slow trains and not as regular.
As mentioned above Guildford could be worthwhile looking at, but it depends on how close you want to be to the train station. If you want to be within distance of Guildford station you'd almost need to double your budget.
Five minutes down the line from Guildford are Farncombe and Godalming. Godalming is a market town very popular with families and commuters with lots of green spaces.
You could also consider Camberley, although you would need to change at Ash I think to get into London. The town centre is nice with restaurants, a cinema and a theatre, although I'm not sure what the best housing areas are.

Generally speaking for your original areas school places can be an issue, the roads get very busy. Good thing about the stop train line - Addlestone/Chertsey is that if the Weybridge line has a fatality you can still get the stop train home....

Rubbish bus service if you need public transport locally.

If you are having to change at Weybridge the commute time may be a struggle.

After a bit more research I have narrowed down to Byfleet and Chertsey. Does anyone have any further advice on how these two compare? Are there particular parts that are nice. Is New Haw also worth considering?

I can tell you about Brookwood if you're still interested?

It has a train station with 4 x direct trains an hour into Waterloo. Lots of amenities inc post office, bakery/cafe, takeaways, newsagents, hairdressers, butchers. There's a massive Sainsburys a couple of minutes drive away on the Bagshot rd.

Has a 'good' rated primary school and 2x preschools. It's also about a mile or so away from Pirbright primary school which is also good.

Lots of greenery as it's on the canal, so nice walks along the tow path and over the heath and woodland at the back. Also the cemetery is good for walks. Loads of footpaths especially around Pirbright.

Road traffic can be awful at rush hour - this is the major downside. It often backs up along Connaught Rd especially in the morning and it's only going to get worse as the house building on the Brookwood farm estate continues.

Chertsey isn't great - not a lot there shopping wise. And the traffic can be horrendous. Check your train times and also check the flood risk maps as bits of it disappeared under the Thames a few years ago in the floods!
Shepperton is lovely - traditional high st shops and good schools but the train line is v slow.

I'd go for West Byfleet if you can afford it. Excellent schools, shops, station, Waitrose and Costa. Byfleet village is cheaper but parts are far from the station. New Haw is quite nice but some parts are close to huge electric pylons!

Shepperton also floods but nice.

I live in Walton and would not consider Addlestone but have often thought of Chertsey as a possibility. However, no kids and no longer commute into town.

Hersham has been popular recently with those moving out from London.

However, as you probably realise, 450k won't get you much anywhere round here.

There`s a few of us from Hounslow/Isleworth who now live in New Haw/ West Byfleet.

The train from Woking is less than 30 mins. We have been out here since 2006. The best thing to do is come and look around - get a feel for each place as they are quite different. I like where we live but that`s because it suits our needs.

Definitely look into Horsell, West Byfleet, New Haw, Ottershaw and Row Town - you might find something in budget.

Near good schools

West Byfleet

Ottershaw

Chertsey is not on the mainline, so you have to change at either Weybridge or Staines. Staines is 35 minutes to Waterloo.

There are some real property gems in Chertsey - historic buildings as well as 1950s and 1990s estates.

Hi all,

Thank you so much for your contributions. I was away for a while, busy getting married! I am still not sure about areas and think I will look into Ogham, Cobham and perhaps some of the villages surrounding Woking.

Any further advice would be much appreciated. With property prices seeming to still be on the up (i.e. Auddlestone, New Haw etc) I would rather move now to our 'dream home' than wait.

What we are looking for is:

-An area with large, wide properties, on a quiet road with a driveway
-A quick drive back to Isleworth (30-40 mins)
-Access to good schools

• Happy to drive to train station for a fast or semi fast connection to London

-Traffic should not be too problematic on main routes (i.e. to the station)

I appreciate its a big ask, but in the current market, you can't afford to make mistakes!

I have had to increase the budget to 600k in order to be realistic.

Thanks all!

Sorry I meant egham!

Egham is a bit blighted by students, although there are nice bits too. Have you looked between Egham and Staines in the Pooley Green/Egham Hythe areas? You can get bigger properties for less there. The two local primary schools there have a good reputation.

Englefield Green is also nice but pricier and even more students!

Thorpe is nice and worth a look? Excellent school. And lovely properties.

The A30/M25 roundabout has big roadworks on it until the summer but should speed up travel once it's finished.

Property prices in Chertsey and West Byfleet are on the rise. Lord knows why!!

I suspect it's a combination of the after effect of London prices increasing rapidly (hence the slight reduction) and surrounding areas that haven't seen big rises over the years starting to look attractive from a price perspective. West Byfleet has the faster train to London whilst Chertsey doesn't but you probably get more square footage for your money with the latter.