RELOCATION OVERWHELM: Oxted,Sevenoaks, Tonbridge and surrounding Villages. HELP PLEASE

[DSJ2017]

Hi All,
My name is Daniel, my wife and I have one little girl and expecting another baby in 8 months, exciting times ahead, however, we need a bigger house and the search is becoming overwhelming so I would appreciate some advice from anyone that knows the areas, and is in similar position and planning to move or has made the big move and your experience.

We live in Charlton SE London in a 2 bed Terraced house which we have just put on the market, which has become small and we really are after 3/4 bed Semi ideally. We both work in city so a commuter belt is what made sense to go for.

I have lived in SE London for 20 years so this is a big big move for me but I am open minded with idea of quality of life, good schools, family friendly places, nature, woods and all the rest of it...both my partner and I are in early 30s and not into nights out/clubs/bars ect but more into restaurants, outdoors, get in car and go somewhere new, explore, fitness and well being. I do feel at this stage of life London can not really offer much for what we are after....never mind the price tags :)

Budget £325k-£375

For the budget property must have the following: within 1 mile of the station, close to good schools, long awaited little office space for me which essentially can be a single room and within 60mins of my folks in Greenwich and around 30-45mins from work(train ride).

Desirable: community spirit, where we live there is none, so we would like to get involved within the community, things to do for families, mum and baby and leisure center/gym and buzz of the place. No need to be in thick of it all as we would drive but would like to have our peace and privacy in an idillyc place with green/woods close by.

We have located above mentioned areas purely from our research but I felt I had to do a post and give it more context to our circumstance and hope someone can relate and provide some guidance and friendly advice because the next move is likely to me our home for next 5-10 years so it has to be right.

What I thought was that you can get more for your money outside London, but what I am finding is the locations we picked for the things we would like are kind of relative and can be more expensive which has made the search more difficult to balance it all. I feel Kent in general is the right direction to go coming from SE London, its just the location/street and property type that is proving tricky at the minute to narrow it down,

Things that would also be good to know: how to make smoothest transition city to country? Any pros/cons and how to make most of the move and life in country?

Thank You All
Dan

H

I have experience of Sevenoaks, tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells. All three have plenty of nice outdoor places for walks and so on nearby, leisure centres and I think in any of them you would be able to become part of the local community if you wished.

I don't know how house prices are going at the moment, but you'd probably find Tonbridge to be the cheapest of the three. It traditionally has had a reputation as the 'rough' town sandwiched between wealthy Sevenoaks and genteel Tunbridge Wells, but it's very much up and coming now even though in terms of facilities and shops it's the lesser of three.

Sevenoaks can be very expensive if you want to live walking distance from the station. You might want to look at the Riverhead area, or maybe Bat and Ball (yes, there's a village at the edge of Sevenoaks called that). Bat and Ball has its own train station, and it is, from what I know, a slightly cheaper option. Long term Sevenoaks is very poorly served for state secondaries, but has good primaries.

Tunbridge Wells is the largest of the three, and it's an incredibly popular place for people who have previously lived in London to move to once they have had children. This has caused a serious strain on the schools and you need to look carefully at where the local children get offered school places. Some schools are now only taking children from the roads adjacent to them as there's so much demand.

That aside the St Johns area of Tunbridge Wells probably currently offers the best value houses while still being walking distance from the station.

There is also a coach service in the area which many commuters use. I don't know a lot about it but I think it serves the city. Using the coach rather than the train could offer more flexibility to where you live. It's called Centaur.

WindwardCircle thank you for your insight We actually drove today all the way to Tonbridge and ha a stroll to the castle, around the high street and had some food in Pizza Express by the bridge Nice vibe around the river, especially Castle side towards the pools..wife and little one got excited when they saw an outdoor pool I found East side towards sainsburys to be abit industrial and not too keen on it. This was only a quick spin and the vibe was positive but again it needs to be looked at further if one is to consider.

Then we drove to Sevenoaks...now coming up to Sevenoaks from south side through that National Park Knole I think its called, stunning, some breathtaking views. We did not stop at Sevenoaks but from what I have seen as we drove through town it reminded me of Blackheath Village here in SE Londoon,,,told wife, I can smell the money lol. We need to go there again and spend more time there.

We then took a spin to Oxsted, drove via Westerham which was rather impressive I have to say, small but charming indeed, I think there is no station there is I am correct. It was later in day when shops were closed in Oxsted so I did not really see the place and the buzz so again have to go again but the surrounding area looks gorgeous.

From the little we saw today it felt potentially Tonbridge was a tad too far but if the right house came along I would defo consider it, and also noticed quite an older population around but then saw plenty of families too with little ones. Which part of Tonbrdge would you recommend as I literally have no idea on it...apart from what we saw.

Sevenoaks, approach and views stunning, love the affluent feel but the schools may be an issue depending on how long we plan to stick around, initial plan is 5-10 years. Looks like most properties within out budget are north of the station towards bat Bell and Dunton Green station - if it far from station if i consider to cycle to the station or maybe get an electric scooter or similar not to waste too much time?
Also, buses from Dunton Green and Bat and Bell if i was to bus it to Sevenoaks, is this mode of transport reliable?

Oxted - cheapest on train ticket side but felt on smaller side. Felt like we would be relying on car all the time.

Hi there - there are train stations at both Bat & Ball and Dunton Green but only slow trains to London go through them. You'd be better off getting a train back into Sevenoaks and going from there. Buses aren't great. You could also look at Otford which is north of Sevenoaks.

In terms of bang for your buck, look at Tonbridge. Like everywhere it's a mixed bag with some parts nicer than others. Primaries are good but as someone else mentioned, non-selective secondaries aren't great. The grammars are very good and some of the independent schools are excellent.