Good and bad parts of Sevenoaks?

[avajamesbee]

Hi all,

My husband and I are thinking of moving to Sevenoaks and commuting to London. Are there any bad areas that we should avoid buying a house in?

For example we currently live in East London because of the short commute to work, however we wouldn't buy a property in our area since there is lots of crime - it's fine for two grown up adults, but I can't imagine bringing up children here. Unfortunately we don't know anyone living in Sevenoaks that we can ask this, and as first time buyers we are quite worried of the possibility of making a bad decision area-wise.

I read a comment on a thread here that the area around Bradbourne Lakes should be avoided, but the woman who said this wasn't sure why herself (or whether it's true really). We are thinking about the area around Bat & Ball since this is within our price range.

Any help would be appreciated!

There are always going to be nicer areas and rough areas wherever you go

I lived in sev for 26yrs then brought first house in Tonbridge

Afaik BRadbourne lakes is a nice area

There really aren’t any bad areas. There are parts of Sevenoaks that are a less affluent but that’s all very relative (posh Sevenoaks is very posh!). Dunton Green and Bat and Ball are considered less desirable but honestly, they aren’t ropey! The downside from Bat and Ball is the commute angle. It does have its on train station but on the v slow Thameslink. If you want a fast commute into London then then it’s either taking the one stop train into Sevenoaks or driving in the morning traffic to Sevenoaks train station (and honestly the morning traffic here is bloody awful!). St Johns seems to be popular with families. If you want a good State school then I’d advise living as close to Trinity as possible. If you’re not going Private (and many in Sevenoaks do) & your DC don’t pass or take the 11+, Trinity is your best option but as it’s a religious school it only takes a small percentage of non religious kids and they need to be living very close!

Technically the villages surrounding Sevenoaks (Seal, Borough Green etc) are Sevenoaks. Seal has no train station. Otford is lovely (but houses are ££) and has its own train station. Borough Green also has a train station with a direct line & frequent trains to Victoria, is in the catchment area for the Maidstone/Tonbridge/Tunbridge Wells/Sevenoaks grammars & has one of Kent’s rare good secondaries and more affordable housing is also worth considering (I live there!).