Kew - raising a child/living

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Hi all

If you saw another post from me you would know that we are looking to move to SW and leaning towards Kew with probably an independent school from age 3 next year .

Would you share your experience living in Kew? are there a lot of activities for toddlers? do you feel you are isolated or feel that Richmond is on your door step? how is the community ? people say it is a place for life . is that true ? is it also for young families ? Given that there are a few prep schools suggests this. any cons and pros ? how is the district line/commute to the city from kew gardens? very busy ? any areas to avoid when buying? How is it near the bridge ?

Any feedback for Kew living and if you can compare to nearby areas would be great..

Thank you

Kew is a great place for a young family. You have Richmond on the doorstep, the gardens which become our second home and where you meet all the other mums in Climbers and Creepers, Chiswick for nice evenings out and Kingston or Westfield for shopping. It's 35 minutes into central London on the District line or 25 mins on the train from Richmond to Waterloo. The village has great cafes like Torelli's which has a play area for babies or Antipodea which is always full of smiling gorgeous people drinking negronis. The library is small and sweet and there are so many activities for children, from monkey music in the Avenue to baby massage in the Barn Church, all of which are excellent for meeting other mums / carers and building a network. When I was on maternity leave I met so many others, it was so easy to build new connections and then our children stayed in touch and are all in primary school together now. The schools are all excellent (Queens, a state school, just got an Outstanding OFSTEAD report in every category) - it's not all private although that's healthy and good too. Kew has great restaurants and pubs - I feel like I'm on holiday walking home from work on a summer evening. There's a real community - people are friendly and all know each other, especially parents. You'll love it.

I don't think there's any area you would avoid although there are some really lovely roads that are hard to get into but everyone would like to if they could - Lawn Crescent is fantastic with a private garden for the residents - they have their own firework display every year. The Avenue is very nice as is Ennerdale road and Broomfield. Some of the roads around the Green are lovely. It's all lovely really, very hard to go wrong.

thank you so much for your feeback . much appreciated . sorry I didnt get the notification so reading this now

Wow I'd love to live in that area. When I used to take my children to Kew I used to wonder what it would be like to live in the world:) no practical advise but I'm sure it would be lovely!!!

The lovely area around Kew Green is a looong way from the tube station

we love the schools in Kew but we are slowly converting to Teddington Twickenham area if we get the schooling right . thank you for all your comments .

you might get more responses through mums groups on Facebook.