Do you live in Surrey?

[dinny]

If so, where and what is it like?

We are (hopefully!) soon going to be house-hunting (renting) and have no restrictions really on where we'll end up. We really like Reigate so far but am interested to know of any other nice family places to live.

Thanks in advance, Dinny

have been thinking same to myself, Batters - what the am I actually going to do? Will I have to stay home and do mother-y type things?

Have you made many friends, ks? Do you still see old London friends most weeks?

It didn't to me - I commuted for five years - which is a pain. It's odd if you get emeshed in the school run thing etc, I suppose, for me, it was just odd as I had six months off. Now working again and share school run with h - works much better for me. Maybe it's motherhood I find odd. Am fairly close to Reigate and have considered moving into Reigate but prefer being in a village with a couple of pubs and access to a few fields etc.

pmsl Lockets - yes, I will.

have you considered Berkshire? I was trying to move into surrey but never found anywhere there in the end. I would have gone for guildford way if it hadn't been so far from dp's work. We ended up just outside surrey in ascot, and so far it seems very nice.

Good schools, very quiet (compared to Croydon where we moved from) and although there is next to nothing here, it is pretty well located. Bracknell forest, and windsor are really close. Then we've got reading, and slough pretty nearby and it is an hour to london or guildford.

Hve you thought about Claygate or Thames Ditton. Both easy to commute to London, but quite 'villagey' in feel - not at all Londony. Good schools, at Primary level anyway, and lots of SAHMs and a real community feel so you shouldn't fee isolated.

dinny, have you looked at the general Twickenham area? You're still v close to the A316/M3 to be in or out of town in a jiffy, close to Heathrow but still close enough to make driving into central London fairly easy.

I spent many years living in Merrow which is just outside Guildford (towards the A3 side). V convenient for going back to London and there are plenty of buses back into Guildford for shopping.

thank you v much, everyone - loads of ideas! just need to persuade dh that driving in from west Surrey just as easy (even maybe easier) than east - will make him do a test one evening!

where are you again, ks?

anyone know how much (ish) a season rail ticket is from, say, Guildford/Farnham to London? just ish....

from Milford to Waterloo costs me £264 per month including tube 1-6 pass. I live in Witley near Godalming. Takes about 50 mins on the train I think?

I get what you mean about the polarisation but the other way round for us as I work and he is a sahd. Personally I like that its slower paced round here cos I get the speed bit at work but DH swears at the w/e when all the commuters are about its a lot more frentic and London-like.

Like Blossomhill I am in Carshalton. Have lived here all my life, I like the villagy atmosphere (although it is not really a village).

I sometimes feel I would like to move out a bit more but there are a few things stopping me.

1. I am a single mother to 3 children, one with special needs.

2. Cannot move too much further away from ex-husband as he sees the children at my house on a Wednesday and has them overnight at the weekend and if I am much futher out it will be harder to meet up.

3. Work in London (part-time) and train fares are fairly cheap and commuter time is very fast (from Carshalton).

4. Eldest daughter in high school and wouldn't want to disrupt her education as she loves her school and is doing very well. Has lots of "nice" friends as well.

5. The services offered by London Borough of Sutton if you have "special needs" are just brilliant.

I was brought up in guildford and my dad worked very long hours - up at 6am, back very late and sometimes not at all. It had a huge impact on family life, maybe the same would have happenend if we had lived in Clapham, who knows, my parents were very career orientated. But I swore that would not happen to my kids and DP would not commute every day.

We moved out of central london a year ago when I gave my job up. Very lucky as DP does a lot of work from home, which diminishes the commuter thing.

DS1 has just started reception so I have met lots of mums - loads are london refugees like us, loads work both full and part time - partner in a local law firm, air hostess, health service management, nursing to name but a few. Everybody has been very welcoming, there are five kids in my son's reception year in our road alone. I am getting involved in things at school, I accidentally found myself a great part time job within 10 minutes walking distance of home. For us our move to Guildford has been the opening of opportunities not the closing of them.

Message withdrawn

I think it very much depends on your own circumstances and feelings. Still to this day, dh's parents rue the fact that they moved out of London (and this was years and years ago) and although my parents don't live in this country anymore, they regretted their move from London to Surrey. But I think you know deep down before you move what your true feelings are about the place you live in.

I enjoyed living near Guildford (but I was only a child) but I do think you need to live near a fairly big town if you're not used to living outside a major city because it can be a culture shock.

Here's the South West Trains season ticket price list

season ticket prices

Batters,

I wouldn't live in Central Epsom to be honest. Too busy at night like any town so West Ewell is great. I am 2 miuntes from 2 primary schools, 2 middle schools and 1 high school and anothe high school is a 5 minute drive or short bus ride.

All good schools and great ofsteds. My eldest starts E&E High next september and is at Danetree at the moment.

Pro's:
It's reasonably quiet without being dead

It's really clean, the parks etc are really well taken care of.

The local shops are enough to keep you going if you can't get into town.

Bus services are pretty good from Town centre as are trains.

Town centre is good to shop in without being completely over run by crowds of shoppers.
Good schools and Excellent chinese and indian takeaways

The fields etc... are great for dog walking and the Derby is great fun!!

Cons:
1 Not so nice Estate and 1 ok Estate but trouble doesn't spill out if you see what I mean. We lived on the bad estate until June and I am really glad to have moved. It was the cheap option at the time.

Epsom town is really quite loud and volatile at night but only right in the centre.

The shops are not as good as a bigger place like Kingston.

Buses in the heart of Ewell are still a bit behind.

I have lived here on and off all my life and love it