Moving to Henley on Thames, help please

[mia1972]

Hello,

My husband has a job offer in Henley on Thames, we are currently considering it very seriously and I wanted to know what it is like to live there. We have a 17 months old baby and currently living in east London, very urban and edgy but also friendly, we have a great NCT group and know many families with young children.

I absolutely love the area around Henley and I am interested in opinions about the schools (which in any case would probably be better than most schools in east London)...but I am just wondering how easy it is going to be to settle in / meet other families and feel at home ? I will probably also look for work around there as it seems there is quite a lot in the area in terms of companies etc.

I would appreciate any advice about this ...

Urban and edgy is not really what Henley is about. There are plenty of groups/classes for mum's and children but in my experience only if you are part of the Henley set.

Beautiful place, sorry I don't know much about social life there but I'd love to live there anyway!

Henley is very beautiful, pretty town, lots and lots of young families. It is not remotely edgy or urban though and nor is anywhere in the near vicinity. It can be a bit cliquey but like anywhere if you put yourself out there you will meet people and make friends.
Schools are mostly good I think (we live in the next borough so not sure on details!)
There is a useful group called henley parents on yahoo, you can post specific questions on there people are usually pretty helpful.

Hi there,

Thanks for the replies... I realise that Henley is not urban or edgy and that is not what we are looking for there. But I am hoping that it will be friendly and a place where we can settle in well.

Thanks for the heads up the yahoo group !

I think it is a pretty friendly place on the whole. There are a lot of people in the area that have grown up there and moved back to raise families (this is what we did) so I imagine being new you might feel a bit on the outside sometimes but I think that soon levels out and you make friends through the kids.
There is tons going on in the area as well..great for sports, rowing etc..lots of outdoorsy stuff..

thanks pregnantandpopping very useful and encouraging, the place looks amazing and I hope the move works out !!