Where is good to live west of London?

[Dunoon]

Thinking of relocating back into London-ish and all relevant friends and relatives live in Sunbury, Hampton Hill and East Molesey. However none are in a good position to tell me what good state secondary schools are around and where would be good to rent a 3/4 bed place.
Sunbury strikes me from what I have seen of it as boring and a bit yucky up Sunbury Cross bit.
Hampton Hill nice but is it expensive and what are schools like?
East Molesey?
Surbiton?

Teddington School for secondary is highly rated but prices have shot up in the catchment area as a result. If you have just girls then living very close to Waldegrave School in Twickenham is where i would live. Both areas pricey compared to Sunbury Cross.

I'm sure Somerset is lovely
Fiddledee Thanks will investigate both of those.

We've just moved out of Surbiton but not because it was horrible! It's a lovely place but pricey because of the fast link to London.

Tolworth Girls school is great apparently and I've heard that Hollyfield (mixed) is really good these days (don't quote me, it's just what I heard!)

And Kingston which is very close is fab for shopping (I think I took that for granted a bit! )

Good luck!

Bil/sil are thinking of moving to Surbiton and are doing a recce in two weeks so we might join them.
Thanks.

Well feel free to send any queries my way

Anyone know Shepperton?

Yes - smallish, but very nice. Some parts of it suffer from motorway noise. Also, can be a bit pricey in comparison to nearby places such as Staines. Fairly decent state schools and very good private schools nearby.

Esher... it's lovely (not biased in anyway!)

Good schools, good links to London, close to Kingston for shopping...

Esher incredibly expensive, Claygate a little less so but if you are considering Sunbury Cross both these areas are out of your price range. Staines itself is more affordable not a pretty town though.

State secondaries are a bit hit and miss in this part of Surrey, near Sunbury.

What about New Malden, which is in LB Kingston which has excellent schools.

Thuis all very usefull thanks. It's good to get some idea of the general area. Will check out Esher, Claygate and New Malden.

I live in surbiton and I love it! It's probably quite expensive relatively to sunbury cross .

The high street has lots of nice cafes, a waitrose and sainsburys and a m&s food so i don't need to get in the car to for shopping unless it's going to be a huge one .

Life style wise i think it's great, quite a community, we've made lots of friends from our DS's infant and primary shcool.
We have the river, richmond park and bushey park within 5 mins drive or bike ride and kingston( great shopping and theatre ) a lovely 15 min walk along the river .

The primary schools are good and holyfield secondary is getting good results and they have a fast track scheme for more able children. Quite a lot of choice locally if you want the private sector

The trains from Surbiton are very frequent 4 per hour and the fastest is 17 mins to waterloo. easy to get to both heathrow and gatwick and down to the downs and the south coast too.
Do come down and explore , when we came here we rented first to see how we liked it (coming from central london )and that meant we knew what roads we really wanted to live in or more importantly where we didn't want !
:)

We are looking to rent and prices seem very high around Surbiton station with the only affordable places coming up down Ewell Road and Tolworth. What's that like? Have checked out Tolworth School website and they seem to be getting good results.

Ewell Road, Surbiton. Anyone know this bit?

Sorry have no idea about Surbiton... but parts of Esher aren't too expensive (otherwise I wouldn't live there!)

You could also check Thames Ditton (between Esher and Surbiton)

Ewell Road is a busy road, we lived close to it. Lots of the roads off it are lovely though and they are cheaper than Surbiton proper. You'll get a lot more space for your money in Tolworth because the train station is a short bus ride away.

It's nice enough though and Tolworth Broadway has quite a few shops, Tesco Express, M+S, library, a fair few fast food places I suppose and pound/charity shops.

It has a nice park and just up the road a lovely duckpond park.

We found it quite friendly, especially the road we were in. Berrylands is nice, pricer than Tolworth itself but not as pricey as Surbiton (has a station too). Lots of 1930s houses on the roads off Red Lion Road which are nice - I wouldn't go too far down towards the A3 though, though again you'll get more for your money.

I wouldn't personally live ON Ewell Road though, tbh. If you have kids I'd be too worried as it is busy.

HTH

Just realised how many times I wrote 'though' in that post

Lots to think about and investigate thanks for all the information.

We moved away from Ewell - really didn't like it. Epsom is nicer, and I would also second Kingston/Berrylands/Surbiton if you are looking in that area.