What is Maidenhead like?

[GarnishWithALemonTwist]

To live, education (both primary and secondary) and communting into central london?
We're looking to relocate the family but can't get what we want in the places we've looked: period house (semi would be fine) in nice street within walking dstance of decent town and state schools. Budget of £700K. Ideally something smaller than Guildford but bigger than Weybridge?

It's an odd place...but I'd live there! If you're after a 'decent town' then I think you may fall at that hurdle! Maidenhead town centre isn't nice....it certainly isn't representative of the area. It's like a late 60s/70s urban disaster and as for the river...the town planners all but obliterated anything nice about it I can live with that as there are other decent places but if you're after a 'quality town' then you might want to rethink. Schools though are good and you've not got the grammar/secondary issue over in neighbouring Bucks. You'd get something V nice for 700 though! You could look at nearby Cookham...more a village/town but lovely!

jeanjeannie sounds awful! I don't know why someone suggested I'd look into it....
Oh where to live!?

Marlow is much nicer, and is also on the Thames. It is quite small, and very much a secondary shopping centre, although it has alot of small independent shops.

It is in Bucks though, and does have grammar/secondary moderns, and the 11+.

lots of places easily commutable into london in that area. If you dont mind going a little bit further out parts of Wokingham are lovely, you have all the villages aorund there as well, Twyford, Hurst etc all easily commutable.

My xh used ot live in Woodley which while under Wokingham local govt is a suburb of Reading and he commuted to City of London each day. The schools under Wokingham council are generally good, but like all areas there are some not so nice parts.

Windsor is gorgeous, lovely place to live and I know someone who commutes to London from Windsor. Benefits from having a good sized town, excellent schools.

Marlow is another commuter town.

Ascot again lovely town, small amount of shops but easy travelling to reading, etc for a large clothes shop.

I'd second Marlow too! And Henley too. Worth looking at them both I'd say. Twford is lovely although may be a tad quiet.

Walton on Thames, Esher, Epsom, Ewell? There is lots of choice in a swathe across SW London, all commutable, and generally good schools, and your budget should get you a 4 bed semi at least.

I wouldn't live there. It has a good fast train service into London but the centre is horrible. Lots of people (like me) live in the lovely outlying villages and drive to Maidenhead station to catch the train.

The river area in Maidenhead is lovely and there are some lovely areas walking distance of the station that are nice - Belmont Park Avenue, College Road, Altwood Bailey - but you won't get much there for your budget.

If you live north of the A4 in Maidenhead you are in catchment area for some Bucks grammars. There are good and bad schools both state and independent.

Jeanjeannie was a bit harsh! Her description sounded more like neighbouring Slough tbh.

The town centre is dull, because it cannot compete with the nearby places to shop, like Reading, Windsor etc. Plans are in hand to redevelop a large swathe of the town centre over the next few years though.

It ticks the boxes for a dormitory town. near the river

Maidenhead is now like Slough was 20 years ago and is fast going the same way. I rarely go there these days as there are no decent shops left, unless you like pound shops. As for redevelopment plans around Queen Street, I'll believe it when I see it. There was a similar plan to develop the area around the old cinema and that never happened.

I thought I was honest! I did say I'd live there!! I live in High Wycombe...so Maidenhead would be lovely to me It's just that the OP was talking about Guilford and Weybridge in the same breath and I thought that Maidenhead would be a bit of a big difference. Some of the roads already mentioned here are gorgeous and I adore Pinkney's Green. But I know my MIL (who lives in Maidenhead and DH born and bred there) feels let down by the state of the town and now goes to Reading or Wycombe for shops. Chippy is right though in that there are some big plans afoot to look at the town centre and for train links into London it's brilliant. DOn't let me put you off having a look!

Just clicked chippy's link....gorgeous house...same road as DH grew up on! Now that IS one of the lovely areas

Totally agree, it's not in the same bracket as many other local towns with regard to shopping/lovely town centre. But there's more to life than shopping!

You're not wrong there I'd live in the middle of knowhere given half the chance!

Ah see I really don't want to live in the middle of nowhere. I've gone off maidenhead now but I'm going to look into some of the other places mentioned
[frantic googling emoticon]

Caversham in Reading?
Nice, near the Thames, easy commute, good schools (grammer schools too but other secondaries also good) and definitely not middle of nowhere. Don't know about crime, though.

Twyford is small and quiet but all the schools are good. It's 12 mins on the train to Henley and 8 mins to Reading plus in only 30 mins or so into Paddington in the rush hour.

I've lived in :Esher, Guildford, Leatherhead, Uxbridge, Ealing Common, Kingston and now Maidenhead. I would say if you are looking for a good all rounder with a nice town centre by nice I mean a good selection of shops, then Guildford and Kingston win hands down. Esher is great, if you have millions, literally millions to buy a nice house, and it is very close to london, I believe 11 mins by train to wimbledon as I recall. Whereas Guildford is a bit further out. In terms of schools, I went to Guildford College which was a bit pikey, but I also went to Godalming ( a neighbouring town) and that was an EXCELLENT college. Whilst living in Esher we attended private schools; Notre Dame, and later on a boarding school called Woldingham. My sister attended Guildford High, which has good results I believe.
Guildford is very Picturesque
Kingston is great for shopping and close to London-driving/train
Leatherhead was close to Kingston I just lived there while attending college in Kingston, didnt spend anytime at all in the local area.
Uxbridge, okay shops but area is going down down down the most popular place in town is the Job Centre and then the post office for the job centre people to collect their benefits- or KFC where they spend their benefits.
Ealing Common, again great if you've got millions to live in the nice part of town, or you'll end up in a dingy flat that smells of curry.( no offense intended I love curry, just not smelling it 24/7)
Maidenhead, yes granted the town centre could use some attention, but for the house prices, and the pretty towns around, its not a bad place. I hear mixed reviews of the schools, but then again its the students that make the grades- and the teachers of course so that differs year by year.

I am a surrey girl, born and bread and I have to say that living else where has been a BIG dissapointment to me! I loved living in Esher having cobham, weybridge and walton around the corner, and Kingston for shopping.

Hope this helps!!!

Since you mention both the beautiful city of Guildford and the humble village of Weybridge (top quality rugby school if you have any youg darlings aspiring to that end!!), I think an ideal town would be Woking. Not too big, not too small. Modern shopping centre but rest of the town is fairly disgusting, but nothing maidenhead wouldnt beat. And for commuter links the old hubby will be happy as they are really excellent!! Hope you have a long and fulfilling life. From one lovely mumsie to another xxx