Quite possibly moving to Horsham! A few questions..

[Sparklies]

We're desperate to relocate outside of London, and we've finally got an opportunity to go later this year, subject to selling our house.

DH works near Victoria, and so after a bit of research (including a very useful thread on Chat!) we discovered Horsham ticked pretty much all our boxes. Last weekend we went on a scoutaround there and could find nothing wrong, so chances are good it's where we'll go.

We currently own but the plan is to sell this place and rent in (probably) Horsham for 6-12 months so we have time to get a better feel for the place and also to make buying a new place a lot easier.

I think a few people here live in Horsham? Can anyone tell me:

1. Most importantly - what the parking is like at Horsham station in the mornings? We're also considering one of the villages outside so DH would presumably need to drive to the station. He'd probably catch a train around 7-7.30am.

2. Areas to avoid (including villages) if there are any. Similarly any lettings agents to avoid would be good too! Good areas/villages to live in welcome as well.

3. Our 3 DCs are all very young - the oldest is due to start school in September. Are the primary schools oversubscribed? Are there any we should avoid/definitely go for?

4. Anything else you think we should know!!

Thanks in advance :)

Hi
1 - There's a car park behind the station that costs £5 a day or you can get season tickets for varying time periods. It has 176 spaces and does fill up, but he should get a space at 7am.

2 - I can't think of anywhere in or around Horsham that's not good (assuming you avoid Crawley) but if you have young kids it's better to be in Horsham than one of the villages. There's so much to do in the town and if you're in a village you'll have to drive everywhere. I'd go for the west side which is a short walk to the park and into the town centre.

Thank you so much, that's just what I wanted to hear! :)

I was guessing the west side would be a bit better - just from driving around the houses seemed a little nicer, plus the park looks lovely. I guess a lot comes down to what's available when we have hopefully sold the house and need to move asap!

We relocated from London a year ago and live in the west side of town. Love it! Am so glad that we chose this area as it has a lovely vibe about it and is so quick and easy to get to the park/into town on foot. The dcs are having a ball here! We didn't have any problem getting dd an in-year primary school place. dh commutes to London and so walks to the station every morning.

Hurray! I am so pleased to hear of another person with no regrets, and that's very good news about the primary schools. It sounds as great as I had hoped!

I wish I could wave a magic wand and move tomorrow, but we still have a mountain of house preparation etc to do first before we can sell. Just hoping to escape here by Christmas ideally, but so much depends on the local housing market..

Sparkles, just wondering if you made it to Horsham? We're also considering a move in the next 6 months ( ideally to be in place by sept for school year) but would be east side for Millais catchment

Thanks