Moving to Camberley-ish area

[Tididdy]

My husband and I will shortly be moving from Winchester further up north in Hampshire/Surrey. The main criteria is that I am a short drive away (10-15 mins) from Farnborough so that I can get the train into Waterloo for work. And my husband's criteria is that he is close to the M3 so that he can drive to Portsmouth for work. We don't know much about the areas at all. Someone suggested Camberley. Is this a nice area or would we be better off going to a nearby village (if so, which one?). We are happy to adapt to either town or village life as long as we are close to rail links and restaurants and bars are a short drive away. We're finally in a position to settle down and lay our roots in a nice executive house! We also have a baby girl who by the time we move will need to go to nursery - so recommendations on nurseries in the area would also be really helpful.

Many thanks for your help in advance - we really need it as we're clueless!!

Hartley wintney is fab, lovely big cricket green, good selection of shops lots going on for families. Odiham similar, fleet & church crookham much larger town but ok, lots of housing stock available. Camberley is a bit of a pit IMHO best avoided. You could also look at yately and eversley which are also nice.

hartly witney is not so close to Farnboro though?.

Farnham and surrounds (zoom up the A331 to Farnboro). Many nice areas here, excellent schools, lots of choices of preschools.

Camberley is great for shopping and some lovely houses but I think schools are an issue.

Pirbright is nice for farnborough and a lovely area in parts - very villagy with a huge green and duck pond. lots of nice countryside, but no shops to speak of (v close to camberley though) . Easy for M3, not so much for A3

There are also some great places in Fleet, which is good for farnborough, and M3 (although I think your other half will be using A3 for Portsmouth.) Elvestan Heath is a newish development just outside fleet and has some gorgeous places.

South of the A31 would also suit you both - easy for A3, easy for A31/A331 to Farnborough. But expensive.

farnham and surrounds difficult for M3. hw, fleet all about 10-15 mins to farnborough, - fleet nearer. but then tbh you can also take train from fleet to farnborough which is same line and only a few minutes extra train time.

Fleet would seem the easy option if I were you. M3 directly out of Fleet.

Thanks so much all for your helpful responses. So Fleet, Hook and Farnham appear to be the most popular choices...
Just had a quick look on Rightmove and there seems to be very limited stock for Fleet and Hook and Farnham seems to be very expensive. For Camberley, it seems that you can get a lot of house for your money. Does anyone know why this is? I guess we'll just have to visit all four to get a flavour of the areas. Does anyone have an opinion on which is the best for young professionals - we're both in our early 30s.

We're probably going to be based in the area for the next 6 years max so nurseries are probably more important than secondary schools / pre-schools...

Also, when you say Farnham and surrounds, could you possibly shed light on what the surrounds are. These could possibly be slightly cheaper than Farnham....

Farnham and surrounds:

Look in Ash, Ash Vale, Seale, Sands, Puttenham, Tongham, Mytchett, Some parts of ALdershot - be careful there though. Normandy. Ash Green is lovely (big gardens). Wrecclesham. Frimley Green has potential. Upper Hale. Beware of Church Crookham, as there are going to be MAJOR developments (6000+ properties) being built there over the next 5 years apparenty. Frogmore, Sandhurst and Yately also worth a look.

Whats your budget?

Still confused with your need for M3 for Portsmouth - A3 is preferred route from these parts (my family all there).

I am "oop north" but have friends down there. One set live in Camberley and it is lovely, I would have no problem at all living there if my budget allowed for the right property. Their children have had a really good state education (eldest will be off to uni this year) and are both doing really well.

Don't know the area well but am surprised you would br advised to avoid it (although I can understan you avoiding Farnborough or Aldershot)

camberley is cheaper because its just not as nice compared to other areas in the region. its fine, but just hasnt really got anything going for it.transport links arent great other than access to M3. traffic also an issue in this area. not sure about schools but these days it appears you pretty much have to live on the school doorstep to guarantee a place anyway.

as hatti says, budget will probably be your guide as much as anything else. some of these areas (particularly those within good catchments) are prohibitive for many buyers.

a3/m3 for portsmouth i suppose depends on what side of portsmouth your dh's work is

hook's really not great. you'd be better of with HW which is closer to farnborugh. there are also some nice areas of farnborough, which none of us have mentioned... you might not even need to drive to the station!!

I don't really understand your post. You say that you need to be close to farnborough so that you can get a train to Waterloo for work? Well you can get to Waterloo from other stations too!

We live in the weybridge/chertsey area. We are directly on the M25 so access to M3 and A3 within 5 mins and trains into Waterloo from Weybridge are 35 mins.

Nice area and good schools.

As with most places there are some nice areas in Camberley and some that are a bit meh - nothing awful just a bit 'old & tired' - but really, there are some lovely houses there as well.

However, for access to the M3 I would suggest Fleet & Yateley. If you have the money and don't mind driving a little bit further (as others have said) Hartley Witney is lovely.

There are also some nice places around Bagshot/Lightwater/West End - Blackwater/Sandhurst/Eversley.

You just need to check that the nearest station has A) lots of direct trains to Waterloo - and preferably some fast ones as Fleet does and B) parking.

WRT to Portsmouth - either the M3 or the A3 are good options - I prefer the A3.

Personally I'd avoid Farnborough and Aldershot myself (sorry, don't want to offend anyone but have lived in both and wouldn't chose to again).

Good Luck house hunting :)

Camberley + M3 commute = my idea of hell TBH. Camberley is OK but there is no real soul to the place, it just a bit flat and dull (IMO). There are some very nice houses, but between the nice houses and the M3 (which gives off a constant rumble) you usually have to sit in a long queue of traffic morning and evening. Same for Farnborough station, drive to it from Camberley post rush hour and you are there in no time, unless you go at the crack of dawn it will take you an annoying amount of time.

The other problem with the M3 is that while it is a good road, when it comes to a standstill so do all of the roads around it. For some reason, probably due to sheer volume of traffic, when there is a crash or other you end up stuck on there for hours.

Personally I would try to persuade your DH that the A3 is the way to get to work, even if he has to faff about at the Portsmouth end. The A3 was really rubbish just below Guildford (at Hindhead) but a new tunnel has just opened that whips a load of time of the journey.

Guildford has good Waterloo links, and as rollergirl says, so does Weybridge. I would look at the map and trace down the A3 and check out a few places along the way.

If you were near Guildford you would be close to has nice bars and restaurants. The shops are good and there are loads of nursery?s to choose from for DD and some good schools.

I live in Farnham and used to commute to waterloo from Farnborough - do you get an early train to work otherwise you won't get a parking space. Also why M3 to Portsmouth I would deffo go A3.

I would recommend
1.Hartey Wintney is fantastic. My mum has just moved there and there is a lovely village feel to it. Seems to be a lot of young families there.

1. Wokingham. Lots going on, lots of resturants and pubs. Train station in town, direct to Waterloo. We can walk there easily from our area. Affordable
2. Haslemere. Further into Surrey and a lovely place. Quicker route to Waterloo than Wokingham. Easy to get to A3 to go to Portsmouth

Hope that helps a little

Hartley Witney is lovely (and fairly expensive as well) but is not 10-15mins to Farnborough or even near any quick to waterloo train stations (we looked there as well)

Bracknell :) Honestly.

How about the Camberley side of Woking? Brilliant service from Woking to Waterloo (every 10 minutes minimum) and the house I'm thinking of (my Dad's downsizing LOL) is even on a bus route to town! It's a good town - theatre, restaurants, Debenhams) and not far from Guildford for more top-end shopping).

It takes about 15 minutes to get to the M3 from there and about the same to the A3 but I am not sure about rush hour traffic on those routes. PM me if you'd like a link

We are just about to move out of Eversley down to the south west, we would have loved to move to Hartley Wintney, it's a gorgeous village - but very expensive!

We also really liked Farnham, it's really pretty with good shopping/restaurants.

Eversley and Yateley are a bit 'meh' in my opinion, and I really wouldn't go for Camberley or Farnborough. Not sure about Wokingham, Hook is dull but I really like Fleet. Not very pretty but has a good feel.

Good luck.

Bracknell?? Not for me... no offence but have yet to find a nice house there. ASL - yours must be the exception to the rule :)

Wokingham is lovely but not great for Portsmouth - it adds a lot onto your journey.

Hartley Witney isn't near Farnborough - but it's near enough to Fleet station and there are direct trains to Waterloo from there.

Moody - you are near me :) Shame you are moving!! Why do you think Y&E are a bit meh? I find them a bit quiet, but other than that nice. Some lovely houses if you have the money :)

Agree that Farnham is great too - lovely High Street/Village (lived there too a few years ago).

Good schools in Wokingham.
Farnham good for schools.

I know it's not near Farnborough, but if you were to look at Alton and surrounding areas you get more house for your money than Farnham/Fleet/Hartley Wintney, you can get a train direct to Waterloo and you can be in Portsmouth by car in 40 mins, via the A3. It's very nice too, although not as upmarket as those three, lots of good schools, preschools, nurseries.

I would look Guildford Godalming area. Fast commute to Waterloo, good schools on the whole, and A3 (with the nice new tunnel) to Portsmouth. Or maybe Haslemere/Hindhead way for the same. Definetly not Camberley IMHO.

Thanks guys - I'm officially more confused than ever re where to look for!

To answer some of the queries, the husband will be in Portsmouth for a year only - he'll need to rotate to other areas each year (Basingstoke, Winchester, Southampton, Dorchester). It's possible that he does the A3 commute for Portsmouth but for some of the other regions he will probably need to get the M3.

We have agreed to go for a location which is good for both of our work journey times. The further we go into Surrey - the more it adds to his journey (although it would be better for me as quicker train links to London). I have to add on an underground journey to Canary Wharf as well so a Farnborough / Fleet commute of 40 mins into Waterloo is preferable to a longer commute. He's a doc and it's more important that he gets to work easily and on time. He leaves for work around 6 am in the morning so should avoid getting stuck in the commuter traffic jams (whether around Camberley or the M3)?

My work starts later so no I am unlikely to get to Farnborough early to grab a parking space. Arrrggggggggggggggggggh so much to think about!

The best part of Farnham is to the south and it is a bottle jam getting through.

ha, my house is not very nice - it's small so have rented it out, but miss Bracknell. I always thought it was a dive, but it is being regenerated and has alot alot of open spaces/parks. All the 'nice' areas tend to be new build housing estates though, which I hate. There is some older houses 'round the outskirts - getting towards Wokingham, Binfield, Ascot etc and you can still enjoy what Backnell has to offer. Very close to Windsor - we walk in the Great Park alot - , Reading, M3, M4...