Guildford/Woking: What's it like?

[KezzieJJ]

Dh and I have decided that we would like to move to Woking/Guildford from SE London - but we don't really know the area. We are currently in Crystal Palace and love it here, but want a different schooling/lifestyle for our kiddies. DH works in Hammersmith, and myself in Waterloo.

Anyone live there or nearby who can give me an idea of good places to live, we know the villages are great, but obviously not as commutable into London for work as the towns themselves. We can only go to stamp duty price too, and want 3 beds and a garden for our money!

We also have a 3 year old and a 3 month old, so school and nursery is important too.

Finally - are there any good nanny/au pair agencies/contacts out that way as mini-cherub will need care when I return to work in March.

(I know ... not asking for much, right?)

ANY help greatly assisted - thanks in advance.

:)

We moved to Woking 6 years ago from London. I don't recognise the description that starfish is giving.

I have lots of friends and have found everyone nice and helpful whenever I've needed it.

My kids go to good state schools: infants, juniors and senior.

I love it.

As for Guildfiord. The High Street is quite a lot more upmarket thanWoking but I get most things I need from the shops in Woking, with an occasional shopping trip to Kingston or Guildford for a treat.

So words such as "terrible", "eyesore" and "aggressive" aren't being rude about the area and the people? You said yourself that you can't find anything positive about the Woking/Guildford area. If you don't like it then fine but all I ask is that you're diplomatic about your opinions. I find Surrey to have a wonderful community spirit and despite the gated houses and people commuting by train have a great deal of time and respect for one another. I've never found anyone aggressive in a supermarket!

OP, I'll just point out that all of the areas Starfish is telling you to avoid are the more affordable ones! I'd have a look around according to your budget and then decide for yourself.

We moved to the Guildford side of Surrey from SE London and slowly died inside until one of us eventually admitted to the other that we'd made a mistake. It cost us a lot to move both financially and in terms of upheaval but we did three years ago and I've never been so happy. I'd think long and hard about it, if you like Chrystal Palace, East Dulwich, Streatham it's unlikely that Guildford will be for you.

I don't recognise the Guildford descriptions at all. I've lived here for ten years so both in my 20s drinking years and my smug married with a PFB years. I've made loads of friends here through various activities and groups. Whilst its true a lot of people commute I think there is a good sense of community.

There is a strong student population with a big Uni and halls. A lot of shared student houses in terraced street areas including my own. No real problems with this so far in my experience. It's Guildford it's expensive they tend to be good kids.

Bad side, lots of drunk teenagers in a specific area of town certain nights of the week. In my experience contained to this area and easy to avoid. It's a triangle of wetherspoons, a nightclub and bar mambo I'm not sure you could expect anything less really!

Excellent schools, shopping, bars, cafes, pubs, nurseries, nhs facilities. I recommend it but I guess it's a matter of taste.

I don't like Woking though, sorry.

£250k near the station will be difficult, recommend going north of A3 towards Worplesdon.

No Starfish but to a similar area to SE London but in another large City, I also miss London but get to visit often for a fix.

I never go back to Surrey.

Really surprised by some people's negative comments on here about moving out of London.
DP and I moved out of London to Surrey this summer and love it. Would not move back to London for all the tea in China .

We are not in Guildford or Woking so I cannot really comment on those places, although Guildford seems nice from the few times I have been there.

We are in one of the smaller villages and drive to Dorking station and get the train from there. The commute is long but civilised, we always get a seat on the train as Dorking is the start of the line so we can read / work / relax on the train.

Moving out of London to the countryside has worked for us because we are both keen cyclists and runners and I horse ride. We spend all our time out in the countryside and think it's great. Plus we have a large house for the same price as a flat in London and a lovely garden. However I think if you are the kind of person who has more city based interests such as going for coffee and to nice bars and shopping etc then yes you would probably find it very boring where we live and are probably better off in London.

A lot of this is totally mad, I've lived in Guildford, very close to the town centre for 16+ years.
The police presence near the station is only high after about 10 pm, and is mainly community support, along with the Street Pastors. It is not for fights, but because there is a ridiculous density of bars and clubs either side of the central gyratory system; which because of planning laws the council were unable to stop. This means late at night there are a lot of drunk young people liable to step out into a very busy road.

The schools in Guildford are mainly good to outstanding, a very different situation to Woking, although I have heard things are improving there.

Yes if we didn't need to live here for work, we would probably live elsewhere (we could get a nice stone house with Stables in Rutland for the value of our house), but it is quite pleasant, and I'd rather live here than Crystal Palace.

Thanks again for all the info ladies - it's been most insightful. Having moved from London after living here for 9 years to Brisbane (really - just a large country town) and loving it, I have NO qualms with getting out of dodge again - this time for my boys and the excellent options that it gives us in being outdoors and having access to more 'outdoorsy stuff'. I grew up on a farm in Africa, and am very used to being able to go riding and spending the weekend in the garden or playing sport. I am looking for as much of that as I can for my kids, avec the constant sun of course - which is fine - what's with a little rain hey!

So - Off we tootle tomorrow to Surrey for another round of househunting. After a diabolical search of South East London, we have decided to have a mooch around Woking and see it for ourselves.

The transport is superb to Waterloo (and will take me the same amount of time that I currently spend on the number 3 bus commuting to work!), the schools DEFINITELY better than on offer on inner SEL, and the houses indeed more for our shoebox money here.

So - here are the roads we are looking at - any insight once again hugely welcomed and appreciated. And if we move to be your neighbour Woking-folk - wine is on me for any assistance given! :)

Bishops Wood
Campbell Ave
Ford Road
Ash Road
Falstone, St Johns
Woodside Close
Nursery Road

Oh - incidentally - we are also looking at three in Walton-on-Thames - if anyone has any insight there too.

Latton Close
Hurtwood Road
Ambleside Avenue

Yep - busy day much? (With 3 year old and 3 month old in tow - dreading it, but needs must!)

Once again - thanks again in advance!
:)

Have you checked what catchment you would be in for those roads?

not yet - they were all booked this-arvi, so i'm going to do that tonight. that would have been the wise thing to do first - however, i don't have the luxury of time right now - sadly!

Hi OP. we moved to Woking almost a year ago now and went through all the things you are considering! If you like I can email you the spread sheet I made of all the towns we considered! I am SO glad we chose Woking. I LOVE it. I really could not be more positive.

we had 300k to spend but we found that other areas just did not offer the space you can get for your money in Woking.
It'd true that the town centre isn't as pretty as Guildford or similar but to be honest there are far more important things about a town qfor me. They are ploughing a lot of money into Woking town centre over the next few years, have already revamped the town square and redone the library.
The schools are brilliant. My dd is about to start an outstanding primary in September and we chose between that, another outstanding primary and another good one! The secondary teaches Latin to its top set English classes and for a comp is pretty good! It's good with outstanding features.

The location is brilliant - we're close to Legoland, lots of national trust properties, the Surrey hills for walking, London for the museums (we went into London a few times over Christmas and it was such an easy day out with the children) Guildford is only 20 mins away for shopping - I wasn't willing to pay a Guildford premium to live closer! There is so much to do with children, hundreds of toddler groups, classes etc. we used to live in Oxford and I like Woking much more. It's much friendlier! I think I've seen the house on Ash road you're going to visit and its nice.

Happy to advise on school catchments etc or anything else you need!

I have lived in the Woking area for around 16 years, for the last 3 in St Johns, in a lovely semi backing on to the canal.
I love it.
Fab friendly neighbourhoods, town centre has most things you need. I have a police officer friend who tells me Guildford night life is far rougher and more dangerous than Woking. I wouldn't know, I don't 'do' nightlife apart from restaurants or our local pub in St Johns...

I have never experienced any so called racial tension, in fact I have never experienced tension here.

The school's are brilliant. Both dc went to an outstanding infant school and a good with outstanding features junior school. Ds is now at a good with outstanding features secondary school and has steadily climbed into top sets and is very happy and doing well.

We love the fact we can be in the country side in a matter of minutes in the car (Horsell Common, Chobham Common) or further into the Surrey Hills for a day out. We love cycling along the canal into Woking for a spot of shopping or to renew our library books!

We love the fact we are semi-rural yet have great motorway and train links to London.

We are very happy here!

My sister lives in Woking and loves it; she's in Horsell, which is a nice area. The town is good for shopping, facilities and transport links but no-one could say it's an attractive town.

Just adding my perspective to a couple of towns mentioned:

Dorking - lovely, safe, friendly, good schools. I've lived in or near the town for 17 years and have been very happy. BUT the trains are nothing like as good as Woking; my worst time was the 6 months I spent commuting to Hammersmith from Dorking, up to 4 hours a day.

Sutton - ha ha ha, if you think Guildford is bad after dark.....rough as a bear's arse, I'm afraid. You might as well suggest Croydon.

I grew up in Woking, living in the hook heath area and really enjoyed living there. I guess I was shielded from the lower classes of Woking. I am away at uni in Southampton and Have seen the similar problems faced by Woking mentioned, noisy town as night, rough areas.

It is true that some areas in Woking are best avoided, such as, Sheerwater, Westfield, Goldsworth Park and Maybury. I have experienced places like these in Southampton and think that they exist most places, i guess except, maybe the Elmbridge borough. Moving to Southampton, I think I really how lucky I was growing up in Surrey as it really is nicer than the rest of the UK.

The town is OK, not as bad as the rap but you do tend to get annoying kids who think their gangsters hanging around and they can ruin it, Guildford is a lot better and best for big shops, still a younger crowd. For smaller towns with more character, cobham and Weybridge are really nice, they have lots of nice cafes, niche shops etc and are really pretty. The river Wey through in Weybridge is a really nice, there are pubs near by and it is a great walking area.

Further, through Surrey you will find lots of really nice gastro pubs in rural areas, between guildford and Woking and further across. There are also lots of nice farm shops and garden centres through surrey worth visiting. My mum goes to one in cobham that she likes.

There are lots of Nice Private and state Schools in Surrey, I went to a state primary school and private secondary school. Whoever said schools in surrey/woking is poor is completely wrong, they have lots of really outstanding schools and some OK ones. Southampton schools are a lot worse than those in surrey, and speaking to friends at university, their schools sounded a lot worse than mine.

Good luck, I would say you really don't get much for your money in a nice area of Woking or guildford. You should consider doubling your budget or consider somewhere different.

I grew up in Surrey and know Walton well. Perfectly nice nowadays for what you want, but the commute to Hammersmith from there or Woking would be hellish - would need to change at Clapham Jn for the Overground to West Brompton/Shepherds Bush and work near one of those to be at all feasible.
IME house prices in Surrey were higher than parts of London near you - would Mitcham Common be rural enough? There are lots of status-obsessed prats in Surrey, but probably not that many more than in Crystal Palace/Dulwich. Except on the roads - Surrey drivers are the worst entitled road hogs in the country

"I guess I was shielded from the lower classes of Woking"

Good grief, did you never step outside the boundaries of Hook Heath for your entire childhood?

Forgot to mention OP Hook Heath best avoided ... well unless you feel you need shielding from the lower classes in which case it'll be perfect for you!