Where to move to within a 30 mins drive of Guildford?

[Sorcsd]

Hi there, my husband and I have both secured a transfer from Dublin to the Guildford office of our company and I would like any advise you could give as to where to move to within about a 30 minute drive of Guildford. We will be looking for a long term furnished house rental. We have a 3 year old son and I am due our second in May. We would prefer a town or village than Guildford itself as we think we might get more for our money in the surrounding area? Our budget will about £2,000 p/m. Nurseries and school are obviously a major influencing factor (any advise on these also very welcome!) and I would like to be within walking distance of local shops and parks if possible. I have seen a few properties online that I like the look of in Fleet, Normandy, Godalming, Albury. Any and all advise appreciated.

Come to Farnham. The schools and nurseries are great!

sppp, it's about £1200 - £1400 p/m. From looking on a few websites we can rent much better quality and size houses in Aldershot, Farnborough, Fleet than we could in Guildford. But are these nice areas to live - are they good for young families, lots of other mums with small kids?

We bought a house in Camberley 6 months ago and absolutely love it here. It's a small town with a direct train to Guildford and the drive is about 30 mins if you wanted to drive. The nursery our toddler goes to is rated outstanding (there are at least two outstanding ones here) and the facilities for both kids and adults are fantastic. We have a soft play centre, cinema, bowling, leisure centre, rugby club, cricket club, football, go karting, parks, great shopping centre and nice restaurants. Lots of pretty countryside nearby. Schools are good standard too (although I've only looked into infant schools for now).

We moved from London and didn't want to move anywhere too quiet (i.e. a little village with limited facilities) so Camberley was the perfect solution for us. We also love period houses and there is a great stock of them here :)

Petersfield is a nice town, just off the A3, very easy for Guildford and on the main train line to London. Also easy to head south to the coast from there and surrounded by South Downs.

Other lovely things about Camberley...Monthly farmers market, La-Di-Da cupcake company, Good Taste artisan bakery and cafe, great library, theatre and friendly locals :)

Lots of young families in the area too.

If you go out of Surrey into Hampshire you'll get much more for your money. We're in Alton and I love it. Odiham also very nice, as is Petersfield (although if you commute up the A3 the new tunnel is a toll).

haslemere is lovely but pricey, even by surrey standards.
We live in Chiddingfold (large village between Godalming and Haslemere) - have lived here only a couple of months but it seems lovely and friendly. Godalming (where we lived for a couple of years) seems to have the curtain-twitching element - people without much to do who spend their time getting het up about what their neighbours are up to. We have a nanny and a tutor (for DS who has ASD) come to the house most days and I was shocked to be berated by one of our neighbours in Godalming over the number of people we had coming to the house (irrespective of the fact they both parked on our drive). it was well weird, he was really aggressive. I think he was an extreme version of a prevalent local type!

Bramshot...you don't pay a toll on the new A3 tunnel.

Camberley sounds lovely! Will put it on the list. I've heard good things about Farnham and Godalming but sounds like you had a bad experience there KarlosKKrinkelbeim!
We were thinking of getting out of Surrey into North East Hampshire to get more for our money but I'm not getting a good feeling about Aldershot, Farnborough, Fleet from anyone so might look into Alton, Odiham and Petersfield as suggested (thanks Bramshott). Any other suggestions in Hampshire?

Oh is it not? Sorry - I thought it was.

What about this?

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent/property-41036141.html

This is in catchment for very good schools and has lots of young families.

Thank you so much sppp! This is exactly the sort of place we're looking for but only advise like yours and everyone on the site can tell you what the area is like.

Or this? www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent/property-26369658.html

Zebon Copse and Netherhouse Moor are two developments that get you into good schools. Some of the other developments, eg Edenbrook, Ancells Farm, Elvetham Heath are a bit trickier for schools, the first two for secondary schools, and Elvetham kids don't always get places at primary even if they're catchment.

I can give you lots of info on areas to avoid but don't want to make inflammatory posts and potentially upset anyone, so feel free to PM me.

Once we narrow it down to specific areas and house we might just do that - thanks again!

There are lots of other pre-schools in Guildford BTW, so I wouldn't move just because of that.

If you do move do check out the drive in (if he still intends to drive) at rush hour, when the schools are back.

have a good look at Alton, Butts green area

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent/property-26343678.html?premiumA=true

backs on to really good primary school

My friends kids are very happy at this nursery www.altonconvent.org.uk/the-school/early-years-foundation-stage/

We very very nearly moved to Alton but I couldn't face the commute back into Surrey for work. Lots of people do it though.