Woking/Horsell

[PollyPutTheKettle]

We are currently in SW London but want/need to move for schools, space etc. Budget is 700k. So, after lots of research on here we went to Woking today. We saw a lovely 4 bed house in Horsell. SO far so good.

But.

We hated Woking. It has a lot of bad press on line and I didn't think it was rough as had been said. But just dull. We parked above Toys R Us. Went into the peacock centre (just a normal shopping centre). Then we went down what I think was the high street to the right. The market was on the left. It was all so grey. No restaurants/nice pubs etc.

Did we miss the best bit? Where does everyone go for a night out?

Re: Horsell. Again we found it dull. There is a teeny parade of shops and not much else. Again, did we miss something.

I just want to know before I exclude it as it is without doubt the best house we have seen to date.

I suspect I am expecting the best of London surrounded by green expanse and a great big house. Obviously that won't happen

I am thinking Reigate and Guildford are back on the agenda. Sigh.

Woking isn't great people live there for the convenience of the commute to London and you get more house for your money than Guildford and the surrounding area. Not sure 700k would get you much in Guildford or Godalming. It is all a bit dead round here compared to SW London but the kids love their schools, we have a much bigger house/garden, it's safe, less polluted. If it wasn't for the kids Id move back to London tomorrow.
Do you need to commute to London maybe look at Haslemere, Dorking, Farnham as well.

Woking is an easier commute than Guildford, Dorking, Godalming and Haslemere, and more affordable. But £700k will still go a long way in those other areas and, while the commute might be a bit longer, i do think the quality of life, school etc. are better imo.

Good luck whatever you decide, OP.

*schools. There are several

I don't know if budget will stretch but chobham is near Woking and has nice village feel and pubs/restaurants but would mean drive to the station but can choose from sunningdale or Woking lines. Brookwood is on the Woking line too.

I live in Horsell! - and have lived in Woking for 20 years. Personally I am very happy here, in spite of the saying that the best thing about Woking is how quickly you can get away from it. Good things about Woking -

• excellent communications
• Horsell Common - heathland where you can walk for hours; and the Woking area has many more areas for walks
• cinema and theatre that puts on a wide selection of shows - and art gallery (though quite a small one)
• Horsell village butcher is really good
• much more of a sense of community than you might expect - I rarely go into Woking without seeing someone I know.

Woking shops are indeed dull but useful. The town centre is currently being revamped and is meant to have a covered market soon. Most people tend to go to Woking for functional shopping and to Guildford or Kingston (or London: 23 minutes to Waterloo on the fast train) for more fancy shopping. There are a good few decent restaurants in the surrounding villages, and some nice pubs. Most people I know would eat in these more than in Woking itself. Feel free to PM me if you want more info. Woking centre is a bit rough late at night, but then we rarely go there then anyway. It's cheaper and better communications than Guildford here, IMO, and I'm really quite fond of it, though (like most people I know) we ended up here by accident!

Woking has some nice bits! My friend used to live in Horsell and raved about it. There's a pub on the Horsell green (?cricketers?) that does v nice food. If you want "naice" neighbours you should be ok with Horsell as it's a very privileged area, v little cheap housing!

There's a Squires garden centre nearby if you like garden supplies. There's lovely wood walks just round the corner (with natural sand pits that inspired HG wells to write War Of The Worlds).
There's a local museum/gallery called The LightBox in Woking that hosts travelling exhibitions. They also have a good selection of theatre tours at the theatre (just next to the shops/cinema). There's a lump of regeneration money heading that way soon apparently to redo the centre.

And like people said it's less than 30 mins to London.

I live in St Johns, just outside of Woking and it is a lovely village with a great village feel to it.

Woking is improving at the moment and the centre is getting better.

And it has a great theatre, great cinema, a nice library and the lovely little art gallery.
It has a big park and quite a few green spaces.

My friend is in the police (serious crime) and says that whilst Woking can be a bit rough at night it is nowhere near as bad as Guildford (which has a more genteel desirable look to it)

I ended up in Woking by accident but with the dc now at teen and pre-teen age I can say it is a good place to bring them up. Countryside (Horsell Common, Chobham Common etc) on your doorstep with shops, good transport links and schools within easy access too. Teen ds cycles along the canal from our house into Woking centre, nice and safe and great for his independence

Also, Horsell is considered very desirable. It has a lovely village school. The Red Lion in Horsell is fantastic, as is the Cricketers. Plus having Horsell Common on your doorstep will be a big bonus!

Thanks all. The news that improvements are planned is promising.

We need to weigh up what we don't have now that we would have by moving. I had heard guildford was also rough at night but tbh Wimbledon can be as is everywhere in the UK sadly. Plus we just go out for meals or cinema these days.

I have seen a nice house in reigate so I will start looking at there again. I had discounted it as it feels so overcrowded. The park was swamped in the summer and the train was slow. This is tricky. I think my heart tells me to stay in London .

Reigate is lovely, I was brought up there! The train service into London isn't great though.
Have you looked at Dorking? Direct train into Waterloo, nice area, good schools and good leisure facilities.

I have looked at Dorking but its nearly an hour to Waterloo and DH needs to get to the city from there so I estimate it would take at least 1 and half hours door to door. Neither if us want DH travelling for 3 hours a day.

Reigate is lovely but if you're relying on state schools then do your homework - they are great but seriously oversubscribed from what I hear. I've said it on here before, but moving out of London to the areas you are looking at doesn't necessarily solve the school problem.

I think we are going to move nearer to where we are now. I had a look through some old Woking threads and looks like the secondary are not considered to be great even though Ofsted reports are good. Shame as I loved the house. I can only dream of a 4 bed detached here!

Don't believe everything you read about Woking secondaries. I have first hand experience of one, have friends with dc in the other. Both schools are fabulous, honestly. If you have a child who will do well anywhere, they will thrive there.
If you have a child that needs encouraging and motivating, then I know for a fact the one ds attends will be good at that.

Ds has a boy in his class whose family moved out of London specifically to get the dc into this secondary school.

I hate this whole 'woking secondaries are crap' malarkey. The schools are full of hardworking parents with hardworking children. Fantastic, motivated staff and teachers. TSame as pretty much anywhere I would think.

What I meant to add is (but was late for going back to work after my lunchbreak) is that people are quicker to give somewhere a negative write-up than a positive one.
Also, bad reputations are very hard to shift.
Both schools have made great strides in the past 5+ years.
The one ds attends has a new head who is really shaking things up.

I find it amusing that you believe reviews on MN but not Ofsted. Neither are an accurate guide.
Talk to the schools, visit them, get a gut feel for them.

Then base your decision on the fact that you don't like the schools. But don't take some internet based opinions as the reason for your decision.

Also, when you were in Woking did you see the new square, with the library and the new café? The square with paperchase etc on? That is the newly developed area, rest of the town is to follow suit eventually

I love Dorking.
Do you need to commute to London?
Look along the A30, Egham, Englefield Green, or from Woking to Chobham. It gets very green shortly outside Woking, and you've always got Staines for good shopping. I avoid Guildford like the plague.

We lived in various parts of London and moved out to Horsell(we both commute and Woking has THE best train links in Surrey) 2 and a bit years ago, love it out here. Parts of Woking Centre ate indeed pretty ugly....but the Town centre is improving all the time and has everything you really need, and as others have said, Guildford is so close by of you need a bit more 'fancy shopping'(not that I have time for that thesedays being a full time working Mummy ;)

Horsell is lovely, we spend most weekends with friends at the playground, Horsell Common, and at one of the many fab restuarants or pubs. The Village butchery, restuarants and schools are all really great! Houses are get snapped up on the same day for over the asking price, its crazy!
If I had a £700K budget I would definitely buy in Horsell it is a great investment and great place to raise a family!

Hi all, so this thread was written around 4 years ago - I'm picking it back up because we are thinking about moving to Horsell from South London. The village looks pretty and we like was we've seen so far, but basically know nothing about it, community, number of families etc. We have a 1 yr old daughter and would like to grow our family, so hoping to move somewhere we would make friends and meet other families with little ones. Are we looking in the right place?!