Surbiton/Tolworth - what's it like to live there?

[ladylight]

Hello We currently live in Brixton & need to be closer to the A3 for DH work. I work in Paddington so I also need a good commute into town. We have 2 young children so good schools also needed. We have seen a house on Bond Rd which is between Surbiton & Tolworth. I'm worried it is to far from either train station to make my commute into Paddington no more than an hour. Anyone who lives that way that can advise on the commute & also what it's like round there would be really helpful. Thanks

If you can get to Surbiton Station, then frequent, fast trains get you to Waterloo in 17 mins. Waterloo - paddington will be the worst part of your journey though.

Tolworth is on a slower line, which I don't travel on (I get the Hampton court line) - am guessing it's about 23/25 mins to Waterloo but there will be fewer trains.

I've lived in and around Surbiton for 15 years, and really like it, it's the archetypal 'close to London but once you're off the train at the other end, it's pretty green and family friendly'

We have nursery and primary school kids, and as far as I can tell, school provision is pretty good and we're happy with what we've had.

Hope that helps?!

Surbiton is nice, Tolworth less so but not terrible. I don't know about primary schools there but Kingston has grammar schools so that's either good for your child or not. If you go a couple of stops further out on the Surbiton line (5-10 mins) you'll get more for you money, closer to the station, SEAT ON THE TRAIN (!) etc. I live in Walton on Thames and when I was doing the commute I could get to Warren Street area door to door in 1hr 5 mins (assuming no delays!)

Caution with the "kingston has grammar schools" statement: Kingston has only one grammar school , not multiple ones (well there is one for boys and one for girls) : the secondary called Kingston Grammar has been a private school for decades, and the only state "grammar" option is the two mega-competetive Tiffin Girls and Tiffin Boys which are very hard to get into whether you live close by or not: they have enormous cachements and highly-tutored applicants by the bundleload every year. So not a shoe-in just by living in the area!

My DH did the commute-to-Paddington-via-Waterloo option for a good while and believe me it is knackering. He said the worst bit was that because the Bakerloo leg took 45 mins he would leave the office to travel home and there would then be a train delay/problem at waterloo that cropped up during the tube journey, meaning he arrived at Waterloo to find a delay and was stuck there til it settled down. So yes, you can do it, bt it's not an easy option by any means.

One other option, depends on which bit of a3 your DH needs: : could you move to somewhere like Reading which has direct trains to Guildford (a3) and fast trains to paddington (with crossrail from 2019?)? It's a totally different area but might work?

I have lived near to Bond Road in the past. The houses in that grid are good and not too exxy. So a popular area. Personally I did find it a bit far to Surbiton station although as others have said it's a fast trip to Waterloo one you get there or to Wimbledon where you could change. You would of course be better to be nearer a station but you get what you pay for.

Local schools are pretty much ok.

My personal beef with that area generally is that there isn't a great 'centre' nearby. That said Tolworth seems to be on the up and Surbiton is not far. Personally I prefer Thames Ditton, parts of Molesey and Hinchley Wood/Claygate but the rail lines are slower .. but then this would be balanced by you being closer to those stations.