Where's best to live if working in Reading? (Goring / Streatley / other suggestions please?!)

[boppy80]

There's a chance we might have to move from Kingston-upon-Thames to the Reading area, if my husband takes a job in Reading.
We don't know the area so would really appreciate any advice / comments on where are the best places to live within a short train commute of Reading? (probably not keen on being in Reading itself)

We currently have one 2-year old and so am keen to be somewhere with good schools, a nice friendly family atmosphere, and things to do.
We'd like somewhere less urban than Reading itself, but am worried about going somewhere too small.

Saying that, have heard good things about Goring and Streatley - does anyone live there and what's it like? My slight worry would be it might feel a bit small for us after Kingston, how do people find it for children growing up?

Any other suggestions? - Schools, good for family, and short train into Reading are the main criteria i think…

Would love to hear from anyone who's made a similar move out of London and how they've got on!

Thanks so much

oh well - possibly from out at the end of Rectory Road it might take a wee while longer. But then if you live down there you can afford the parking charges at the station!

They are both lovely places, and if my comments come across as pro-Streatley, it's only what I know. Pre kids, we socialised with mostly Goring people. Now, it's almost exclusively Streatley; just due to the school and school chums I guess. But even socialising we come to Goring a lot; latest plan is the new and improved Heston-esque Miller of Mansfield (no longer smells of toilets!)

And yes, there are times when the ability to get a pint of milk at 9pm without needing a car would be useful. It's like your Tesco; most of Streatley want it. Much like most of Goring want the parking restrictions to remain on Streatley High street, whereas we like them for the traffic calming.

Abd Boppy80/mumblechum, forgot of course to mention the paganistic Carol service on Xmas eve

I didn't realise there was so much 'us and them' feeling in the two settlements - it certainly doesn't come across like that as a regular visitor, and its not something that I've come across from my parents either - apart from Streatley Church not wanting much to do with Goring Church when there was lots of work going on in Goring Church.

Functionally they are close enough to act as a single settlement, although Streatley is in a different County which complicates matters such as education.

There are areas in Goring where you don't hear the railway at night - it is in a cutting so for much of the village it really isn't too big a deal. Staying there, irregularly, and having the window open at night which is on a facade perpendicular to the railway, and being a light sleeper, I certainly have not been disturbed by them, and sitting in the garden during the day it is certainly not an issue.

And there are lots of quiet roads in Goring as well as Streatley - its one of the things that my son likes (he's 9) - he can take his scooter on the road there, whilst ours has too much traffic to do that safely.

A nice walk from Goring (and or Streatley) heads south along the Thames, over the bridge at Whitchurch and you can catch the train back if you don't want to do the return journey after a pub lunch by the Thames in Pangbourne.

This is getting exciting; booking a viewing of that house for next week

I don't think there's much 'us and them' feeling really - just a little light-hearted rivalry. Please don't take it too seriously or let it put you off!

Yes I didn't realise there would be an "us and them" thing going on..! There was me thinking it sounded the perfect friendly place..Especially with the joint festival (joint train station) and so on!
Have to say that sort of thing puts me off a little bit as just want somewhere relaxed,and friendly.

Oops our posts just crossed.. Thanks for the reassurance :)

Re Rivalry - going back to what I wrote earlier:
"All goes back to Anglo-Saxon times when Goring was in Mercia and Streatley was in Wessex ... or so I was told!"
I don't think there's been a lot of fighting on the bridge between opposing factions in recent centuries.
They are both lovely places to live so no need for concern.

we live in Whitchurch on thames and its lovely. would have bought in Goring but no suitable houses came up when we needed to buy.

Don't be put off, please. As irregular says, it's not rivalry. Honest. Just banter; many people know many people from the other village. You've only got to look at the festival/jubilee/torchlit procession etc to realise it is basically one village. It is an incredibly friendly place where you know (or at least know by sight) everyone who's got kids of a similar age in both villages.

But then the highlight of the regatta (sadly cancelled this year) is the Goring v Streatley race (just like to point out it's been won by Streatley for the last 3 years...). Guess we've never forgiven them since 60 people died coming back from Goring in 1674

When we moved a few years ago (from one side of the village to the other), if the kids had already been in secondary we'd probably have moved to Goring; more choice and availability.

If you do come over, go to Forbouys on Goring high street and get a copy of Goring Gap News - an excellent monthly mag that tells you everything about what's happening in the villages. Think it might be 50p to non-residents.

Torchlight carol procession is fab
Stretatley has never been the same since the demise of the cheese shop circa 1990!

It's no good Lilymaid, you are going to have to come back to the fold.

Ok, the torchlight christmas eve procession has done it now ;-)
to put the icing on the cake is there a village cricket green where children's teams can play at weekends? (no idea why that's popped into my head but guess if we're going to change to village life might as well go the whole hog!)

sorry Lilymaid if this thread is upsetting - did you have to move far? sounds like you loved it in Goring. did you also move there from London or elsewhere?

lonecat - I think ideally a 15-20 min train ride into Reading would be good. Also ideally want to stay within a 1 hour reach of London, which is another factor for limiting the distance out. Imagine somewhere like Kintbury would be more than that?

Whitchurch also looks nice. Do people tend to go into Goring for activities / clubs etc or is there quite a community there itself?

Also for all villages in that area - where are the nearest supermarkets etc - is it Wallingford? And is Tesco really coming? Thought it would be more of a waitrose local type of place ;-)

thanks again!

Torchlight procession is indeed lovely.

Goring has a playing field in the centre where both adults and children do indeed play cricket (though it doesn't really feel like a 'village green' in the tradition sense as it doesn't have houses facing it on most sides)

Whitchurch is attached to Pangbourne (with station and shops on the other side of the river) in a very similar relationship to Streatley and Goring. Pangbourne is a little bigger and busier than Goring and the school is not well located for many of the nicer houses. Whitchurch is nice and the little school is lovely, but you do have a slightly awkward walk along a narrow/busy road to Pangbourne. FWIW I do know a couple of families who have moved from Whitchurch to Goring and found it friendlier, but the sample size is small!

The nearest supermarket is Waitrose in Wallingford. That's what I do on the rare occasions I need something beyond my Ocado delivery. Others go to Tesco in Didcot or Tilehurst. Or for a smaller supermarket there is Co-op in Woodcote. Yes Tesco Express is supposed to be coming - though is subject to a vigorous anti-campaign. There are also a few local shops in Goring.

I grew up in Caversham. Nice enough, but whenever I go back there now the traffic does my head in. The big problem with Reading is that there are only 2 bridges across the river. It really causes a nightmare, and not only in rush hour. If you live and work on different sides of the river your life will be much harder (unless you can walk it). For that reason alone I would steer well clear of Sonning Common if you need to commute into Reading. Otherwise it is a lovely village and definitely feels more "real" to me than somewhere like Goring which is picture perfect and £££.
I'm not sure if this is still an issue, but when I was growing up there were dividing lines for schools (including the grammars) based on county and district borders. Basically it was easier to get into the grammars if you lived inside Reading district (now a UA I think), harder if you were outside but within Berks, and even more difficult if you were outside the county (e.g. sonning common is in oxfordshire). You might want to check on that.

Morrisons have consent for a new store on the outskirts of Wallingford (near where Habitat opened there many, many years ago for those that have a long memory). There's a huge Sainsburys in Didcot as well as an out of centre Tesco there if you need either of those. Waitrose in Wallingford - well its much better than the original store...!

Torchlight parade is lovely. I have seen cricket matches in progress and the football is thriving.

I live in Yorkshire though!

Okay Kintbury and Hungerford would be out, but both Newbury and Thatcham are in 52mins from Paddington. Thatcham is more of a suburb, but is so close to Newbury it's not true.
We have much cheaper house prices too.

Have you considered Crowthorne? In the opposite direction but also good train link. Lots of my school friends (well the posher ones!) got the train in from that area IIRC.

Caversham has a waitrose and would be 30 mins walk to the station in reading, maybe a touch more if you were right on the outer edge! Meaning that London is also an easy commute.

Ps war grave worth a look. Nicer than Twyford but not sure about your budget.

I know people that've moved from Streatley to Whitchurch Hill after the kids are in the school (for bigger houses), and find it a little too quiet and isolated. Lovely spot though, just they spend most of their life driving back to Streatley for drop offs and pick ups.

Whitchurch itself is very nice - good [small] C of E, and there's stuff in Pangbourne. Guess it's similar to the Streatley/Goring relationship, but the size difference is greater. And having to pay 40p (or whatever the toll will be post completion, even with the resident discount) everytime you want to go anywhere would be a pain.

Lovely boutique brewery though.

Whitchurch is attached to Pangbourne

ahhhhhhhhh

we are so not 'attached to Pangbourne' and its very friendly.

the bridge is a PITA but reduces the chance of Barratt homes deciding to build 5000 new homes. I call is 'the chav filter' but that's clearly my issue.

Well geographically it is attached to Pangbourne.

But maybe not so much socially or psychologically? Less so than Goring & Streatley perhaps.

there is the Thames between Us and Them.

Thanks for all the suggestions!
Will look into Whitchurch and Pangbourne!
Seem to remember that area being quite badly affected by flooding though? Did many houses get affected?

Also thanks for other suggestions - will look into Crowthorne, Newbury/Thatcham, and Wargrave.

And going to avoid Sonning Common/surrounding Reading areas not easily served by trains, as its important the commute is easy.

Any other suggestions welcome!

Let us know how you get on! Mumble too. Good luck.