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Moving to Reading area - where would you recommend living?!

1 reply

boppy80 · 30/07/2014 09:18

Hello
I'd posted a thread before when we were wondering about moving out of London to the Reading area…well it looks like we are definitely going to do it. My husband will be working in Reading (quite near the station), I will at first be at home all the time (with 2 year old), but need the option to get back into London easily too, possibly commuting again in the future.

Places that were recommended before were:
Goring / Streatley, Twyford, Caversham Heights, Maidenhead

Obviously all quite different places! Am trying to weigh up the pros and cons to narrow our search down a bit - but also don't want to miss considering anywhere else we might not know about yet! (we don't know the area at all)

Our priorities are finding somewhere with really good state schools, friendly community with young families, very short train commute to Reading, not so tiny that you can't just pop to the shops/walk out to meet people, but good access to countryside for cycling/walking.

I'm worried about feeling isolated somewhere too small, but at the same time do like the idea of somewhere a bit more rural rather than Reading itself. (Henley would prob be my ideal size of place, but looks too expensive!)

Any more thoughts much appreciated. Now the move is definite we are putting our house on the market and need to get looking!

thanks so much

OP posts:
LocalEditorReading · 01/08/2014 10:07

Hi boppy, I'm the Editor for the Mumsnet Local Reading page. Congratulations on the move, it sounds great. There are some lovely places to live around this way, with great commuter links.

Caversham is fantastic for commuting and family life. It has a vibrant town centre with majority independent shops and soon to undergo an investment and redevelopment. From Caversham centre the train station is a 10/15minute walk and direct to London. If you based in Caversham Heights though, dependent on where exactly you may need to bus/drive to station as well but Caversham throughout not just the heights is lovely.

Goring/Streatly is a lovely picturesque village, smaller than Caversham but some beautiful surrounding areas.

Twyford, is very similar to Caversham, great little town centre and plenty to do for kids/families.

Another place that might be worth a look is Pangbourne? Very similar feel to the above and similar price ranges.

The only one I'd probably say doesn't suit what you describe is Maidenhead. It's a larger town centre and doesn't quite have the same rural/small town village feel of all the others.

I can only speak for Caversham but as it's very popular here with families, house buying is incredibly competitive and 3/4 bed houses seem to fly off the market often before they even reach Rightmove etc, so when you've decided where you would probably be best registering with some local estate agents in that town and they will call you the minute something suitable comes up.

Hope that's a little help and please do PM me if you want any more details. Stop by our local mumsnet page too to see some of the things happening nearby!

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