Want to buy 30 mins from Godalming... Farnborough/Aldershot/Ash/Liphook- where is best to live?

[ashesandfire]

Hi all!
My OH and I currently both work in Godalming full time, we have a 9 month old daughter who goes to a childminder near my workplace. We are renting at the moment but want to buy. Ideally we are looking for a 3 bed property but may look at 2 beds as well. For 3 beds we are totally priced out of Godalming and most of the surrounding areas... we only have a budget of about 250,000.
I don't want to be further than a 30 minute drive maximum from Godalming especially because I don't want half my time with dd during the week to be spent in the car.
We have looked at properties in
Farnham
Aldershot
Farnborough
Cranleigh
Bordon
Haslemere...
and also are considering places like Ash, Liphook, and West Sussex villages.... basically trying to look Hampshire/W Sussex rather than Surrey if possible...
Anyway my question is,does anyone know what these areas are like to live in, good areas, places to avoid etc- I would love to live Haslemere/Farnham/Cranleigh/Liphook but thinking this is going to be unrealistic and that Ash/Aldershot/Farnborough might be a more realistic target! Any experience of these places?
Sorry for the long post! TIA

Hi I've lived in Ash and Farnham. We currently live in one of the towns you've looked at houses in. We've sold our house and are looking but at the mo there is very little. I don't think you will get anything in Liphook, Haslemere or Farnham on your budget. We are considering moving nearer to Portsmouth as it's slightly cheaper than here.

Oh god I'd avoid farnborough. That's the kind of place you hope you don't break down in!! And aldershot isn't great either tbh.

Move to woking :) it's great here and if you move quick you'll get what you're after budget wise too.

Have you looked at Alton? It's right on the A31 so wouldn't take long to get to Godalming.

You could get something in Liphook for that. Or a village nearby. Probably nicer than Aldershot or Ash to be honest. Hope you find somewhere nice.

How about Fleet? Great little town with lots going on in/around it. Good luck!

Cranleigh is lovely. We had the same dilemma as you back in Jan, but didn't know the area at all- just that it had to be commutable from Woking. Looked at Ash/Farnborough etc, but Cranleigh won hands down. It's fantastic for children, everyone is so friendly and it has a lovely feel & lots of amenities. Feel free to PM me if you want any more info!

I don't know all of the other areas but Cranleigh would get my vote. It's not really commutable to London so prices aren't as inflated as other parts of Surrey. Lovely "village" with an amazing High Street.

Oh dear, I've just had a quick look on Rightmove and your budget isn't going to go very far even in Cranleigh - it's madness!

Ooooo, I've just looked too and the nearest I've found is one for £300k www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-45552460.html . There are a few within your budget that are sstc so perhaps it's worth doing a recce in Cranleigh & chatting to some EAs, as they can let you know if something comes up, or whether something might be coming up?

Good luck!