Anybody from Godalming?

[Bananapud]

Hoping someone can help me with some advice. We are considering buying a house in Godalming. Currently we live in London. DH wants to be able to walk to a station with a direct train to London so we are looking at Godalming town rather than surrounding villages.

We have visited and liked the high street and restaurants etc but it's hard to get a sense of what it would be like to live there as we don't know anyone there.

Those of you that live or have lived there or nearby - do you like it? Any downsides? Specifically - what do you do at weekends with DCs? Any advice would be really appreciated.

We have friends that love there and they like it. Not cheap mind. We go for nice walks with the DC when we visit and have been to cafés for tea. Can't say much else really.

Hello! We're in Godalming - have been here for about 5 years having moved out of London. We love it and have never regretted the move. Like you, a key point was to be able to walk to the station, so we actually ended up in Farncombe, but we're still very handy for Godalming centre.
What we like here in no particular order: bustling High Street with a number of special events (Farmer's markets, Christmas Town day, Easter festival etc) which are very popular. Very close to country walks. We love a Sunday afternoon walk around Winkworth Arboretum just up the road (National Trust), Broadwater area has tonnes of sport opportunities - new leisure centre with swimming pool, tennis club, cricket, golf course. My DC has got into sports that we would never have really pushed him towards because of the availability.
During the week, we both commute by train and at weekends we have been known to only get the car out to go to far flung football matches for DC, but otherwise everything is walkable (or trainable and in Guildford which costs practically nothing with 2 existing season tickets and 1 child!)
We have found the area very welcoming and friendly - I suspect we are treading a well worn route. The town is small enough to have a community feel, big enough to put stuff on and have a good range of activities, far enough away to be its own place but actually really convenient for Guildford and, really, London (45 mins to Waterloo).
Happy to share more of my experience and opinions if you'd like to PM me - it does depend on ages of DC and whether you are looking to transfer into schools...

Thankyou both for taking the time to reply. It's really helpful to know there's lots to do within walking distance. I think that's something I take for granted living in London and was fearing having to drive everywhere.
I am looking to transfer schools but the DC are still little so I'm trying not to worry too much about that. Everyone keeps telling me they are young and adaptable but if we are planning on moving we should do it sooner rather than later! happyhere - thanks I will PM you!