Moving from London to Surrey for a family home

[Gabry]

Hi everyone, we are currently renting in Wimbledon and want to move in a more green leafy area where the commute to London is not too crazy and there are good schools for our daughter, she is just 1year old now but need to think about that.

We don't have any family here, so while is good that we can decide to live anywhere we want, is also bad because there are so many places that we are so confused and scared, we don't want to make a choice we will regret.
We are looking to buy a family house, 3 or 4 bedroom with a budged of 600K.
Can you help me to understand which of this places has a good community, good schools, is nice to live in. Which one would you recommend? Anyone lives in one of these area and can tell me more?
Walton-on-thames
Farnham
Guildford
Godalming
Send
Ripley
Any other place we should consider?
We love Surrey.

Thank you all!
xx

What about dorking? Two train stations easy commute to London, nice community, good schools.

Reigate, Dorking, Epsom, Tadworth etc etc.

Depends on where in London you need to get to.

I'm not sure how doable it is on your budget with your requirements.

Sorry, I didn't read your post properly and thought you were in London

would you prefer small town/large town or village? Ripley very different to Guildford for eg.

You would need to drive to a train station from Ripley/Send, but then depending on where you lived in Guildford the same might be true.

Personally I'd choose a bigger sized village (with a train station) close to a town, rather than live in town itself and your money would prob go further in house/garden size. But you might prefer being able to walk into somewhere with a bit more going on.
Have you looked at villages like Bookham ?

Haven’t thought about Dorking.. I guess we should go there and check it out!

Need to get to Waterloo and white city. Never been to the plaices you’ve mentioned, we will check them out.

Godalming here, 40 mins to Waterloo, always get a seat (everyone gets on at Guildford so that’s a downside to Guildford!), loads of amenities, great schools, loads of community stuff, great transport links (roads and trains), Guildford 10 mins away, stunning countryside 10 mins away, London and coast an hour away 👍🏻👍🏻

Yes, we would also like a village with a train station close to a town. Any suggestion about nice villages near Guildford?
Ideally we would like to have a fast train service to waterloo.
The commute from Bookham too long :-(

There are several nice villages with railway stations around Guildford, but they are very expensive and you won’t find much within your budget. The smaller towns nearer to London are more affordable, which is hard to get your head round, because people tend to think farther out from London=cheaper, but it’s not true. Farnham is equally pricey.
Epsom is 30 minutes to Waterloo, and it and it’s surroundings are more affordable; Ewell, Stoneleigh, Ashtead, Tadworth, etc. All have railway stations. Lots of countryside, Epsom Downs, Headley Heath etc.

Try to find somewhere where you can walk to the station, parking is very difficult and limited, and you can no longer readily find free commuter parking in residential roads.

Dorking may suit you too.

Depends whether you need good state schools or will go private, as that dictates a lot in terms of location.

Guildford has some v gd state primaries, and a 37 minute fast train to London. For £600k you can just about get a 3 bed house in walking distance to the station. The problem with the outlying villages is that most of them are on the slower train line via Cobham. Milford and Shalford are on the fast line though. Godalming is also nice and a bit cheaper, but not a lot!

Woking is great for commuting but not so good for state schools.

Shalford are on the fast line though
It's not, you need to change at Guildford to get the quick train to Waterloo.

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-56689494.html
This is a house in Bramley to give you an idea of what you get for around £600k.

People who live in Bramley who commute to London often get on the train at Farncombe, which is a village in between Guildford and Godalming. It's about 4mins extra journey time, but you are more likely to get a seat.

Thanks everyone, very helpful posts!
We will look into smaller town near London too, I know that further out from London doens't mean cheaper but that wasn't the only reason for us to get out London, we really fancy to live in the country side far from busy roads, traffic etc... but still need to commute and good state schools.

we really fancy to live in the country side far from busy roads, traffic etc...
That probably rules out most of Surrey!!

Anywhere that is convenient to commute back to London tends to be very, very busy.

What about some of villages surrounding horsham? Easy commute to London, and you get more for your money in West Sussex than you do in Surrey.

Cranleigh is a very pleasant compact town near Guildford and Dorking.

Good shout on Horsham, definitely better value for money.

The problem with Cranleigh (technically a village, although these days it's the size of a town) is that you'll still have a good 20mins drive to a station, which many commuters deem to be too much on top of the rail/tube journey, and there is an awful lot of building going on at the moment, which means the traffic is likely to increase dramatically over the next few years.

Walton on Thames is lovely. Next to it is Hersham, which starts next to Walton on Thames station. Hersham properties are cheaper than Walton.

Almost in Surrey, but ticks you're requirements. Bushy park is a short walk . (5 mins)
www.rightmove.co.uk/s6p/54973068