Moving to the country from Penge&Beckenham SE London. But to where?!?

[ineedtogetoutofhere]

I'm trying to find somewhere lovely to live: a country village in catchment for decent secondary schools, 30 mins from Penge&Beckenham SE London.

Ideally not grammar or private schools as I dont know if either are attainable. Actually private definitely not!
We have three children in primary, a dog and need some decent parks and walks around.
We would keep the children at their school until a place came up locally.
A village with a shop and pub would be ideal. Maybe outskirts of a town. Just somewhere pleasant and quiet and away from knife crime!
Both of us are self employed, I need to be in london once or twice month so trains don't matter too much. My husband drives to work around SE London so as long as we are 35 or 40 mins away from the school/penge, that will be fine.
Can anyone help/ advise please? My head is spinning!

The country nearest to you is Kent. It’s a grammar area and comps are often really dire.

You could try East Surrey but I’m not sure if there’s a chance of it being driveable to Beckenham in 30 mins.

Are you after a proper proper country village or would you be ok with a suburban village? The latter night be easier to find.

By suburban village I mean somewhere in zone 6 or just outside with coutryside around but definitely busier than being out in the sticks completely.

Do you want buy my house...! Its on the market & I could do with a quick sale....lol

Borough Green. Surrounded by countryside yet just mins from the M20 so can get onto the M25 or down to the coast. Train line into Victoria or Blackfriars & takes 50 mins. Can drive to Beckenham & Penge in the same time too.

If you want zone 6 then furthest you can go is Gravesnd or Swanley. Hardly rural & definitely not "villagy". Lots of places around those areas but most dont have good transport links such as Hartley, Wilmington, Chelsfield, Lockbottom.....

The problem with Borough Green would be lack of decent comps, wouldn’t it?

There are villages that are zone 6 but in Surrey.

If you want to be 40 mins drive from pence and in a village the only place I can think is Brasted /westerham, or oxted at a push. Sevenoaks or the other side (including borough green) is more like an hour including traffic.

*penge

Thanks for the replies everyone.
Jojo, I guess we don't mind if it's suburban or more rural. The only two places I have in mind are Downe and Keston, not which whether they are suburban?

Hadthesnip, Swanley seems lovely! Great park and paddling pool. This sort of place would be ideal and ticks all my boxes apart from having no clue about the secondary schools. I can see ofsteds but actual opinions mean more!
I will check out those other villages you mention...

Hadthesnip I would love to buy your house, I'm sure it's perfect! However we will be renting.
Unless the property market picks up...

Dreamtheimpossibledream, I was googling Oxted and Westerham yesterday... are they nice? Sevenoaks would definitely be too far, although lovely. Will take a look at the other one you mentioned.
Do you know what the schools are like?

I'd recommend Warlingham! Feels almost rural, great schools and regular trains to London. Beckenham is a 15 min drive, Penge probably 20/25 mins

Warlingham is beautiful and a great idea. Have a look at Bickley and Chislehurst too - towns rather than villages but both have more rural villagey areas.

Oh, and have a look at Shirley and Kenley too.

I just looked. So you have Orchard Academy for secondary in Swanley. As it’s Kent, the GCSE pass rate is 15% It’s generally a bit like that in Kent comps.

If you look more towards East Surrey, gorgeous villages are Kingswood, Walton-on-the-Hill, Woldingham, Warlingham etc Comps will be better than Kent but don’t know of any amazing ones.

If you were happy to consider the very edge of London, I’d recommend Cheam Village (it’s outer suburbs rather than rural but v close to the countryside). It’s got top primaries. It’s in the borough of Sutton so a grammar area but Cheam High School is an outstanding comp with high attainment. Lovely village centre, tennis, cricket and rugby clubs, gorgeous Nonsuch Park with a Woodland Trust area attached. The borough of Sutton is completely non-stabby with the lowest crime rates in London (and actually lower than Sevenoaks or Guildford for that matter).

Knockholt is a good village, between Orpington and Sevenoaks. Got primary school, shop, pubs but definitely a village.

Downe and Keston are very villagey. Not much in either apart from a few pubs and village shops. Lots of lovely countryside nearby. Farnborough is also similar.

I live in Petts Wood, which also has a villagey feel, but bigger, with a high street and train station with great transport links. It's not far to Keston and Farnborough - a few minutes drive (or a 45 min walk).

Westerham is further out, very nice and villagy but no train station. Oxted is a few minutes drive from there and much bigger, but with loads of beautiful countryside on your doorstep.

Thank you so much everyone.
Cheam, sounds interesting as a less stabby version of here, and close enough... plus has a David Lloyd.
Warlingham is a fab idea - I drive through there on the way to godstone and it looks ideal. Will check all the other places. Schools is the tough bit then. I had NO idea that Kent and Surrey comps were so awful.
We have decent secondary schools round here, in west wickham and hayes but I am dying to get back to my farm girl roots and keep hens, ride horses etc, and live somewhere that teenagers will complain about. As in a bit further afield.
This is all really good food for thought.

I can't believe the comps are so much worse than the grammars...
Thanks again everyone.

Kent is a big problem. You’ll be hard pushed to find a decent comp (if even possible) as it’s a fully grammar county.

Surrey does have some excellent comps but your options are limited by the driving distance to Beckenham/Penge.

You also would have been spoilt by the quality of schools in the borough of Bromley (Sutton and Bromley are both top 5 in England for primaries, Sutton is n1 for GCSE attainment and Bromley has many great schools). So it’s not easy to find places outside of London to match up school-wise.

In Sutton there’s the area of Carshalton Beeches with stables, bridleways, coutryside on the doorstep etc (unfortunately the comp isn’t good). Perhaps there’s an equivalent in The borough of Bromley (but with a good school)?

My 3 all go to Knole Academy. Orchards on Swanley does have a bad name. There are a couple of comps in Orpington but I forget their names.

Problem with Downe & Keston is that there are no railway stations .....always a must I feel if you have kids & want to get into London.

Check out Kings Hill. Half of the Beckenham/Bromley families have migrated here.

Hard pressed to find a decent comp in Kent ???
How about Bennett memorial in Tunbridge Wells with a catchment that goes from Maidstone to Knockholt to Edenbridge and beyond !!
One of the best in the country. I have 3 out of Bennett at Durham , Bristol and Sussex . No additional tutoring and as a full time employed single mother I have done NOTHING to assist their education. The school did it all...it's one of the best in the country ..