To be near the River / Sea but commute to London

[itbemay]

Currently live in Zone 3 and really want to move out a bit, DD / DH need to commute into Victoria.

DH likes West Malling, Whitstable but I need to drive to work near Lewisham - have to drive as part of day is visiting other sites.

Whitstable seems too far for me, anywhere else anyone can think of? we have a map and i have been looking at Rochester, Chatham but don't really know the areas? Any advice appreciated

maps.cdrc.ac.uk/#/geodemographics/iuc18/default/BTTTFPT/11.576879785996013/0.2919/51.4182/

This is quite helpful in identifying family areas.

Do you need to drive all the way? If you could, say, take a train to Croydon and have your car parked there, it could open up a lot of Sussex.

Or perhaps, a place near Bewl water could work? You can go for walks or sail around there. I’d imagine that it’s probably only a short drive to the beach from there too.

Medway towns such as Rochester , Chatham etc are pretty variable areas, some good, some less so. How near water is near?

I'd like to be able to walk to the beach or river, that website is great thanks JOJO! If i say medway to some people they pull a face! It difficult, we have spent several weekends wandering around but nothing so far has grabbed us, not considered Bewl water so will def look at that
thanks!

Few ideas, depending on how big the body of water and town needs to be:
Tonbridge - river Medway flows through with paths etc. to walk down it. There’s a few inland lakes close by as well. Train goes to CX, Waterloo East and London Bridge - the former isn’t far from Victoria. Not as posh as T Wells or Sevenoaks but pleasant enough with plenty of family facilities.
In terms of Medway, Rochester is more urban and nice or Upnor is much more rural with a nice estuary setting.
If you wanted to go all the way to the coast I’d say Folkestone is a nice option which is a nice straight drive to Lewisham if a little longer - M20/A20.
There’s a few places with former gravel pit lakes though they tend to be smaller places, Chipstead on the edge of Sevenoaks, and a few villages in the Snodland/Malling area.
If a small river/stream is acceptable I’d say Eynsford has a very pretty Ford which is a popular family paddling spot in summer.

SIL lives in East Malling (moved from Hither Green funnily enough) and whilst it is nice I wouldn’t say it is particularly surrounded by water? We moved to Folkestone from London and absolutely love it (DH commutes still) though not sure of journey times to Lewisham from here...

Folkestone, Hythe and the surrounding villages have a great setting but driving every day to Lewisham would be madness.

Chatham is a bit of a shithole

Leigh on Sea?

Tbh driving to Lewisham is going to massively restrict where you can go unless you want to sit in traffic for ages - just getting through Catford can take 20minutes.

@pinkflipflop85 ‘a bit’ ? 🤣

@NewYearNewWho I was trying to be diplomatic