Purley / Warlingham / Cousldon

[CharlotteMax]

Hi all, we are relocation from overseas to UK in mid of this year. DH will be working in Canary Wharf, DS and DD will be studied in Whitgift and Woldingham respectively. We are now considering Purley / Warlingham / Cousldon but not sure where will be better for settling and really need your advice.

Originally we planned to move to Tunbridge Wells as this place seems safe and has good leisure places there. May I know if anyone of above places are comparable to TW? Any other suggestions are welcome. TIA

I’d choose Tunbridge Wells over any of those. Fast trains from Purley and Coulsdon South into L Bridge but both suffering from severe over development. Also, Croydon Council has gone bust!

All three of these are nothing like Tunbridge Wells, sorry. Warlingham is the most rural, the village (about a mile from the train) is very pretty, there are country pubs, horse riding. The area close to the station is more built up.

Coulsdon also has different parts, the main town is pretty suburban. Farleigh Downs though isn’t far and is lovely countryside.

Both Coulsdon and Warlingham have the advantage of two different train lines (Coulsdon Town and South and Upper Warlingham and Whyteleafe) so if there is a problem on one line you can get one on the other.

Purley is really just an extension of Croydon. Busy roads very suburban etc. There are some areas with lovely houses but it doesn’t feel to me like it has a heart.

If you like TW I would look further out on the Upper Warlingham line eg Oxted. Still not TW but a proper town with a centre and situated in a nice area. Or Reigate which is lovely but not as fast for trains (you need to live the Redhill side of Reigate to benefit from the more frequent and fast trains from Redhill station). Woldingham School used to do minibus transport to Reigate. Don’t know if they still do but worth asking them about that and looking at the areas they provide transport to and from.

Thanks for your comments. I really like TW but it seems too far away from both DH and DS s school...So now is looking for somewhere can meet our needs.

You r right that Woldingham has shuttle bus to Reigate. I also thought about this area but not sure how is it. Any advice?

For Oxted, it seems quite far away from Whitgift, isn't it?

It is 20 minutes by train Oxted to South Croydon which is very close to Whitgift so should be an easy journey.

There are lots of threads on here about Reigate so suggest you take a look. Whether it is for you will partly depend on budget and of course you are planning out of area schools. Reigate does have lots of thriving sports clubs for children and adults which is a good way to meet people, a brilliant park, great high street which fingers crossed some of the independents will survive Covid, plenty of restaurants, cafes and bars. It is convenient for the motorway but surrounded by lots of green. The trains are a bit slower than from surrounding places. As I said before Redhill has much more frequent services and some live the side of Reigate to access that station more easily.

One thing on commuting - all the places you list are inside the London travel zones. Neither Reigate nor Oxted are and you have to pay quite a bit more for the train in comparison. It does also though explain why they aren’t suburban feel but are proper towns in their own right.

What are you looking for in the area you live? I live in Kenley which is between Purley and Warlingham. We love it because of the fast transport links and abundance of green space around the aerodrome. We got much more for our money than we would have in other areas. However, the high street is tiny and not particularly nice.

I would definitely take a look at Reigate and Oxted. As mentioned if you like Tunbridge Wells the other places you are suggesting are nowhere like TW. They are so very different.

We are looking for a convenient town with reasonable commute time to kids' schools. Our family is from Singapore which is a pretty convenient town (e.g. Cafe / Supermarket / butcher...) Any recommendations?

Really thanks for your advice, I tried to search the commute time from Oxted station to South Croydon station and google map.told me it takes 45 mins which really let me hesitate to think about this area. Your info helps me a lot in further explore this area. Brilliant!

I would recommend Oxted too, has nice little shops/restaurants, good train links, lots of community things. I would live there in a heartbeat if I could.

Do you have to have those schools? If you like Tw there are excellent private schools which are closer

@sheilatakeasheilatakeabow

Do you have to have those schools? If you like Tw there are excellent private schools which are closer

I am not too familiar with UK s private schools and only knows Tonbridge is a boy private school but it s school fee is too high for us. Do u have any other recommendation?