Settling in Tunbridge Wells or Carshalton (or Reading)?

[Mama1922]

Thank you for reading. I wanted to ask your advice on some ideas about where to settle down with a family.

I am married with two kids, 5 and 1.5, and looking for a place to settle down as a family (currently in SE London). Our budget is £600k and we are looking for a 4-bedroom semi-detached house with a garden (or three bedroom with potential to extend, within the budget). We are hoping to aim for grammar schools, if possible, and are currently deciding between Royal Tunbridge Wells or Wallington/Carshalton - although our budget seems a little tight for those locations.. Recently, I started to look also at Reading as it seems more affordable. My husband needs to commute to the city although he may be able to work from home on some days after the lockdown. The bottom line for us is a safe, homely place where our kids can make nice childhood memories. My husband is English and grew up in a village but I am from abroad and grew up in a medium size city, and like to have things happening around.

Thank you all so much for your time and for replying with any advice you may have!

Have a look at Henley on Thames. Pretty, small, lively market town outside Reading. It has all you could need, leisure centre, theatre, cinema, hospital and loads of shops and restaurants. Beautiful countryside (Chiltern Hills) and the river is used for recreation year around. Schools are good (no grammar but secondary rated 3rd best in Oxfordshire by the Times last year) and there is a direct train to London Paddington. It’s a great place to bring up kids.

Reading has single sex super-selective grammars, children don't normally get in unless very very intelligent or coached for years. The rest of the secondary schools are fine, from my point of view. From what you're describing, it sounds like Reading might suit your needs. People always suggest Caversham on mumsnet (a part of Reading, on the north side of the Thames) but I think it's quite pricey and the traffic is horrendous. You can get more for your money in Earley or Tilehurst, but not quite so quick to commute.

I've lived in Tunbridge Wells on and off for most of my life, most recently for the last 18 years - I returned from 10 years working overseas, primarily for family and schools. I agree that your budget might be tight for central TW but there are a lot of villages outside with good rail links, or Langton Green on the outskirts - also Groombridge - both have good local schools. Grammar wise, people will say that all children are tutored but mine wasn't (and is not exceptionally bright) but did attend private primary, purely because I'm a lone parent and her name wasn't on any of the (excellent) state school lists.

I can't speak for the other areas although a PP mentioned Henley which is lovely - I spent a lot of time there in the past. I haven't been to Reading for some time but agree that the grammars are very selective, more so than TW (we have three girls' grammars between us and Tonbridge, and three boys' too).

Tunbridge Wells is lovely. Have you also considered other Kent towns - Tonbridge, Maidstone etc, all with good rail links to London, and good grammar schools. There’s lovely villages surrounding these towns which may suit you, where you get the best of both worlds - country life and town life.