Village or small town near Reading?

[zcjtb43]

I work in Reading and am looking to move closer. I am used to a reasonably quiet place to live, v. safe and green preferably with some amenities (food shop / library / GPs or post office).
I was wondering if anyone could recommend anywhere within 5-10 miles of Reading which offered walks on the doorstep, a few amenities close by and good schools but otherwise a fairly sedate and peaceful life!

really depends on your budget - Pangbourne is nice

Theale? Convenient for Reading but village with nice walks along canal etc.

Not so nice as Pangbourne imho but closer to Reading.

Stoke Row. A great foodie pub, a restaurant, and a fab shop and cafe, plus lots going on and friendly people.

I would suggest Twyford, very short train journey to Reading, and on the mainline to London,all the amenities you list & excellent primary & secondary schools.
Otherwise, anywhere in the Wokingham borough, as the schools are all excellent, train services are less good elsewhere though (slow train to London)

Twyford.

Lots of parks, rural walks and lakes.

Two (at least) good primary schools.

Sweet town centre that has kept its character.

A real sense of community (just been to the Hallowe'en bonfire and fireworks) on King George's Field.

Good restaurants and takeaways in the town centre, and a Waitrose and a Tesco Express.

I have close family who live there.

Budget-dependent but Sonning.

Came on here to say Pangbourne

Theale and Mortimer are nice too

Sonning is lovely but you get stuck in traffic

Be aware of the floodplain.

Do you want to be north or south of the river? It can be a big slow point when commuting, especially if one of the bridges closes, so if you can have a route which avoids crossing it, that can make a big difference time-wise.

Bramley is on the railway between Reading and Basingstoke. It has a very good bakery which makes lardy cake (that may not be a particular recommendation except to people from the right parts of Hants/Dorset/Wilts.)

Or there's places like Burghfield. There are lots of villages around, but it may depend on your budget.

Pangbourne sounds like what you've described :) it's really lovely.

I used to live in Mill End just outside of Henley on Thames. Lovely rural area and close to Reading but it was so expensive.

Bucklebury?

I have friends in Wokingham. Pangbourne and Sonning are nicer IMHO, but Wokingham has quite a lot of stuff in it. Little cinema etc.

Wokingham should be much better when the roadworks are all done and the though traffic has gone. Woodley is totally functional and ticks all the boxes except perhaps being pretty.

There was a thread about moving to Reading that got deleted this week - who knew it could be so controversial

Sonning but beware of the traffic!

Hi All,

@IntemperateSpirits what is so controversial about reading?

We are looking to move closer to Maidenhead in a quiet town with our 2 kids. One will start reception next year.
We have looked at Marlow, Cookham, Wokingham, Binfield, Reading, Caversham... Twyford.... to buy a 3 bedroom house ( 600k£) however we have got to keep in mind the school element (primary, secondary/grammar ...)....

It is a daunting prospect but we will have to make a choice....

That is why I'm turning to this community for advice!

What would you recommend ?

Who knows. Some people don't like Reading, some people love it.

Have you looked at Woodley? If you stick to Waingels College catchment side then it's easy access up the A4 to Maidenhead.

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/81564660
www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/114120566
www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/114737066

[quote IntemperateSpirits]Who knows. Some people don't like Reading, some people love it.

Have you looked at Woodley? If you stick to Waingels College catchment side then it's easy access up the A4 to Maidenhead.

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/81564660
www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/114120566
www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/114737066[/quote]
My grandparents built some of the houses in Woodley they all did a kind of co-operative build between a few of them and built a few streets not sure where though.

They moved to Woodcote which is nice.

Just for random interest www.getreading.co.uk/news/local-news/community-built-part-woodley-4208917

Probably better built than a new build 😉

@HenryDarnier if your DC is starting reception Sept 2022 you'll have missed the deadline for moving into catchment - i believe the cut off is mid January. Unless you're going private of course!
All the places you've named are lovely.

Martin's Heron and Forest Park in Bracknell are served by a small station that goes to Reading and the areas border Swinley Forest which is great for walks.

House prices are not as steep as surrounding towns.

Sickoffamilydrama I know the ones. There's loads more photos on Facebook of all the builders during that time. It sounded like a great idea.

Try Shurlock Row

@Ohhgreat I thought the application deadline was somehwere around 4 Jan 2022. I guess I should have moved there earlier but life has been quite unpredictable these past 2 years. Hopefully if I move close to a school in Mid 2022 I think a place at the school will be made available for him.