Surbiton, Twickenham or Richmond?

[sunshinefordays]

Would love to know any thoughts on these areas, especially if you live in one of them or rate one over the other, and if so the reasons why.

Our budget would probably be somewhere between £900-£950 (if the top end we couldn't afford to do any work for the foreseeable future).

Ideally we would want 4 bedrooms (or the potential for 4 in the future by converting the loft) and a garden big enough to have a shed/studio outbuilding.

We need to be within walking distance of a train station with a fast connection in to London.

We have pre-school aged children, so schools are a consideration. We wouldn't be able to afford private school fees.

Things that we would love to have: family friendly area, safe neighbourhood with green spaces/parks within walking distance. Decent supermarkets / local amenities like nice independent coffee shops (rather than chains). I'd prefer to be near a buzzy high Street than in the middle of suburbia.

Might all be too much to ask for our budget in any of them, but we don't know that part of SW London very well so would welcome any thoughts!

Richmond is the best for transport, outdoor spaces and shopping but the most expensive.

They are all great areas to live in, friendly, safe, with the beautiful River Thames, good shops and green spaces.

Richmond would be the most expensive and 'poshest' by far out of the three you listed.

I'd also add Teddington, but again, it's very pricey.

The cheapest would probably be Surbiton, but it's also a lovely place to live.

Hi, 950 is very very unlikely get you 4 beds in Richmond.

Surbiton, possibly.

It's a lovely area to live in.

Been here for 25 years and would find it hard to leave.

When you say fast connection to London, which part of London is it you need to get to?

Richmond has the tube which Surbiton doesn't, but Surbiton station has a lot of fast trains to Waterloo.

Hi we live in surbiton but know all areas quite well. I don’t think you could get 4 beds in Richmond but it is good for tubes (although district line) and tubes and had a really good (but expensive) high street with shops. It is Uber posh as you would expect

twickenham has Mixed parts (twickenham green is beautiful) and varying budgets - can get a 4 bed in some of those parts. Large high street with what you need. But be wary of the rugby stadium - queues and crowds when there is a match

surbiton has some glorious (ie very expensive) houses in parts. fast and v frequent trains to waterloo - also plans for crossrail 2 at some point with the massive Kingston shopping centre close by. Could get a 4 bed in certain parts eg berrylands - and def a 3 bed with scope to extend. Smaller high street but lovely maple road with fabulous bars and restaurants. We like it due to good primary schools and a real family vibe

@MrsKypp - thank you for replying!

We'd need a fast (and hopefully fairly frequent?) connection to Waterloo/Clapham Junction.

I don't think Teddington has a fast train (I may be wrong?) which is a shame as I have heard it is lovely.

Can I ask what you like about Surbiton (if you live there), e.g. what are your favourite places?

And if you know Richmond, how fast is the tube into somewhere central? Trying to work out how much of a difference that would make.

@catwomando - thanks so much for replying! Could I ask what is it you love so much about Surbiton? We love the area we currently live in (East Dulwich), so am finding it hard to picture somewhere else!

One of the things we love about it is that we rarely use our car and walk everywhere - is that similar to what you could do in Surbiton? Also lots of independent shops and businesses here and strong sense of community, which is something we'd hope to find if we moved somewhere new.

I used to live in Mortlake and absolutely loved it. Felt like a small village but so easy to get into central London.

@Namechanger355 - thank you so much for taking time to reply!

How accessible is Richmond from Surbiton or Twickenham? Trying to work out if you lived in a less pricey area if you could still easily enjoy the benefits of somewhere like Richmond? Does one of Twickenham/Surbiton have better transport/walking links to Richmond?

In Twickenham is it just bad around the stadium streets on match days, or would it also be an issue around the station/roads more towards St Margarets area?

I think one thing I'm slightly drawn to is the proximity to Kew Gardens/Richmond Park which seems to be better in the Twickenham/Richmond area, but my husband likes the idea of better value for money in Surbiton.

@HappyHamsters - thank you for replying! Would you say that the price tag is worth it for a much nicer place to live, or are Surbiton and Twickenham comparably safe/nice? We don't know any of these three areas well at the moment, but just seen that budget doesn't go far in Richmond...

There’s other areas we could suggest but if your asking what’s best out of the 3 you have listed; I would go for Richmond

Surbiton is naice and you may be able to get something within your budget there but I find it a little boring and feels like your far out

Richmond has everything on your doorstep, fantastic transport links, the river nearby, lovely community, but may stretch your budget.

Twickenham is nice too although you might find transport links aren’t as sweet as Richmond, and again I find Richmond has more to do and I find a lovely community for families aswell as the younger crowd.

Richmond - expensive
teddington - probably has the highest crime rate of the 3
surbiton - would be my preference

what about Stoneleigh, Epsom.only about 10/15 mins drive from surbiton (either comes under Sutton or Surrey) 3 trains an hour to Waterloo, the broadway is fall of independent shops, houses are much larger than the above areas, and have large gardens. You have Nonsuch park nearby, Epsom Sutton or Kingston for shopping. Sainsburys or Tesco for shopping

I would go for Richmind or Kew if you can afford it, what is your budget. Would you consider staying in SE or Kent instead.

Richmond is indeed the nicest and most expensive. If you were going to Waterloo you’d still get the train not the tube though, the District Line is long. So depends where work is.

Twickenham fast train is half an hour into Waterloo, if you want the tube it’s only 10 mins to Richmond anyway. You’ll get more for your money further from the station though which might make additional travel issues.

Whats the biggest priority? The house or speed to Waterloo?

What about Kingston? You could definitely get a nice house for your budget, good shopping/restaurants and one of the Richmond Park gates is in Kingston, you can walk straight through

Plus Kingston half an hour to Waterloo

@HappyHamsters it’s only £900-950k, I think they’ll struggle on that in Richmond and Kew

You won't get 4 beds, a decent garden and near the station for £950k in Twickenham. You could do it if you can manage a 15-20 min walk to the station but that rules out the good secondary schools (unless you have girls and you're happy with Waldegrave, an excellent girls school).

Richmond is walking distance from Twickenham or a short bus ride but we don't go there often. Maybe for the cinema or a restaurant every now and again.

Surbiton is nice, we have plenty of friends there who are very happy but I don't know much about the schools and house prices. Have you looked at Kingston top? Good schools and a fast train line.

We live in East Sheen near Richmond and love it here. A real village feel to the place, outstanding primary schools, Richmond Park on your doorstep, 20 minutes train into Waterloo.

We’ve lived in Twickenham for almost 8 years. It has lovely access to the river and marble hill park. Richmond park and bushy park very near (but a bit far to walk). Can walk to Richmond
(about 40mins) or bus (10-15 mins). Fastest train from Twickenham to Waterloo is 20mins which is great! Walk to teddington in 30 mins or bus much quicker and easy access to Kingston for shopping on the bus. Church street in Twickenham has lots of restaurants and is pedestrianised. Lots of coffee shops (too many really!) and a fair few independant places too. Schools all pretty good in Twickenham although ours are still at nursery stage so haven’t actually looked at any of them yet in detail. Rugby days are a bit of an annoyance but if you choose The Green end and time what time you go out/return then not too bad.

As others have said Richmond is most expensive, St Margaret’s and strawberry hill probably as expensive as Richmond and you wont get a 4 bed house for anywhere near 900-950k unless you go to the Ham side of the river which doesn’t have great transport links.

In Twickenham you will get a 3 bed Victorian terrace circa 1250-1350sqft (with 3rd bedroom in converted loft) for minimum £900k, £950k more likely and some now as high as £1m and garden not likely to be very big. Also depends massively on the roads, the further you get into TW2 rather than TW1 the more likely it is but you will be 20min walk to station (or 5 mins bus ride). We’ve have been trying to do the upsize locally with a similar budget and requirements and its not easy, particularly if you want a reasonable garden (anything more than 30ft), they just don’t have them at that price range.

Whitton offers more value and bigger gardens but next stop on train and rugby more annoying. Personally I don’t know it so can’t recommend but I would rather be in Twickenham.

Bit long but I hope that’s helpful!

Your money will go furthest in Surbiton out of the places you've listed. You will probably only get a flat or a small cottage (2 up 2 down style) in Richmond for that.

Transport links are best in Richmond though. They have the tube, overground and National Rail with very fast trains into Waterloo. Also the A316/M3/M4 and Heathrow Airport are all close, though that last bit about motorways and Airport would be true of Twickenham as well.

You won't get 4 beds in Richmond or Twickenham for that. I don't know about Surbiton.
Just going on area - I love Richmond, but have no idea about schools. Twickenham is nice too just over the bridge and around the Green. St Margaret's area lovely too. But I think outside your budget.

I rented a 2 up 2 down cottage in Richmond which went on for £1.2m last year