Banstead pros and cons! FLOODS? please help

[desperatelyseekingnoone]

hello mumsnet, please can you help me and DH, no kids, mid 30s. We want to move to Surrey (leaving London), looking for greener spaces and a lovely community with coffee shops, must be safe, good schools (primary and secondary) for a family we hope to start next year!

We dislike London for a new family and looking for our longterm family home with 3-4 bed, medium-large garden (a must), driveway for at least one car, and budget up to £600k Max.

We really like Banstead but we drove there and walked around.

We still need to commute to London 1-2 times per week, and hoping for commute to be less than an hour.

Can anyone tell us what Banstead is like with all the above? Do you live there, have a family? Are you happy there? Do you think the houses and Banstead will keep their house values?

We so so nervous are also really really concerned about flooding issues as well :(

Thank you so so much!!

You’d be better off driving to Coulsdon South or Sutton and paying to park as the Banstead train isn’t good enough for regular commuting in my view.

School catchments are small, so do keep that in mind as there are a couple of areas that are a bit of a dead zone and you can end up with a more random allocation.

You could look at the Nork area which is close to the station but further away from the village.

Also possible that secondary schools get better but I wouldn’t bank on it, worth considering if you don’t want to move again. You can apply for nearby grammars though, competitive obviously. Plenty of choice for private.

That Chipstead way house is on a very very steep hill and also has a shared drive. It’s not Banstead, hence the price.

Banstead high st is lovely. The train station is too far away from the high street and it’s a crap line. As others have said you’d be better driving to Chipstead or coulsdon south (coulsdon south 22 minutes into London Bridge).

If you’re only in the office a couple of times a week that’s doable and I would choose to live in Banstead over coulsdon.

Secondaries aren’t great. But may improve by the time you need them.

Chipstead Way is in Woodmansterne, a village in its own right with a church, pub, primary school, post office and corner shop, takeaway, sports clubs, lots of clubs and societies, Brownies and Cubs etc and the insta-famous Mayfield Lavender Farm.

It's 5 minutes in the car to Banstead High Street, or on a direct and regular bus route.

You'll find that the postal address IS Banstead , same postcode but no matter!