Paddock Wood - advise on the area and life there

[crimp82]

We have just found a very pretty house in a new development in PW, area that we have not considered before. We realised that Tunbridge Wells is a bit too expensive for now for us but we would like to move close to that area or Tonbridge mainly because of schools, grammars are our ultimate goal, provide that our DD will be up for it. We are currently living in London and have never lived in Kent before. I would be grateful if anyone living in Paddock Wood could enlighten us in terms of how is life there....I have a daughter 17 months old and I am pregnant of my second so any tips of activities to do for babies, schools, parks and overall community vibes would be very much appreciated.

I thought PW was outside catchment of grammars due to Mascalls being "comprehensive". It seems an OK town being on the london mainline. There is a waitrose, decent opticians, small dept store but lots of new developments. So not sure what primary school places look like.

@socialdilemmawhattodo I agree on the okay town...quite concerning about the high crime rate...I thought grammars do not have catchment areas and pw is only 20 min from tonbridge so a very easy commute...