Looking to move to Kent - Maidstone, west malling, Tonbridge way

[SMBM]

Hi, we are a family of 4, 2 kids all under the age of 3 and we are looking to move in the coming months from london to Kent and not sure where to go?!
i work in London 2/3 days a week and need good train links to Charing Cross ideally or commute in under an hour. We are looking to rent initially before buying. We have been looking at Maidstone, East Farleigh, West Malling and Bearstead but have no idea if these are good areas for families and whether any should be avoided?! Need to be easily commutable for pick up from nursery and childminder as husband doesn’t drive.

Any advice greatly appreciated 😊

I’d avoid Maidstone (although loads of lovely villages surrounding)
West Malling/Kings Hill great for families- although train into Victoria- there is a commuter coach though
Bearsted is lovely
Also recommend you try Headcorn, Staplehurst, Marden. More country but very commutable

Meant to say any good school, nursery childminder recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Happy to move to area that has good links to these 😀

West Malling is nice and there are direct trains to Charing Cross. Tonbridge is better for schools though.

I used to live in Staplehurst and commute daily to ChX. The village is much bigger now, but family friendly.
East Farleigh floods.

Maidstone Town centre is awful. Loads of traffic too.

Kings Hill isn't great either, thread the other day.

Maidstone has gotten much worse over the last 10 years. Drugs, violence. Mote Park is lovely but there aren't many other perks.

West Malling is better and safer but it's a small town/large village without much going on and not great transport links. Kings Hill is nearby but again, not great public transport and it's a huge new build development and growing every year.

Other options of nice "villages" on the outskirts of better Kent towns are Riverhead, Kemsing, Hildenborough and Pembury.

Have you visited these areas? It strikes me that lots of Londoners randomly pick places without visiting. Book some weekends away in the places you're interested and see what you think.

what is your budget?

I do think this is really important tbh. You have to isolate the towns/villages on the train line and visit each one. Then look at commute times accurately. Then drill down to which ones you like and go from there.

You mention a commute of under an hour, but for instance West Malling which I particularly like is about 56 minutes on the train into London. That’s just the train bit, then allow getting to the station of how many minutes and onwards at the other end.

Thank you all for your input. It’s really helpful.
Yes @WitchyWay we have done recon of some of the areas, granted not all. We also have friends in and around some of the areas so have visited a few times, however always good to know from a locals perspective.
our budget would be max £2k a month.
In terms of commute I was meaning just the train part in under an hr ideally. 😊

We are in the middle of doing the same thing. So watching this thread with interest.

does anyone know what West Farleigh is like?