Move to Sevenoaks?

[Happymchappyface]

I’d appreciate some outside perspectives on this one.

DH and I currently living in SE London. Us with 2 children in year 3 and 1.

We have started to look at secondary schools and that has led to a discussion about moving. We’ve picked Sevenoaks to have a serious look at.

I’ll say first off that I don’t want to leave London, but have agreed to properly look and research before any final decision is made.

I’d love any Sevenoaks mumsnetters to share their experiences of living there. In particular I’m keen to hear about;

Schools, both state and private. What are they like? We’d consider grammar schools and would be keen on faith schools too.

Diversity - do Black and Brown families feel included / represented / safe?

I walk EVERYWHERE or use public transport. I can drive and we have a car, but is Sevenoaks an easily walkable town? What’s the public transport like. I really do not want to be doing school runs in the car etc.

Churches - We’re a faith family and attend a CoE church. What are the churches like? Any recommendations for traditional style CoE churches?

Thank you in advance for any advice or information you can share.

I can't say anything about living there but was in Sevenoaks this weekend for the first time. Traffic seemed quite heavy and parking is extortionate (£2/hour). Lots of people were walking to and from the centre probably because of the parking cost. Quite a mix of ethnicities on the very nice high street and even in Weatherspoons at breakfast time 😀(which was not as bad as you think, pretty good breakfast served within 5 minutes).

It does seem like a nice place to live, probably worth spending a weekend there to get the vibe.

I wouldn't want to live in Sevenoaks without a car, not because you couldn't live somewhere accessible for the train station (you could and of course there are buses and taxis) but because it's surrounded by beautiful countryside and things to do that would be hard to access.

Mind you nowhere has public transport like London but at least some places aren't so blighted by Range Rovers and X5s. They had to make the Waitrose car park spaces bigger!

This may be slightly coloured by growing up there with a dad who worked away, a mum who didn't believe in driving us about and I didn't pass my test till the week before I left university...

The school provision is unusual there so you'd want to do your research.

It's a Marmite of a place. Make lots of visits and maybe rent for a bit before committing?

For secondary grammars you might also consider Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells which have multiple options for boys/girls if that is not too far from London for you. They are more social towns than Sevenoaks and probably more appealing to the teens.

Echoing phineyj, it does have a feeling of being cut off slightly due to its geography.

We have looked at Tunbridge Wells and could be persuaded there.

We plan to visit on a cold and preferably wet weekend in Jan or Feb. If we like the place in that weather it’s a good sign.

Have a look at Tonbridge too I suggest. Tbh a lot of kids from Sevenoaks go to school in Tonbridge and Tun Wells anyway. Might as well be local and reduce the school commute.

Always get an a slightly boring old peopley vibe from Sevenoaks. Definitely prefer TW or Tonbridge.

TW has gone downhill imo. None of the areas mentioned are diverse. Where are you at the moment op? It may be quite the culture shock.

@boulevardofbrokendreamss Lewisham boarders … I know it won’t be as diverse and that makes me sad. It’s probably the biggest thing making me not want to move.

I currently live in TW and love it here- definitely prefer it to Sevenoaks which always has a bit of a snobby, elitist vibe to it. Our high st is getting a bit of a kick up the arse (Primark coming next year- oh my GOD the excitement), it’s becoming more diverse with a lot of families moving here from London, and it has a thriving Christian church community. I lived here for two years with two tiny DC before I learned to drive, getting around town is fine but further afield can be tricky. Maidstone for example is a very long bus or two trains away.

The downside is that it is expensive - we’re having to move out of the town because we now have 3 DC and for our budget all we could afford was a tiny two up two down terrace - and DH and I are gutted, we’ve been really happy here.

I wouldn’t consider Sevenoaks to be particularly diverse, nor TW for that matter. What about Crystal Palace or Penge? Slightly further out than Lewisham but seems to tick most of your boxes.

@Equalityumber I had to laugh because that’s the area we live now :) we’re right on the boarder between Lewisham and Bromley borough. I love it.

Ugh it’s so hard as London is so great and all those places just feel so boring, conservative and blarg. But housing and schools are such an issue in London it forces people to have to leave areas they love. Is there no way you could rent near good secondary just to get eldest in? Short term £££ but saves stamp duty and moving costs so an alternative?

@Happymchappyface I recently moved from SE London (Greenwich) to Sevenoaks and love it so far! No buyers' regrets yet. I don't have a car either and walk everywhere or take the train to London. I don't miss London at all, as it's so easily accessible. There's also an app based taxi booking service which I have used a few times.

I am a POC and haven't found diversity a problem either. Obviously not as diverse as Greenwich/Lewisham but people have been welcoming so far. If you don't drive, make sure you pick a school close to a station or the school bus route! Loads and loads of people here have moved from London so it's a very Londonish vibe if you are close to the town centre.

We looked at Sevenokas when we left SW London, it was fine but not a deal clencher.

We ended up in Walton, and yes, we miss the diversity and the ability to access a whole city within minutes.

I was MORE THAN ready to leave London, having been there 42 of my 44 years, and even so, it was a big change and needed time to acclimatise.

Walton is nice. I don't regret it. But it is hard.

We left penge area for suburbs around 10 years ago. I'm mixed. I was very unhappy to leave London at the time but made peace with it and am now happy with the decision. We looked at lots of towns around Kent and Surrey and in the end we went with Surrey. We considered Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells. Both seemed nice but didn't click with me for whatever reason and weren't that convenient for me to access family in other bits of the country. Some Surrey towns are not too bad diversity wise- Woking,, the villages around Croydon, I do think most places outside London you can't get away without a car but if you can find somewhere you can afford to live near the station and school, then you can avoid it during the week and then it's just for errands and kids clubs at the weekend. I never sit in traffic in the way I did when I lived in London!

Hi there , one thing we are worried about in Sevenoaks as Asian parents is the mix . Does anyone what the diversity ratio is in Amherst primary school in a class of 30 . I appreciate it’s not a great question , but as a mum , I do not want my daughter to be the only brown girl in a class of 30.

Totally understandable, it’s what put me off most of the U.K. tbh! The lack of diversity and conservatism that comes with it is a real shock compared with London. Call the school?

Book a tour and see what you think?

I think you will find plenty of Asian families in Sevenoaks, although often using private schools (going on the nearby town I live in).

Certainly the Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells grammar schools (to which many Sevenoaks children commute) have a large proportion of Asian students.

We moved from SE London 4 years ago, you most definitely need a car. Unless you can afford the Center of Sevenoaks, or nearby to walk to the station, which yes has fast links to London. It’s lovely driving around the “countryside” however you also need to be mindful where you live, if you are used to walking everywhere like we did, the driving doesn’t seem much at first and we got swept away with the country feel. The Center of Sevenoaks gets extremely busy on weekends leaving parking a challenge. Also when the kids become teenagers and most schools have their friends travelling from all over TW, Tonbridge, Leigh, Oxted etc when they want to meet up this also means you are taxi until they start driving, unless of course they also live near a station or bus route. We have thought about moving back for 10 years, with work that way and constantly driving. The kids can’t just pop anywhere. Plus we still have lots of friends back in SE London. You think it’s 30min drive and they’ll visit, however that tails off because they are busy and you become busy so be mindful of that if you have made solid friends and have a community around you. Save your money for holidays, eating out rather than the “big country house” that will come with cost. Unless of course budget is no option. Good luck

I moved from SE London to Tonbridge a few years back. Although I'm white, I was shocked at the lack of diversity, it is slowly changing but still far different from London.
On a similar note, some of the attitudes were more like the 70s, with casual racism, sexism and homophobia. Of course not everyone is like that but it's enough to be noticed. Sevenoaks is 8 miles nearer to S London, so hopefully more sensible, though I've visited enough times to doubt that.

Sevenoaks can be quite hilly, not a problem for an adult but you may find youngsters might struggle with initially, but no doubt something they'll get used to.
As other PPs have mentioned it's surrounded by country side, most of it walkable, and of course has Knole Park that extends to the centre of town.

Sevenoaks is on two lines into town, the main, fast, one to Charring Cross & London Bridge and the other, slower, line into Blackfriars and St Pancras. Buses are expensive and hopeless compared to London.

I moved from London to Tonbridge 10 years ago, now live in TW and work in Sevenoaks plus have kids at school in TWells so very happy to answer any questions and give you my experience but we are a white british family so whilst I miss the diversity of a bigger city, it clearly doesn't have such a direct impact as it would a POC .

Sevenoaks has an older, more elitist, private school/yummy mummy vibe IMO It's a nice place to work (waitrose & M&S on the doorstep) but it's very middle age - I'm 45 & quirky dresser and feel a bit out of place. Handy for the commute and some lovely houses if you've got deep pocket. I wouldn't live there but if I did I'd want to be in walking distance of the town/station.

Tonbridge has always been considered the poor relation to TW & Sevenoaks and is is cheaper but I actually quite liked it and only moved work DH's work & DC's school. I'd say 90% of Kent is quite old fashioned in it's views but I've never experienced any sexism (white & straight so can' comment on racism or homophobia).

I love TWells but it is a bit of town of 2 halves & then the villages are like a whole separate thing. Top part of town near the shopping centre is dire - empty shops, loads of bored kids hanging around, loads of barbers and nail bars, residential around is mainly converted flats/HMO's - all rather depressing and best avoided.

Head down the hill it's a totally different vibe. The High Street is lovely with some great boutique shops and into the Pantiles there's loads of bars, cafes & restaurants and it's heaving every weekend. 'The Village' (basically behind The High Street) and around Grove Park are very sought-after and there's a huge ex-London community but I still wouldn't say it was particularly diverse although that does seem to be changing very gradually.

My kids go to school in TW (state church & grammar) and very happy with both schools. The get the bus home and will walk home from a friends and I don't worry about them constantly - they walk everywhere, get the bus or train if they want to go further afield. In terms of diversity, if I had to guess I'd still say 75% white so hardly comparable to London or other big cities and some will be from minority or non-British white groups such as traveller community, polish, ukranian et. The grammars are more diverse and noticeably more Asian kids at all the grammar schools around us.

Drop me a line if you want any more help.