Moving to Kent - can’t decide where!

[Canadatoengland]

Hi we are a family of 4 with a 4 and 6 year old and currently living in Vancouver. We are originally from the Channel Islands and now debating a moved back to the UK but to Kent as opposed to back to the Channel Islands!
My mum lives near Greenhithe in Kent and I would likely look for work commuting to London and my husband would be working all over Kent and London. I am finding it so hard to decide on an area! We want:

• good schools
• under an hour commute to london
• within a 30 min drive of my mum
• outdoorsy, lots of nice walks, picturesque
• good sense of community and amenities for kids to do sports etc

we will be renting initially and ideally would like to be under 2k a month for a 3/4 bed house

not sure if I’m asking for something that doesn’t exist!

Thanks in advance for any suggestions or advice x

I live in the Medway towns, and the council insist on black rubbish sacks.

Plenty of brown wheelie bins round here. Where are you in Medway that you can't have one? I prefer to use black bin bags, and they aren't ripped open by foxes because I don't leave them out overnight.

Canterbury would be my choice, it’s lovely.

Brown bins are for garden waste. Normal household waste has to go in black sacks. We get round it by putting out a black sack in a dustbin, and popping out first thing to take the lid off. The bin men will take the black sack out and no ripped bag.
We don’t have time in the morning to get all the rubbish out.

I’d suggest you look at the villages between Borough Green, West Malling and Tonbridge.

So that would give you Ightham, Shipbourne, Plaxtol, West Peckham, Offham, Trottiscliffe, Crouch, Addington.

The train from Borough Green is pretty good, and has better parking than west malling.

https://www.medway.gov.uk/info/200132/waste_and_recycling/77/what_goes_in_my_recycling_and_rubbish_bins_or_bags

For a coastal area - Margate. It's vibrant and has had a big cash injection recently for its infrastructure. Is about 1 hr 30mins by train though to London.

For close to London with good schools, Bromley or Orpington (about 25 mins by train)

I live on the outskirts of Tunbridge Wells, in a lovely village. It's great for schools and relatively easy to get to London and the coast. My DC are in brilliant local schools in Tun Wells (within walking distance of our home). It's peaceful and amenities/bus links are good. I can't comment on how far it is to Greenhithe, but I would allow about an hour. Roadworks in our area are vile at the moment!!

We probably live in same village! Road works absolutely insane ! Agree the local schools are excellent.

Faversham will have had to come up
quite a long way- known locally for a serious heroin problem last time I looked. Grew up in Canterbury, one of my friends moved there in early 2000s then moved out again as really took against the place.

Used to live in Rochester ( moved end of 2020) and they supply clear recycling bags and have been for years.
Plus bins for garden waste
Then if you have non recycles you can put your black bags out.

I live just outside Faversham ( it begins at the end of our lane)
Theres no serious hero in problem.
The town is lovely and has been protected from a historical point of view
By the creek the lovely restaurants, pubs and antiques shops amongst some old ships is lovely.

Train commute is good to London, not as great as Rochester obviously as that’s nearer London. However you can get to Canterbury easily as well as Faversham is between the Rochester and Canterbury…with two beautiful Cathedrals and all of them dripping in history.

Rochester won’t have the country feel so much
Faversham and it’s surrounding villages does.
I live near one of them

When are you looking to move.
If you give us a year or so ( but if advertising I know 😁) we will have finished our 15th century Hall House will fields opposite, a local church with bell ringing on a Sunday and Friday night practice, the local Archaeology group ( they’ve finished digging at ours now ) and of course the Faversham Society and little theatre.
Lots to do
Great for walking too,
Bird song, cows in a field behind and sheep up the lane.

If this thread is still around in a year or so and you like very old buildings and the area I’ll update here.

Apologies if my post is inaccurate. I am probably going on outdated information, in the early 2000s there were several heroin related deaths in Faversham and lots of concern in local press. If the situation has improved I’m delighted.

Folkestone is 55 mins to St Pancras, definitely see it before ruling it out.

Don’t forget Faversham’s open air pool and only 20 mins or so drive to Whitstable without the DFL prices. Great grammar school too.

Ds ( student) currently life guarding at the pool [ not worried that’s outing as there’s over 20 of them in total ] and there’s always loads going on there. There’s also indoor pools there as well, it’s a really large complex considering Faversham really isn’t that big.

Love Whitstable, we go there regularly. Nice shops, great harbour.