A bit more space and a bit more rural or less space and in town

[palmtreessunshine]

Hi all.

Hoping for a bit of a handhold and some advice. We are moving from Wadsworth to Surrey. We’ve lived in Wadsworth for five years after moving from America.We’ve been on our first big day of looking at houses. Our budget is roughly 750 K for a four bedroom house. I’m pregnant with my fourth baby doing September.

We visited several places, Ashtead, Leatherhead, Epsom, dorking and Effingham.

The only house I absolutely loved is slightly above our budget. It’s also in an area called Langley, which is a more rural location. It’s about 10 minutes from the schools, we have our eyes on for our children.

after seeing the house, it was the only house I could imagine myself and my family in but being more rural and not walkable to really anywhere makes me feel quite nervous. We viewed seven houses as well. There’s not much on the market and we still quite arranged from fixer uppers in Dorking town center.

i’m very used to now being able to walk to baby classes and the grocery store. Our terrace house currently has a more open plan which makes it feel like it has more space than it actually does, but we don’t have the budget to stay in Woodsworth I would like to move someplace with better schools for our children.

how do I make this decision? Have any of you moved and regretted it?

I grew up in a tiny village. All good when the kids are in primary but starts to be a nightmare once they’re in secondary. I would envisage a lot of driving. I live in London now but when I go home the amount of driving that is necessary is really annoying and I like driving!

I live rurally (with four kids) and there is definite plus points. Loads of fresh air and freedom. Kids spend ages on the massive squeaky trampoline and no one can hear them even the 14yo. Lots of driving and carpooling. Good to be organised. Luckily neighbours kids (I use that term loosely as miles away) are of an age so we share runs. So I do ever other week for scouts, one way for guides. It’s also easier now they are older as can leave school and walk to local community centre where they do a couple of after school lessons and I can meet them there around 4:30.

It is worth considering what you will do for a living and your potential commute and how that stacks up with school buses etc.

Def stay in town!!

Driving in the UK is so different than driving in America.
Those school runs would be so stressful and then add clubs, sports, parties and play dates as they get older.

It is also great for your DC to be local to their schools and have friends living nearby. If you are 10 mins from a school and their friends are 10-15 mins away on the other side things like parties and play dates will be difficult.

It's very important for the DC to gain independence as they get older and walk/cycle to school and meet friends in town.

Good luck!!

Go for the bigger house. 4 kids grow into teens and you will need the space! 10 min drive is nothing. You will get into a routine eg drop kids, go to gym,get groceries etc travel home so not that much driving in one go. You will also start to find things to do nearer.

I live semi-rural, in a similar setup to Langley. You will be surprised at the number of other kids the same age as yours, and all the parents are the family taxi, it's the trade off for a bigger house and fresh air. I know what I'd choose, and it's not living in the inner suburbs of a major city with the crime, anti-social behaviour and pollution!