Guildford move - local advice wanted!

[timesarechanging]

I am thinking of upping sticks and moving to the Guildford area. Can anyone offer thoughts/advice on nice areas and schools etc?

DS1 is 3.5yrs (we'd be looking to start him in reception in 2009) and DS2 is 18 mths. Most likely to look at independent schools for them, so not too tied down to fighting for catchment areas (unless you are really passionate about a local primary that is worth moving next door to ).

Happy to consider urban or a village setting, with a very strong preference for a detached house and no nightmare with parking which is the issue I have with our current area in Richmond Borough! Budget roughly £800K. DH loves the outdoors and walks, mountain biking etc. Commute to central London a big factor so we'd need to be able to get to a station, too!

Or if anyone reads this and can recommend wherever they live, Guildford or elsewhere, please do share your views!

Thanks very much!

Not too many Mixed Indy options - for Boys you have Lanesborough in Guildford which is the feeder for RGS and Cranmore in Horsley. I have a lot of experince of one and some opinion on the other but you should view them they are different vibe and size and you will know where you feel comfortable. Both go to Year 6 or Year 8 depending on your secondary choice. Moved here to be a walk from the schools - used to live in Godalming - very nice town, very nice parking - and good commute too.

Cranleigh is a very pleasant town with Cranleigh School and prep school.

Thank you! surreylady i have the prospectus for Lanesborough and will look at Cranmore.

Godalming also sounds nice. Would the drive to Guildford (eg for Lanesborough) be a nightmare and do people do it? Presumably that is one reason why you moved!!!

Do you know anything about St Hillary's School for pre-prep, and Aldro school? Also, Parkside School sounded great in the Good Schools Guide!

Mayday - a good uni friend was at Cranleigh. What's the commute like to London on the train?

I have friends with children at St Hilarys the nursery part and then also the school. They really rate it - although I have to say that personally I find the whole uniform thing at 2.5 years and upwards a little hard to take.

To be honest most of the state primary / infant schools are very good.

Lots of other good nurseries around though too - Major Minors in Godalming - which is a full day nursery has excellent an foundation year program for the pre schoolers.....not ure what the waiting list is like though...

Cranleigh not on train network so you would have to drive 7 miles or so to Guildford. HOwever it is a lovely town, fantastic shops (chains and independents) and good community atmosphere with gorgeous countryside on the doorstep. Private Prep Schools on that side of Guildford include Longacre, Duke of Kent and Aldro (boys only)and Cranleigh and senior school are Cranleigh, St Catharines Bramley (girls) or the Guildford hothouses RGS, High School for girls and Tormead. Boys not up to the rigours of RGS not that well served bu the provate sector in Gildford IMO and one of the reasons we moved out of the area.

You will get a bit more for your money house wise in Cranleigh precisely because it is not on the train line but even so £800,000 will not get your dream character property in a big garden...

Godalming also a lovely town with good shopping and schools and a good commute although station is a long way from town centre. It is very hilly though, a factor if you will be pushchairing it around IYSWIM. FAst trains from Godalming means the property market is not much better price wise than Guildford itself.

Consider schools further north in the Epsom / Ahstead area also - still close enought to Guildford and London in nice areas to live...

HTH

Lots of nice schools near Haslemere.

Godalming is lovely - the station isn't far out of town though (well I don't think so and I live here!). Lots of good schools, independent as well as state. Nobody's mentioned King Edwards at Witley, good for 'all-rounders' ie the 98% who aren't up to RGS/Guildford High levels.

To be honest, anything in your price range will give you the parking space you need. Just make sure you don't end up buying somewhere where you HAVE to get in the car with two reluctant toddlers to get a pint of milk.

And you'd better get on with the school business sharpish - most of the private schools expect you to be signed up well before the age of 3.

Seen anything you fancy on the websites? why not post it and we can tell you about the location.

www.primelocation.com/uk-property-for-sale/details/id/HILL999000669
I like this one, very fond of shalford personally

www.primelocation.com/uk-property-for-sale/details/id/HILL999000649 and this one but it may be a bit remote

oh get me off these property porn sites...

Shalford doesn't have a village shop any more so not v handy for the pint of milk at tea time in an emergency type moments... Bramley and Wonersh and Shamley Green all have shops in the village if you are thinking about "satellite" villages rather than town centre Guildford. Agree that private preps will have their lists full by now for your age child - they usually are full by Kindergarten at least - it is quite rare to go in at Reception but not unknown and there is quite a bit of movement through the year which frees up spaces here and there

ah hem

RGS is packed cram full of extremely bright boys but is NOT a hot house.
Thank you

And Lanesborough is increasingly less of an automatic feeder for RGS as the new Head at RGS is extremely keen to look at the most able children and not just get children from the same school who can create cliques.

And DD goes to one of the girls 'hot houses' ( ) mentioned and we signed her up about a week before entry assessment - so registering early makes no difference to whether you get a place or not. But if you miss assessment then the places may well be taken

as you were...

BTW. I live in the very centre of Guildford and love it. The children walk to school in the morning which is fab - driving through Guildford in the morning is a lottery

missingaction (that's me actually ) - sorry i meant missingINaction - thanks for the house links. property porn indeed! i loved the second house. DH has reeled me in saying that budget is more like £700K so that has altered things somewhat!

i have found my dream home! see www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-21858182.rsp?pa_n=1&tr_t=buy&mam_disp=true and only £4 million!

REALLY good point re pint of milk dash. so, yes, there needs to be a village shop, definitely.

PAGWATCH - where in central Guildford would you recommend, then?

I like Epsom Road area, Waterden Road etc and the houses aroud Lanesborough and Tormead. They are nice.
I am right in the centre but properties there are an eclectic mix and hard to find tbh. You have to actually visit each one I think because you can have nice houses in a road right next to crappy houses and a dodgy pub. And decent sized houses often get turned into flats so there arn't many left. Like all town centres I guess

I would suggest a look at Woking too - 25 minutes non stop to Waterloo. Guildford only 7 miles away for nice shopping.

Hook Heath a nice area. This sort of thing www.foundationsofwoking.com/eDetails-New.asp?Category=Residential&ID=FOWOKIK5M324

Re Godalming - a walk to school as opposed to drive was to be honest the only reason we moved to where we did but I have two guildford schools to juggle and work so it was less the drive (easy backroad route) and more the differing finishing times/clubs etc that challenged me. I think being local to school is a good thing for them now that I am here - but as a place to live would be Godalming for me everyday. DS went to St Hilarys nursery which we liked ok but did not consider the school becaues of the girl thing (not many boys for teams, a sponsored skip etc) but each to their own on that one and for DD we are at one of the so called Hot House Schools too (guess the same one Pagwatch) and she is very happy.

has anyone mentioned barrow hills in witley?

Great points all, thanks.

I have heard and read good things about St Hilary's in Godalming. They could also fit us in, which is fabulous! Can anyone comment on whether it's seen as a bit odd for a boy to go there, when it is girls only from 7+??! Don't want mine to be teased if they end up at Lanesborough etc at 7+!!

For those of you with boys at Lanesborough, do you know of boys who joined at odd times, eg part way through the year? Any thoughts on whether this is a good idea or not would be welcome. They said they are full but can always consider 'emergencies'

And a quickie: what are people's thoughts on Lanesborough VS Cranmore?

Why did/would you choose one over the other? I am just about to book visits and any comments ahead of time appreciated!

Cranmore a good 15 - 20 min drive at school run time from Guildford and if you are coming from the other side of guildford eg Godalming side then add another 15 mins at peak times. LAnesborough smack in the middle of town. I hear Cranmore v catholic if that concerns you..

I think that Lanesborough and Cranmore are quite different in terms of Size, Ethos, location, background etc - I would advise looking at both - I think it is likely one will seem better for your Ds and family than the other.
Lanesborough have an intake at 4 and then the next big intake is 7 (they have an assessment for this and take approximately 12/15). Agree with willali Cranmore not viable from Godalming. Considerations for St Hilarys were for us - the girl focus. St Hilarys prefer the boys to go on to Aldro - in Thursley - this has a focus on boarding (and Saturday school which I dont want at this age) (IMO) and is a feeder school for some of the big name schools including Charterhouse.

Hi All. Thanks again. We had our first foray your way yesterday. Spent 3 hrs driving around and LOVED it

Cranmore looked great from the carpark! And they think they can fit us in, which is great.

Lanesborough also was buzzing and looked lovely. Braganza at the back looked sweet. Is drop off and pick up a nightmare for those who drive?

DH's boss has a boy who was at Cranmore and they thought that taking him there, to and from Bramley was 'fine'. Would you disagree, given that some of you think it would be really impractical?

St Hilary's sent just one boy to Lanesborough last year but are confident they could get boys in there if that is the desired school (surreylady most did go on to Aldro as you said). They also said that they have 50/50 boys to girls up to 7+ so there should be enough to make a football team etc!

Pagwatch - the houses around Lanesborough did look fantastic. Not many for sale though! What is that area called? I guess I can just search by postcode.

MissingAction and Surreylady: there are some properties in the Busbridge area of Godalming for sale that look half decent. Any thoughts on that area?

Does anyone know what Milford is like? A few houses there too that look good, but I did not make it there yesterday.

Thanks a million!

Busbridge area is in my totally biased opinion the best residential area of Godalming. If you want State schools look at Busbridge - best reputation in the area. Milford is not great from a commute perspective - not all the trains stop only about half those that stop at Godalming - also nothing there really hence it is much cheaper from a housing cost perspective. In terms of commute I personally think Bramley to Cranmore is a trek - and given that you have a choice in where you buy I would doubt this is a commute you would want - Bramley also has no station so is cheaper than Guildford. Lanesborough drop off/pick up - roads are busy but everyone muddles by- Braganza finish earlier than main school so there are two drop offs. If you are interested in Cranmore I would advise looking at Horsley - East Horsley is lovely (but not cheap if you want to be off the main road and walk to the station) and parts of West are nice too - also might consider Clandon - although much of the property is on the main road. We are Guildford (walk to the schools) but if this had not become a big consideration and I could have found a house I would have gone for East Horsley.

Maybe you should check if Cranmore or other schools you are considering, have minibus services.. Then you would have more choice over where to live.

Happywomble - thanks. I am looking at minibus services. Cranmore and St Hilary's definitely have them but I am not sure how ready I am to let a 4 year old travel alone on them at this stage!!! Good for future planning of school runs etc though.

Surreylady - good to know your opinion re Busbridge. I didn't get to see it when I passed through. What is the set-up with Busbridge - is it a walk to the shops in Godalming or a drive etc?

Busbridge Infants is here www.busbridge-infant.surrey.sch.uk/

It is in the Busbridge area of Godalming - but we did not go there (as you may have sussed) however very strong and very highly regarded locally.

i live in the next village to milford, i would say witley was nicer , tho milford does have more local stores, and some v nice properties as well