weybridge or woking? sell me your side of the story...

[zebramummy]

well, actually i meant little house in weybridge or big house in woking? which is better 'connected' with london (not just in transport terms) and what are the schools like/ catchments/competition for places etc. (ds has just turned 4).

Weybridge everytime no contest .

Webridge address has much more cachet. However I live in Woking and like it. Happy with my DCs schools. Happy with my neighbourhood. Happy with my house. 15 min drive to Weybridge High Street ifI want to go there.

Weybeidge is very yummy mummy indeed which is a good or bad thing depending on your POV (it's a bad thing for me). That said, I really wish I'd gone for the characterless box in Weybridge rather than the country cottage outside Weybridge as we're nowhere near the Heathside catchment and will prob go private now.

There are some gorgeous bits in and around Woking - Chobham particularly is lovely and the Hockerings, and St Johns is nice. Woking town centre is v grotty but it's a lot more practical than Weybridge - becUse bigger and more high street-y.

One excellent infant/junior school in Weybridge which has stiff competition. Others are also quite well thought of, I believe. Good secondary school, probably the best in Elmbridge Borough Council (state school, that is). Don't know what the schools are like in Woking, although we briefly looked at secondaries there.

Woking has some pretty areas around it, also the theatre, cinema etc but the shopping centre is a bit limited. Not to say Weybridge isn't, but it's a different kettle of fish, so to speak.

Fast line to London from Woking, but it's nearer from Weybridge so you don't gain a huge amount.

It depends on what you want from the place you live in. We're in Weybridge, rarely go to Woking for shopping, we tend to go up the A3 to Kingston.

We actually had pretty much the same dilemma as you and (as you can see) plumped for Weybridge in the end, mainly because of the secondary school. But then again, given the chance of a bigger house...

thanks - is there a fierce competition for primary school places in either? what would be the chances of moving into the area during infants and finding a good state school? thanks

I lived in Weybridge for a while when I was young but my info is about 20 years out of date but may help. I went to Heathside which is the comp. I believe it is very well regarded. I also went to Cleves school in Oatlands Village (part of Weybridge) which was and is a great primary. I have lovely memories of messing about by the river and skating in the shop doors on sundays when all the shops were closed. We were in the less salubrious part of town and I went to school with some mega rich kids and some less so like myself. A nice place to live but I woudln't want to go back as too small for my liking now. I don't much about Woking except I never thought the town was nice but that may have changed. Trains into London from Woking are very good.

Plump, which one is the good secondary state school?
I'm down the road in Walton, thinking ahead for my dd.

I rarely go to Woking shopping actually. For "proper" shopping I usually go to Kingston or Windsor or Guildford; for High St style shopping I go to Staines. The town centre really does let Woking down IMO.

Heathside School is in the predominantly indie Good Schools Guide - it's one of a few state schools deemed good enough. V good rep.

plumprump - would you be kind enough to give me some school names so i can look into them further? how long have you lived there? we would be moving from london - is weybridge as multicultural as woking? also not sure how the local population gels together given the huge range of house prices (rarely seen anything like it) - just a thought???

Oatlands primary St Marys road
Mamby lodge
St James c of e
Grovelands this is in Walton
various private schools
St charles bormeo (big SP lol )

ZM - Weybridge is definitely more WASPy than Woking - and one of the things I dislike about it is it's middle class whiteness and lack of real sense of community. Woking definitely has more of a community spirit, being a bigger more ethnically mixed area. Weybridge feels strangely like a gated community populated only by thin rich 4x4 mummies. Which is great if you are one....(I'm not!).

I'm sure I'm being a bit unfair - I just had a couple of bad experiences when househunting in Weybridge. One in particular was the owner, showing us around, telling us we'd have "no problem with asylum seekers, as they can't afford to live here". My husband, who is a human rights/immigration barrister, couldn't get out fast enough. Probably unfair to judge the whole town by that experience, I know.

I live in Addlestone - the very poor area right next to Weybridge!

unless you are planning on private education I'd go for Weybridge everytime.

It has the best playground ever and some great schools.

Weybridge is not multicultural though, if you want that you need to live in Woking. Train times are faster from Weybridge too.

many thanks - and could i throw hampton into the mix? the mother of a friend lives there and the property online seemed reasonably priced compared to what i expected? does it compare or is it nowhere near? are the aeroplanes a nuisance?

(eek - its not it's)

Hampton is much more a suburb of London than Weybridge IYKWIM, not sure about train times for there, may take longer.

Hi car girl . And for the record I like Addleston 9my dentist is there lol

i dont mind 'not v multicultural' if it did not overlap so much with racist - my dh is w european and retains a strong accent and i would not want him to feel alienated (nor have ds singled out for it either). the stick thin mummies worry me a lot as i would have to go on a permanent diet and could never be seen scoffing a panini which just doesn't seem worth it

Yes my wonderful dentist is on Station Road (ie "the high street") however I am overlooked by Surrey Towers - loverly location - not!

There are bits of Addlestone that are in the catchment for Heathside, if you look on their website. Though obv it's a risk as it's less close to the school.

Salesian School in Chertsey is a good RC school but no good if you're not Catholic.

Weybridge every time. There is no contest imo.

I went to Heathside (many, many years ago) and it is a fab secondary school. A very snobby friend of mine (who went to boarding school) did a couse at Heathside & even she said how impressed she was by it, and was surprised it was a state school

There are some nice areas around Woking, but you'd still be a horrible rush hour car ride from the station to really not make it worthwhile living there.

Surrey isn't the most multicultral of areas

What are you looking for? What are your main priorities? What's your top 10 wish list? I'll find you something

Babbity the catchment for Heathside moves a bit each year so I would def plum for St James school as it is a designated feeder for Heathside. I am borderline catchment for Heathside, dd1 got offered a place by staying on the waiting list - missed the deadline for the selection testing, negligent mother me!

Ooh, my father went to Salesian School when it was a private school (he is in his 70s, so this was a long time ago). Boy does he have some nasty sad stories to tell from there.

Sorry got caught up in Criminal Minds!!

Thighs- the school is Heathside (as mentioned above). The others around the area are Rydens (in Walton) and Esher High (in Esher, strangely enough!). Then there's Salesian (also mentioned) and Jubilee, but I think they'd be just out of your catchment area. Rydens used to have a bad rep, but so did Esher High (used to be Trinity, also Waynefleet.(sp)) but I think that they're both improving, with Rydens doing better than Esher.

zebra- not all the mummies are stick thin! Some of us visit Poppins rather too often to be like that
St James is v near me (infants/juniors) and is a feeder school, as CarGirl said. It's the school we'll be looking at for ds2. Other than that one, I think overweightnoverdrawn has covered them (that I know of, anyway)

We've been here for 3 years but always lived around this area. It's not multi-cultural by any means but I haven't been aware of any racism- but then, I haven't seen many of the 4x4 crowd , either. Most residents seem quite normal to me!

BUT- the one major complaint I have with Weybridge is tht there isn't any community spirit. You're right- the diversity in income/housing etc doesn't seem to make for a gelling experience.

I think lack of comunity spirit is a south east commuter belt phenomena (sp?) but then I'm a notherner I'd have found people generally more insular around here compared to "up north".

4x4 crowd - again it depends what you're comparing too, plenty around here partly people who own horses and partly because of the huge amount of speed bumps!