Sevenoaks/Tonbridge...etc pls HELP

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Hi
We currently live in london with DD who is 6 and DS who is 4. We have decided to move out of London to pursue a the "country dream". We have narrowed the search to the Sevenoaks/Tonbridge area because both DH and I work in London. In fact, I have to be at my desk by 7am, which limits the places where we can commute from - i also don't want to spend ages commuting. The good news is, we just heard from the school we have put their names down on that they now have a place for them. Cue us - start looking for a house....
It is early days, but i am slightly panicking. We can't seem to marry the convenience of the commute with the country idyll we are after. We are open to renting, but ideally, we'd like to find somewhere that we can already start to make our home. Those that know the area, could you recommend villages we should be looking at? -- we liked ightham and ivy hatch but there is nothing there, we are willing to look a bit further out towards tonbridge....
i really want to make the move - i think the kids will be very happy in the new school. But the house search so far is making me get cold feet and making me think, maybe we shouldn't move.....HELP!!!

Both Ightham and Ivy Hatch are lovely but there is no local train station. How close do you need to be to a train station? There are many beautiful villages around Sevenoaks but many not well served by trains.

Is the school in Sevenoaks - how close do you need to be? Sevenoaks itself is varied, and the nicer areas/roads can be very expensive.

The best school for miles is Riverhead. Massively oversubscribed so if you have places there - go for it!

taffetacat, thanks for the response.
The school they will be going to is on Godden Green - and we are happy to live within a 20-25 minute drive to it. We have seen some houses in Otford, but my DH was put off by the big retail park before you get into the village. We saw a lovely house in Wrotham but we could hear the motorway.
We actually would prefer to live outside of sevenoaks -- as long as it is within a 10-15 minute drive to a station and 20-25 minute drive to the school.....
i am really hoping there are more houses coming on to the market!

Maybe try Shoreham? Its the next village on from Otford. It has some beautiful old houses, the river Darent runs through it. Parking can be a bit tricksy but its very scenic.

thanks,i'll have a look!

Hi there. We are planning something similar - daunting isn't it?! Our two are 3 and 5 and we need to find them a good school in the same kind of area. We have friends in Sevenoaks so are looking around there and Tonbridge.

You could try looking at Weald and Leigh, if you haven't already - they are both near Godden Green (especially Weald) and within striking distance of Sevenoaks and Hildenborough train stations and are both very pretty. Shoreham as suggested above is the nicest place I think, so beautiful - but not much property comes up there as it's pretty small. Also although it has a station you need to check where the trains actually go into - I think it's small line and they mainly go into Victoria which may not be so convevenient for you. You might have to change in order to get to Charing x or London Bridge.

We are looking more at Hildenborough/Tonbridge now as we are on a limited budget and property in the villages is more expensive.

Good luck!

Also near Leigh are Chiddingstone and Penshurst. Gorgeous round there - and you ahve Penshurst Place and Hever Castle on your doorstep - both of which are fantastic places for the DC.

The Shoreham train line goes to Blackfriars, or you can change at Bromley South for Victoria. They go every 30 mins or more frequently at rush hours.

The fastest trains go from Sevenoaks.

what sort of price are you looking at? Have just looked on rightmove and there are quite a few houses in Igtham.

I was in Ivy Hatch at the weekend! Lovely there.

Wow, more suggestions! thank you!
I haven't looked at Shoreham, but will do now.
There is a house in Penshurst that is on market but i'm just worried how easy it would be in the morning to get to Tonbridge i will almost have to catch the first train to be in for 7am in London.
Skymoo, we are a bit lucky as we are selling a house in london so the budget is good, but not crazy.
cookyh and taffetacat, thanks for all the suggestions again