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Where to live in the South?

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  • piggeh
    piggeh Posts: 1,723 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Have been in or lived in the following:

    Guildford - nice town, quite pricey. Lots of nice pubs by the river, nice shopping, easy access to London commuting wise, or hop on the A3 to the M25.

    Maidstone - nice shopping, good night life, etc. I would say Maidstone or Tunbridge Wells are two of the better towns around here. Would avoid Medway area or Gravesend/Ebbsfleet. Houses are getting cheaper, lots of alternatives nearby like Paddock Wood, Marden etc which all have a train station to commute from. M25 is about 20 minutes on M20. Maidstone West goes to Waterloo I *think*, Maidstone East to Victoria.

    Would recommend either for a town with easy commutable distance, nice countryside nearby, things to do, etc.

    I would consider though how you get to the station in the first place. Fine if you're walking but sometimes parking is limited or public transport isnt always great in rural areas.

    Have been to Woking a few times and seems quite pleasant (applied for a job there a few months ago).
    matched betting: £879.63
  • kelloggs36
    kelloggs36 Posts: 7,712 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Medway is dirt cheap in terms of rent and serves Charing Cross and Victoria. You can buy a 4 bed house here for less than 200k with a huge garden.
  • piggeh
    piggeh Posts: 1,723 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Not the nicest place in the world though. I guess there's a few nice areas but places like Chatham for shopping - hmmm!

    Pretty cheap though, yes.
    matched betting: £879.63
  • I do like the idea of Hampshire/Surrey because of the good road and air connections, whereas from Kent you have to spend up to an hour to get somewhere to the west or north.

    That's one of the things we didn't like about living in SE London. It's not too bad if your family and friends etc are in Kent, but for us with OH's family in Sussex, many of our friends in Surrey and my family up the M1, we spent so much of our spare time travelling around the M25 to visit people and we really did start to feel very 'trapped' - it got to the point where we put things off just because we couldn't face another weekend on the M25 lol. I've spent far longer than is healthy at Clacket Lane services! We didn't really think about that (there's a temptation to think that London is all the same, and the travelling is all similar, and the areas are all similar - they're really not - and there's a real temptation to totally underestimate commutes and general travelling) and in hindsight it was definitely something that we should have taken into account more when deciding where to live.
  • zimm143
    zimm143 Posts: 68 Forumite
    I would avoid Woking, I'm sorry but is has no chracter and can be a bit rough. Putting in another endorsement for Guildford (after my previous 10) OH is 30 and I am 28 and we find it perfect for our age re bars and resterants, if you ignore the strip by the station most other places have over 21s policies which make them pleasant. Also last train from London is midnight so you can go out there if you like. Farnham is nice, just quieter and longer commute. Would avoid Franbourgh/Fleet, both commuter towns rather than "homes".
  • useless
    useless Posts: 404 Forumite
    If the OP doesn't have a car I would go for Guildford over Farnham. Both places are expensive compared to counterparts just over the border (10/15 mins drive) in Hampshire (Fleet, Farnborough, Basing as mentioned). Guildford will have shorter commute and some of the Farnham 'niceness'.
    I would only go for Farnham if very keen to be in small town.
  • hethmar
    hethmar Posts: 10,678 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Combo Breaker Car Insurance Carver!
    You need to go down and have a good scout round in the evenings and weekends to find somewhere that you like and can afford. Remembering the pointers above about getting kernackered with too long a journey and also being isolated from work colleagues/friends you make - as you wont have a ready made circle of friends.
  • Running_Horse
    Running_Horse Posts: 11,809 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker
    A lot of trains to Charing Cross from Kent will transfer to St Pancras when the new channel tunnel link trains begin. Even if you don't use them, you will probably subsidise them for years to come. Do your research.
    Been away for a while.
  • getmore4less
    getmore4less Posts: 46,882 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper I've helped Parliament
    For access to a lot of the country within 2-3 hours then north of london is much better

    we are south bucks and we can do Luton,Gatwick Heathrow,Stanstead all in under 2hours(1 if the roads are quiet.)

    also we have East midlands,Birmingham, and some lesser airports.

    Easy access to the M4,M40,M1

    Plenty if countryside, Chilterns on the doorstep.

    Not such an easy comute though
  • kelloggs36
    kelloggs36 Posts: 7,712 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    piggeh wrote: »
    Not the nicest place in the world though. I guess there's a few nice areas but places like Chatham for shopping - hmmm!

    Pretty cheap though, yes.

    Hempstead is in Medway and is extremely nice! As for shopping, whilst I agree that Chatham is a dive for shopping, it is only 20 mins to Bluewater! Plenty of access to London via both train or motorway - there are more pluses than minuses. Parts of Rainham are also very nice - don't discount Medway just because Chatham town centre isn't good for shopping!!!!! Even parts of Chatham are actually very nice!
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