Reading vs Surrey

lush_walrus

STAR_BUCK wrote:

lush_walrus wrote:

Twyford is closer to London, so cheaper trainwise and there are some trains that go pretty direct, you could also consider Maidenhead, but neither are cheap areas, but nice all the same. If you are looking for low budget and close to London, you could consider Slough, although (sorry to those who may live there) personally I think it is the pits!. ...QUOTE]

Ummmm excuse me but Slough isn't that BAD!!!! There are some very affluent areas in slough such as datchet, langley and ditton. Plus there are 5 (yes 5!!) GRAMMAR schools, all ranked very highly in the area drawing in families from all over Middlesex and Surrey! I should know as my mum's house is smack bang in the catchment area for 3 of these schools and she's always getting leafletted from potential buyers interested in moving to the neighbourhood!

Sorry, I didnt mean to offend, yes the places you have listed are nice, but I would never class them as Slough! Stoke Poges is only down the road to Slough too, which is lovely...But I was more thinking of close to the station and shops I guess the main Slough area. A bit like Eton Wick and Eton perhaps!

Some of the schools in Slough (non grammer) are also in quite an unfortunate situation at the moment, one of my friends teaches in one of the secondary schools, which is left slightly in the middle at the moment. Nothing against Polish people, but there are huge amounts recently moved to Slough and children being children they have spotted a great opportunity to have the teacher on in class at the moment by pretending that they do not speak a word of English, knowing that the teachers do not speak a word of Polish. At the moment that particular school does not have the funds to have any form of translator in the school, upshot is the children chat away in Polish in class and are out of control of the teachers. It is all temporary as once funds are in place then Polish speaking teaching assistance are being brought on board, but personally I wouldnt want my children to be in a school going through the transition period.

buglawton

Twyford is OK, might even be a bit underrated. Reading 6 minutes on the train. Consider buying ex-council, some of these houses are nicely designed and in better locations than private estates. You cannot fault the local Comprehensive school. Don't forget there's a Yahoo service for finding out the previous real change-hands prices of houses sold in any street.

ChrissieI

If you can afford it Twyford is nice.
Its next door to Sonning which is expensive but has lovely walks along the river.
Twyford is only a ten minute drive from Reading Town which has all the shops you could want.
Its a matter of taste though, I love Reading but my husband hates it.
Heres a link if you want it. http://www.reading-guide.co.uk/
Do not rent/buy in Whitley now renamed South Reading. Its where I grew up and I could not get out of there fast enough.
(Sorry to any one living there but this is just my opinion not meant to offend any one)

themaccas

Readind is ok, I worked there for a couple of years but you could also look at the south oxfordshire villages - Henley on Thames is lovely, Wallingford, Benson.

Caversham in Reading has some really nice areas, Twyford is nice too, wasn't too keen on Wokingham but that's me. Good luck in your house search you've picked a nice part of the country IMO.

noyk

As above, i think perhaps looking into somewhere like Goring or Cholsey (3 bed - 895pm - a friend is moving there) and i think it's about 1hr on train to paddington. No knowledge of schools around there though

Dummie_2

Just come back from a 2 day trip to Surrey and Reading.

In Surrey we visited
Farnham - lovely people, town had some good shops but was very tight with lots of traffic going though the centre.
Godalming - a bit quieter, less shops and generally a slower pace. Again, lovely people.
Guildford - wow......so pretty with lots of character. The cobbled streets were not really pushchair friendly though! Lovely people again.
Camberley - this one was disappointing. Some parts of the town were run down and boarded up. There were loud hooded teenagers hanging around the town centre. Left there pretty quickly as it was beginning to get dark.

In Reading we visited
Earley - nice area. Couldn't find the town centre.
Woodley - small town centre with a surprising number of 'low end' shops
Reading - wow.....a shoppers paradise. Need I say more? :rotfl:

Am definitely leaning towards Surrey more. Am a bit worried that we just got lucky and met the only nice people there though! Just kidding. But really, we came across really kind, helpful and polite people there when asking for directions and talking to people in a local cafe. And at our travel lodge we came across a school boy that any school would be proud off! He was what people class as a English gentleman. Something that I think is a disappearing species!

dougk_2

Dummie wrote:

Reading - wow.....a shoppers paradise. Need I say more? :rotfl:

I work in Reading and it doesn't give me that feeling at all! The shops are the same as you find in any shopping centre and theres nothing that special. You will soon get bored with the shops!

I live only about 6 mile from the town centre and never travel in to shop as I hate it.... I always end up going elsewhere (Basingstoke, Windsor, Newbury etc)!

I find Reading a very non-descript place and certainly wouldn't call it friendly - especially when it appears half the population are migrant workers. Traffic is not good and parking is expensive. The Local Council is also looking to make the IDR (the "ring road") completely one way in an aim to improve things but it could mean a long journey for some people if you have to go completely round it to get to the next junction along!

Wokingham on the other hand is actually very plesent and nice as with some of the other small towns in Berkshire. Its also relatively safe despite what the other poster said (unfortuantely bad one off events happen anywhere). It is expensive.

I agree with a previous poster too Slough is awful (yes go out and about a few miles from there and its very nice but extreamly expensive).

The M4 can be a complete nightmare and all the roads off it can be a gamble - you are never sure if a 20 mile trip will take 30 mins or 3 hours!

Personally I would go with your thinking and keep in Surrey (or if you want to shift a bit more Sussex). Work is the only reason why I am in the Reading area.

Dummie_2

dougk wrote:

I work in Reading and it doesn't give me that feeling at all! The shops are the same as you find in any shopping centre and theres nothing that special. You will soon get bored with the shops!

QUOTE]

It must be a Mars and Venus thing:rotfl:

pooranddesperate

I live in Wokingham area, having been brought up and raised round there. Also commute into London daily - train journey is fairly long, but quite reliable (touch wood). As said in other posts traffic can be a nightmare - but suppose it's like that anywhere.

I wouldn't take much notice of the reports about the violence in Wokingham - it is generally a nice middle class area and i certainly have never felt threatened. Normally the worst the local paper has to report is petty thefts or an uproar about the council putting up parking rates. The schools are also generally quite good... comes from having a lot of affluent families in the area.

If you are looking for somewhere cheaper then I would have thought that the places you liked in surrey - guildford, goldaming would be well out of your price bracket as they are nice, and therefore very expensive.

Don't know how close to a town centre you want to be but have you considered Martins Heron (which is between ascot and bracknell) or bagshot? good transport links to both (very close to M3) and quite nice areas - not sure what the schools are like though.

mstar

sorry bringing this thread to life... but surely slough is good (on paper) look at the access links and train link to london is good, i guess its down to what area so i think don't discount slough entirely.