Advice on Henley on Thames

rjgb

Hi all,

My wife, twin daughters (9m old), and I are considering moving from London to Henley on Thames.

Do any of you live there or know the area well?

How are the local schools?

Are there any problem areas to avoid when it comes to looking at houses, or is it all blissfully lovely as they'd have you believe?!

Is there a good atmosphere and things to do for a young family?

Also, how do you find the commute to London? Looks very do-able at 45mins to Paddington on the two direct morning trains, but are there seats available on the peak hour trains in both directions?

Thanks very much for your help! :T

Richard

maninthestreet

Henley is only a small town, so there maybe something of a culture shock when moving there from London.
Whereabout do you currently live in London?

rjgb

In the heart of the suburbia of South East London.

To be honest, I'm tired of living in suburbia, there's no space, the commute into the centre of London is slow and always requires me to stand, and we'd rather our little ones grow up somewhere a bit more pleasant. For a twenty minute longer commute, I could (I hope) get a seat and live somewhere less congested.

Henley itself is indeed small, but Reading is just up the road should we need to buy white goods or do something that's not available immediately in Henley.

Do you live in Henley? What do you think of it?

maninthestreet

I live about 10 miles or so from Henley, so I can't really comment on what it is like to actually live there. The Chilterns start just north of Henley, so if you are inrto county walks / rambling, then you're in the right place. Not sure how much there is to do for children.
Also, the town is packed during the Regatta week in the summer, and it can become a little rowdy in the town centre in the evenings as a result.

rjgb

Thanks for your comments MITS.

I don't expect we'll be going out in the evenings a great deal in the near future but, when the time comes for us to do that again, does it tend to be rowdy most weekends, or only during the Regatta?

R

maninthestreet

Henley is not known as a trouble-spot at weekend night times AFAIK - the young people of Henley tend to go into Reading to get p*ssed up, I was only referring to the Regatta week.

Leif

There is a local resident who recently got nicked for shop lifting, so watch out. Other than that, it's a nice area. I used to commute from Slough to Henley by train, only for a few months, and the trains were disgustingly dirty, and full of noisy school children. Fairly reliable though. I think you must take at least two trains, maybe three, with a change at Twyford, and perhaps a swap to a fast train at Maidenhead or Slough. Most areas round there are nice, apart from bits of Slough that are very rough, and apparently bits of Maidenhead.

maninthestreet

AWT no longer lives in Henley (well, it was Shiplake he lived, to be exact), he now lives in High Wycombe. From the train timetables, it seems you have to travel to Twyford from Henley, then catch a train to Reading, then get the fast train to Paddington. Journey time is over an hour.

McKneff

My OH and I went into Henley for a day out when we were visiting family in Wallingford.

Lovely picturesque place, we had lunch a pub overlooking the river, I was really impressed by the familes with children in the little cafes, well behaved, just talking normally, no screaming and shouting (from stressed mums and dads) just a lovely family outing. I beleive it was Market Day and that was nice too. Have a google at Wallingford, its lovely too.

rjgb

Thank you all for your comments.

There are two direct trains from Henley to Paddington in the morning and one or two direct in the evening too, so that's not of too much concern to me.

Interesting what you say about the trains being dirty and noisy. I think I'd best do a couple of trial runs, to get to know what it's like first hand.

If there is anyone else out there who lives in Henley and knows about schools and houses/roads, please let me know!

Thanks,
Richard