Anyone from Tonbridge?

Cornucopia

bluedrop wrote: »

In your opinion, do you think I should just go for it?

What made you choose that particular area? I appreciate you are buying at a distance, so may not have visited yet, but for me, I'm slightly put off by a quick look around on Google's street view. (Mainly because it reminds me of a similar looking area in Maidstone that has a reputation).

What kind of property are you looking for? What price range?

elverson

bluedrop wrote: »

London bridge / Cannon street

In that case not Otford or Bat & Ball.

Sammy_J

I'm from Tonbridge!! I lived there from birth until I was 27 years old so know it like the back of my hand. I miss it dearly but go back most weekends as both mine and my husband's families still live there as well as our friends.

I cannot recommend it highly enough!

I have never once felt unsafe in any part of Tonbridge. I'm from the North end of the town around the Higham Wood area that you're looking at. I went to secondary school and college in the South end of the town and never had any issues travelling from one end to the other.

There's quite a lot of new retail developments happening in the town at the moment along the industrial estate. Homebase and B&Q have made way for still-being-built Home Bargains, B&M Homestores, Aldi and a new pet store.

Tonbridge High Street is nice enough although mainly charity shops, cafes and estate agents. There's a large Sainsbury's, Waitrose and Iceland in town. Tunbridge Wells is where everyone goes if they need to do a proper shop for clothes etc. The A21 is being widened at the moment and once that's complete, the journey will be so much easier.

There's a really good swimming pool in the town with an outdoor pool area. Tonbridge Park is massive and has tennis courts and a crazy golf course. There's also a miniature railway that children can ride at certain times in the year.

Of course, you'll be aware of Tonbridge Castle. The town has regular events on the lawn there such as fetes, fairs and concerts. The town has parades through the High Street - one in summer and one at Christmas when the lights are switched on. A big fireworks display takes place on the 'big bridge' for special events. There are also marches through the town for the Guide and Scout groups for things like Remembrance Sunday.

The Parish Church stands just off the High Street and is wonderfully old. I got married there and love the place!

The train is frequent into London although you'll be lucky to get a seat during rush hour. The good thing coming back from London is there always seems to be a train to Tonbridge ready to depart.

As you can tell, I'm mad about Tonbridge. It was a fantastic place to grow up and I miss it dearly. We'd move home if the commute was better but it's just too far for me to get to the outskirts of north London.

Any questions about specific areas or roads let me know. Or about the schools as I know them all well too!

Good luck with your search!

bluedrop

Cornucopia wrote: »

What made you choose that particular area? I appreciate you are buying at a distance, so may not have visited yet, but for me, I'm slightly put off by a quick look around on Google's street view. (Mainly because it reminds me of a similar looking area in Maidstone that has a reputation).

What kind of property are you looking for? What price range?

Its mainly for the grammar schools for my eldest.
I'm too slightly put off by the look of the area. But most of the roads there had tidy front gardens and clean roads (no litter or dog poop!)

Cornucopia

I would have thought that the South side of Tonbridge was preferable, both being closer to the Schools and potentially walking distance to the Town Centre.

bluedrop

Cornucopia wrote: »

I would have thought that the South side of Tonbridge was preferable, both being closer to the Schools and potentially walking distance to the Town Centre.

We need a good primary school for our youngest too (to start in Sept 2020). With higham woods area, we are in catchment for woodland primary (ofsted outstanding school)

bluedrop

Sammy_J wrote: »

I'm from Tonbridge!! I lived there from birth until I was 27 years old so know it like the back of my hand. I miss it dearly but go back most weekends as both mine and my husband's families still live there as well as our friends.

I cannot recommend it highly enough!

Thank you for taking time out to post this Sammy.

Are there any council estates near higham wood? Does higham wood area have any social housing?

Some parts of hunt road, martin hardy way "feel" rough. In the 15-20 mins we spent driving around, I didn't encounter any anti-social behaviour though. It was on a bright summer evening at 7pm (the time with rough areas are rough! )

I'm just looking for reassurance that my family and home will be safe. What worries me the most is vandalism, burglary (still worse someone breaking in when we are sleeping) and antisocial behaviour. So I'm thinking from safety perspective really - we want to be in a area where we can go on a holiday without worrying too much about burglary, my daughter can travel to-from school safely on her own, where the car on my drive wont me broken into !

When we bought our current house, we rented in the area for 2-3 yrs. So we knew the area well. This time, we are 25 miles away!

hazyjo

bluedrop wrote: »

What worries me the most is vandalism, burglary (still worse someone breaking in when we are sleeping) and antisocial behaviour. So I'm thinking from safety perspective really - we want to be in a area where we can go on a holiday without worrying too much about burglary, my daughter can travel to-from school safely on her own, where the car on my drive wont me broken into !

Not trying to scare you, but you'll often find it happens in nicer areas - why would they burgle some manky property? They target the nicer properties. They're in vehicles usually so they don't have to live in the next street to be robbing your house.


Security is what you need to concentrate on - not so much 'location'

Running_Horse

bluedrop wrote: »

We need a good primary school for our youngest too (to start in Sept 2020). With higham woods area, we are in catchment for woodland primary (ofsted outstanding school)

Not dismissing any school that has attained outstanding status, but my experience of the 11+ in Kent, is that parental attention (combined with basic ability) is the key factor in suitability for the Kent Test. Remember, schools are specifically forbidden to teach for the test. Paying early attention to times tables and reading to your child every day will do far more for their chances than an Ofsted rating.

elverson

Also a good school now could go to !!!!!! by 2020 anyway.