Talk to me about Surrey/Hampshire

krooton

krooton

krooton

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Joined
9 May 2004
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Leafy outskirts of London
In the run up to selling our London flat and looking for a house to move to, I could use some help on area advice to look at in the Surrey/Hampshire area.

Needs to be commutable to Weybridge by train, so from a Southwest Trains map, the following are doable:

Fleet
Farnborough
Brookwood
Woking (but not interested in it)
Ash Vale
Worplesdon
Guildford
Possibly a few stations south of Guildford
Hinchley Wood, Claygate, Oxshott and Cobham & Stoke D'Arbernon as also maybes

That's a list purely from a cost and commute time perspective, but what neither of us know about is the areas, which are nice, in our price range, and have horse facilities (my gf wants to bring her horse up from West Sussex).

So those of you with experience of the above areas, which are likely to fit the bill of 2 30 year olds looking for a house (2 bed min) for £275k or less?

Thanks!
 
Can't help you a great deal, but from Hampshire (the South coast anyway) but I have friend that live in Guildford, and they say it is very very expensive.
 
I can help!

I lived in Fleet for years until recently. It is expensive but your budget seems promising and I think you'd easily find what your looking for. The area is very nice - quiet, well-maintained, small enough to be cosy yet well-placed for larger shopping centres. The town centre offers a good range of shops for its size. Some are unique, most are the usual high street vendors. There's a smallish Waitrose, M&S Food and Sainsburys in the town centre and a large Morrison's nearby. The library's not bad. The town hosts farmer's markets, the annual Fleet Half Marathon, a carnival (the quality of which varies from terrible to not bad). You also get a great (free) view of the Farnborough Air Show, if that's your thing. There are lots of parks, a decent pool and Fleet Pond (a small reserve). The pubs are okay; the restaurants are of a good quality. WE the Restaurant is easily the best Indian & Thai restaurant I've ever visited.

I think it takes about 40 minutes to Waterloo, but I'm really not certain as I wasn't a commuter much.

The schools are all good. In fact, it's a good place to settle down if you ever plan to have loinspawn.
 
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I live in Woking and have lived in and around Woking all my life, I did a post recently in a thread in GD about it and it's surrounding areas - have a look at it.
 
I study at the University of Surrey in Guildford. It is expensive, and in some parts, not very nice. Ironically it isn't the students that give Guildford a bad reputation, but all the chavs who seem to have nothing to do on a Wednesday afternoon. Personally, I would avoid.
 
You've missed Hook off of your list ;) Certainly a great little town to live in (I'm buying a house there now).

It will be at the top end of the budget though.
 
-westy- said:
Claygate, Oxshott and Cobham are likely to be expensive, house-wise.
Click to expand...

This. If you've got £500-750k then you can get a small house in these areas.

I live in Walton and a three bed semi starts at about £350k at the moment. Hersham is a little bit cheaper, but generally everywhere bar Addlestone and Chertsey are more expensive. I just bought my new place in November, after 18 months looking at Reigate to Weybridge and everything in between.

Stabling shouldn't be a problem in Surrey at all; I have mates from Epsom who stable their horses between Cobham and Byfleet but could have had their choice of loads of different facilities within 20 minutes of their house.

What are you looking for and how much do you want to spend? also, do you have cars since distance from the town centre / train stations are the biggest influencers of cost. Also, planning to have kids? Schools can very quite a bit.

You might also want to consider Surbiton.
 
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[DOD]Asprilla;24021747 said:
This. If you've got £500-750k then you can get a small house in these areas.

I live in Walton and a three bed semi starts at about £350k at the moment. Hersham is a little bit cheaper, but generally everywhere bar Addlestone and Chertsey are more expensive. I just bought my new place in November, after 18 months looking at Reigate to Weybridge and everything in between.

Stabling shouldn't be a problem in Surrey at all; I have mates from Epsom who stable their horses between Cobham and Byfleet but could have had their choice of loads of different facilities within 20 minutes of their house.

What are you looking for and how much do you want to spend? also, do you have cars since distance from the town centre / train stations are the biggest influencers of cost. Also, planning to have kids? Schools can very quite a bit.

You might also want to consider Surbiton.
Click to expand...

You missed this bit then:

krooton said:
looking for a house (2 bed min) for £275k or less
Click to expand...

:p
 
ci_newman said:
You missed this bit then:



:p
Click to expand...

Yes, yes I did. D'oh.

Anyway, if that's the budget then you are generally looking at Walton, Hersham, Addlestone or West Molesey provided you want to stay south of the river. North of the river you've got Staines, Shepperton and Sunbury but crossing the river in rush hour is just a pain in the bum.
 
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I'm in Ottershaw, just south of Weybridge, and near to Woking.
Lived here for around 8 years, and Shepperton prior to that for around 12 years.
Before that, Wimbledon.
Its a good place to be. Woking is "OK". I prefer to shop in Guildford or Kingston, though there are a number of updating programmes ongoing in Woking Town Centre.
I read Peerzys review of the area previously and he is pretty much spot on.

Transport links are fantastic. Jnct 11 M25 on the doorstep, then M3, M4, M40, A3 all nearby. 20 minutes in to Waterloo, though peak trains can get busy.

There are lots of villagey places in the area, and it is prime horsey set - you'll have no problems getting livery, but be prepared to pay a premium to have your horse at the same stable as Jemima and Jocasta.

Train to Weybridge may be more of a sticking point than you think.
Although the actual cost of the train journey itself may be low, the parking at the stations won't be. The line is prime commute into London, and has a captive market.

As an example, parking at Woking station in the premium spots (closest to the station) is £15 a day. The ones a short walk away are £10 per day.
The SWT page for stations here will show parking charges at all/most stations under the "additional travel" tab.
You may want to factor that annual cost into your budgeting/choice of areas.
A good example would be Walton that was mentioned earlier.
It's had a lot of money spent on it recently, the "Heart" has good restaurants and shops, and Weybridge would be a 10/15min drive away.
Reducing your annual transport costs significantly could then fund a property in a preferential location.

You haven't put anything on your post about future plans. I've got school age children and the variation in schooling is a factor in house prices and availability. You may not want to, but you should probably factor it in. Even if you don't think it's an issue, when/if you came to sell it might be a factor.

I'm a bit older than yourselves, but happy to take a PM or offer any more localised advice/answer any questions you have.
 
Also, the car parks at Walton and Hersham aren't owned by SWT but are council run. As a result they cost £5 per day or you can buy an annual ticket. It was about £350 a few years ago when I was using it.
 
Thanks guys

Commuting in to London isn't a concern, I work in Weybridge (no licence though, so needs to take the train) and my gf works in Sutton but drives.

I love Surbiton, but I was under the impression that it is expensive, and doesn't have much in the way of stables.

We want to stay south as gf's parents live in West Sussex, and her sister in Tonbridge.

Reigate is something we have looked at, but my commute would be long and expensive.

Annoyingly, we know a £300k budget would open up many more options, but £275k will be a stretch in itself :(
 
If you don't drive at all and your GF is going to Sutton every morning then you need to be south of the river. Mrs A goes to Nork Park (no sniggering at the back) every day from Walton and it takes about 45 minutes in rush hour. Being north of the river would add 20-25 minutes to that.

The A3 is generally pretty clear to drive until you get to Hook / Tolworth and then it can come to a standstill. The Ewell by-bass ain't great either. Mr's leaves Walton just after 8 in a morning after dropping child 1 at nursery. Would probably be quieter if you left earlier.
 
Does it have to be a house?
£275k is not a lot for a 2 bed house in the areas I have knowledge of.
You can get them, but there is always a compromise, usually in location.

There's a fair amount of modern apartments that have been built in this area in your price range (purpose built and conversion), particularly in Woking in walking distance of the station.

Stabling near Surbiton would I think be around Claygate - that's where my sister had hers many years ago. No idea about cost though.

Possible other option is that Weybridge, as well as being main line, is also on the "slow" loop that goes out via Virginia Water, Egham, Staines and back to Twickenham/Richmond and so on.

Map

Personally, if you don't drive, I'd put your "commuting" budget into property within cycling distance.....
 
That's a very slow loop though so you wouldn't want to be too far round it. I used to commute from Walton to Syon Lane; 35 minutes by bike or 1hr10 on the train.

Also, it means crossing the river to get to Sutton. A friend of mine use to drive from Shepperton to Brooklands each morning and crossing the bridge at Walton each morning is just a nightmare.
 
Ash Vale is alright, you've got two lines North Camp ( Getting to Gatwick/Reading ) or Ash Vale which is London Waterloo / Alton. All within 5 min walk from each other.

Ash Vale itself has some really nice places and a really nice family type pub that backs on to the canal called The Swan. We also have the Rangers which is a massive army woodland which is about 8-10 miles round, they fire until 4:30pm Mon-Friday normally but after that it's open. Also got Ash just down the road and around there on the way to Guildford is a relatively popular dogging area.
 
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I live in Fleet and have done for 17 years. I wouldn't live anywhere else in the UK.

Great balance of being easy to reach anywhere (good trains, Motorway links etc), but if you head west or south you are immediately in the countryside. You should be able to find stabling in the surrounding villages.

Whenever they do those best place to live surveys Hart district (in which Fleet is the main town) comes out either top or 2nd. Mainly as a result of low crime, good schools and long average life expectancy.

There is a lot of building going on around the town. Have a look at Edenbrook and Queen Elizabeth park if you want a new build. No idea what the prices are like.
 
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