Woking

uncle_rufus said:
I also heard (possibly the kind of urban rumour kids come up with) that during the plague the Woking line was one of the major stop-offs for trains full of bodies which were put in mass graves in what is now Old Woking. Some years later when the town tried to move on from that image they decided to expand the main part of town on the opposite side of the station instead (hence creating "Old" Woking) and this is why the larger main part of the station complex is facing away from the town centre.
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Sounds like a myth to me. It's just developed around the railway line, which was developed alongside the canal, including the line to the purpose built brookwood cemetery, which used to be the london necropolis line. This was opened for carrying dead bodies out of london including mourners for proper funerals, because there wasn't enough space in london, but it was nothing to do with the plague, being as it was a few hundred years too late for that. The cemetery opened in 1854, pretty sure they didn't have railways when the black death was going round ;)
 
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Haha! I can't say I'm surprised it's not true... Come to think of it the internet exists now, I could easily have looked it up!!! Derp...

The only other stupid rumour like that I can remember from Woking was around the time they said there was a War of the Worlds movie in production and it went round that they were filming it in the "actual location" on Horsell Common... of course no national papers picked up on it because it was "Top Secret" lol
 
Cheers for all the advice guys. I will see how job hunting goes and refer back to this thread if I get something in that area.
 
What's Dorking like? From initial looks it seems nice, but expensive. Things have picked up job wise and both me and the GF have interviews this week and Dorking is the only place between the 2 that has anything for rent under a grand.
 
Ask secretspy on here, she lives in Dorking iirc. From my limited experience, it seems nice enough. Not that far from Guildford etc.
 
Skeeter said:
What's Dorking like? From initial looks it seems nice, but expensive. Things have picked up job wise and both me and the GF have interviews this week and Dorking is the only place between the 2 that has anything for rent under a grand.
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Good luck to both of you. You'll have to let me know how it goes :)
 
So things are looking good. GF stormed her job interview and was offered the job after just leaving the building. The recruiter thinks I'm in too, they are just negotiating the details for me but they sound confident. If that goes through then one of us will be working in Godalming and the other in Chessington.

Been looking a places under a grand to rent with 2 bedrooms or more and basically found 1 place in Dorking, a couple in Guildford, and a heap of places in Woking. It looks like its going to be Woking for the short term and then buy somewhere nicer later.

What parts of Knaphill are good? There seems to be a lot of recent developments there.
 
Skeeter said:
What parts of Knaphill are good? There seems to be a lot of recent developments there.
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Most of Knaphill is fine but I caution you that it's a bit of a long way away from the town centre - having spent many years staggering home on foot I remember it being about 45 mins away, and about half that on a bike, or failing that a taxi around £5 (before 00:00)... and there aren't really any decent places to go out more locally...

In general I would say the areas you want to avoid are Goldsworth park, Maybury and some parts of Horsell for various reasons ;)

Knaphill, St.Johns, Bisley, Brookwood and Old Woking are probably where you want to be looking I expect. Hook Heath is probably the nicest area, but I can't imagine there would be any rental properties - just huge expensive mansions...

Also make a note of the location of the finest Kebab shop in all of Woking - Al Pasha... They don't appear on Google Maps but they're just across Goldsworth road from Bridge House, postcode: GU21 6JT :D

Edit: Also one more note on Knaphill about the distance from town - the 91 Bus which you can get into town takes about the same time as walking because of the highly circuitous route it takes through Goldsworth park... I would recommend walking the short distance to St.Johns instead and hopping on the 34/35 which takes a much more direct route
 
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Skeeter said:
What parts of Knaphill are good? There seems to be a lot of recent developments there.
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The roads off of Inkerman way are not great (they are normally described as knaphill although I'm not convinced). The 'Brookwood hospital estate' (Redding Way area) is newer and a bit more upmarket, but it's still a new build estate with relatively small houses. The roads around the high street and the broadway all seem reasonable. I drive through Knaphill regularly to get to Sainsbury's but I can't say much more than that about the good / bad areas.



re the above Goldsworth park does get a bashing but it's not all bad (otherwise I wouldn't live there). Most of the west side is just a reasonable quiet estate. It's a little dead but I do feel there is a community and the access to the lake and canal are good. Shame about the recent arson though

edit: you will definitely need to check out the commutes from various places and the costs of buses + trains etc to see how the rents vs transport costs balance out. e.g. if you have to get the bus from Knaphill to the station (although it's largely cyclable) that is going to cost you £60 for a 4-week ticket. I have no idea what the best way to get to chessington is (world of adventures? ;) :p). Anyway, if together you are spending say an extra £150 a month on transport to live in woking, you would probably be better off spending an extra £150 a month on rent in central Guildford, where it will be less hassle to get to Godalming (again, no idea on Chessington). Having said that I've just remembered how much even tiny 1 bed flats cost to rent in Guildford so may be on to a loser there
 
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Living in either Woking or Guildford would make our commutes less (slightly) than we do now. I also think I would drive for my new job rather than get the train.

We have decided were actually less concerned about where we are in relation to "things to do" and town centres, etc, as we only plan on staying renting for the short term. Basically we want to move into 'the area' and then after a while buy somewhere, which will give us time to scope out the areas. So living somewhere out of town with poor travel links and no shops isn't going to be an issue.

Its usually quite obvious when you see places if they are good or bad areas, so were going to try and blitz the letting agents and get as many viewings in as we can. Its a long drive up to Woking so I don't want to go all that way just to view 1 place.

Guildford would be better, and slightly closer for both of us for work, but renting is at lest £100 above comparable places in Woking, more like £200 really, and to cut 5 miles off our commutes it doesn't seem worth it.
 
Were after at least 2 bedrooms, parking for 2, and ideally a house (although absolutely no chance of that within budget in Guildford).

Oh, and Sky TV and decent internet :p. Thats more important to me than anything else :D
 
Zogger said:
re the above Goldsworth park does get a bashing but it's not all bad (otherwise I wouldn't live there).
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Expect I'm biased by personal experience... had many a nasty run in walking through Goldsworth park on my way home late at night... By day it's not so bad, I had some friends who lived there and it seemed perfectly fine.

Driving would be the way to get to Godalming certainly... when I went to college there I got the bus to town and then the train and the trains to Godalming were a complete pain - trains to Guildford (which as you know is midway between) were quite regular, but trains which went to Godalming from there not quite so much, leading to fairly regular delays changing and waiting at Guildford. Also I remember in the morning this stupid train which would go to Guildford and then the front part of the train would split off and go to Godalming, with the rear part going somewhere else - being tired in the morning it was easy to end up in the wrong section of the train or having to suddenly scramble into a different carriage
 
Shame your budget is so tight. As you say you are unlikely to find a nice house to rent for under a grand, however there will be a fair number of flats, some of which will be ground floor/maisonettes that will give you access to a garden.

Guildford really is the nicest place out of the places you've listed, however because of that you do indeed have to pay for it. I don't think it is hideously expensive. I got a nice 3 bed house in a nice area for less then £250k.
 
Wooooooooooo!

So, yeah, Surrey here I come!!

I'm fine with anything short term really, the plan is to buy after a short while anyway.
 
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