Waterloo from Berks/Surrey

[FenMan]

There's a good reason why Farnborough Main is so popular - the excellent service to Waterloo.

That said, the town is chockabloc with so-so housing and has a mediocre shopping centre. It's not all bad though as there are large out-of town centres close by at Farnborough Gate (Currys, Halfords etc) and The Meadows (M&S, Tesco and Next At Home).

The nicer parts are Farnborough Park (unfortunately below the flight path into the increasingly busy Farnborough Airport) and the newer builds out west at Southwood. A good compromise would be the Highgate Lane area, which would be an easy walk to both Main and North stations; the latter having an hourly service to Wokingham. The road connections between Farnborough and Wokingham are so-so and can be painfully slow at peak hours.

 

[soil]

Brookwood is OK, just outside Woking/Knaphill, BIG Sainsburys nearby and some nice countryside. Decent service with parking. Cheaper than Woking/Guildford. Big cemetery nearby too.....

Brookwood serves quite a big area, probably bigger than Woking, because the service on the Aldershot - Waterloo line is so dreadfully slow.

Near Brookwood you can look at West End, where there is Gordon's, a state boarding school that looks private (and is, effectively, thanks to fairly steep day boarding fees). You need to live outside the school gate basically, it's a teeny-tiny catchment.

If you like new-build housing on a giant estate, then there's a large supply in Deepcut:

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-27736119.html

The best option for schooling is almost certainly St John the Baptist's Catholic (better than Gordons really) in Woking, they operate a feeder system from four Catholic primary schools, located in Woking (just south of the train line), Camberley, Knaphill and West Byfleet. But you must be baptised Catholic and probably a regularly practising one too.....

 

[Hartington]

Purely on the subject of schools I put 2 sons through Reading Blue Coat at Sonning whilst living in Maidenhead. One went to Oxford and the other Nottingham; one followed on to do a masters and then PhD at Bath. Both have good jobs and I put that down to (a) the parents! (b) the school which didn't push but somehow (to this day I'm not sure how) instilled a work ethic into 2 rather different boys.

Moving on to house prices I'm not convinced the arrival of Crossrail will produce a surge. I know quite a lot of people who are hanging on to property awaiting the arrival of Crossrail.

 

[Bald Rick]

+1 for Brookwood. Also the north / west of Guildford is only a 5-10 min drive from Brookwood making it much easier than Guildford itself. Nice area (slightly biased as I grew up there).

 

[Andrewlong]

Thanks everyone for all the info - it is priceless and helps a lot. Let me give you an update on my situation and thinking...

So currently we rent in Winnersh and I get the SW train each morning to Waterloo then Jubilee line to CW. 1hr 20m into WAT morning peak and yes I get a seat but yes it is very crammed (soon after WOK/BCE) so working on the train is difficult. I have tried 6:18am, 6:48am and 7:18am - none of them make a difference. The objective here is to aim for a commute of ~1hr (give or take 5-10mins) which I appreciate is tough because I am restricted by: 1.budget of £450k-£500k to purchase a large 3 or good 4 bed detached ((OH request)), 2. to be within a 30min drive to Wokingham/Crowthorne area ((again OH request as she has network here)) and 3. a nice leafy ((OH)) area with good town/viallge feel to it and good schools to bring our kids up - I don't ask for much do I?!

Going forward, my OH & I will be looking to buy a property and I will only need to be in CW for 3days a week so some might say this commute is acceptable - and they'd be right - but why settle for second best when I don't even know what could be better/worse out there (hence my original post).

What I can see is I have three choices;
1. Target a quick commute so no working on the train and look at Woking/Kent/Essex.
PROS: Commute time during peak <1hr to CW
CONS: Areas to live (either not great for OH or premium kills the budget)

2. Plan for the long-term with Crossrail to be a huge success and aim for quick commute to Paddington, so: Reading/Slough/Maidenhead
PROS: Buying a house now will give great ROI in 2018! but not sure OH will like current area options
CONS: Waiting for 4-5yrs and geting round Lon Tube network b/w now & then

3. Go for the "middle of the road option" which is similar to what I am currently experiencing but perhaps could be improved slightly, i.e. Fleet/Farnborough/Winchfield
PROS: OH would be happy in these areas (and you know what they say about Happy Wife...)
CONS: House prices? Car Parking costs? Don't know the areas.

Have I missed anything or does anyone want to comment on my conclusions - I am very happy to listen to all further insight from you guys...


Thanks again for all the help,
AJ.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
PS. Someone has mentioned Brookwood to me as an option - anyone know if this meets my aims or others that are similar?

Cheers!

Wokingham Borough has good schools both state and private. If you want grammar schools then Reading is the place to go. There is no one clear answer!