Advice on where to live in SW London/Surrey area please

Hi all,

A new position at work means a move to the South East but I'm not too familiar with the area. Thinking somewhere around Guildford area but I'm flexible and would consider anywhere to the South/South West of London/Surrey/Sussex. Any advice would be great.

Thanks in advance.

Kingston/Surbiton is good as it's not "in London" but also not out of it either and has fast trains to Waterloo. It's also within easy reach of the downs, swinley, whatever. I lived there until the end of 2008 when I moved slightly further out.

I live in Kingston and would also recommend it for easy access to both London and places to ride.

where are you working? london? or near guildford?

I have lived in Guildford and Woking for nearly 10 years now…

Guildford is nicer (read more expensive) that Woking, woking town centre is very depressing ;-( nicer out of the centre though and if you work up in town LOTS of trains and 25mins to waterloo – not so many from Guildford and 40mins into town.

if getting into london is an issue moving closer that woking does not help as the trains that serve places like weybridge, surbiton etc stop alot and vcan take longer that the fast trains from woking.

woking is handy for quick biking out to the pirbright ranges, longer rides to the north downs and swinley forest – guildford is better for the downs as it closer.

Si

On the road covering everywhere from Kent to Hampshire and from Brighton into London so am pretty flexible as to where I can live. Close to a mainline station would be nice.
Will have a look at Woking and Kingston.
Thanks so far peeps.

Dorking – best riding in SE, nice little town, easy access to gatwick and motorways, 45 mins on train to the big smoke, some great little pubs and restaurants.

dont live in croydon! its sh1t

East Molesey – It's great here.

jools – Not great for train links tho. We looked there before we moved from Surbiton to Walton but the train situation got us out to Walton.

Woking is good for communications, mainline to Waterloo and also close to M25. Biking wise, lots of army land and ROW + canal goes through town so can pick up the towpath to get out and about (Pirbright/Tunnel Hill/Ash etc).

As above, Dorking is great for riding location.

I go from Hampton Court to Surbiton and change for a fast train takes me 35 Mins to get to Waterloo.

Well worth it to live here Walton's great though especially with all the upgrades!

Pre-upgrade Walton (including zombie bikers)

Lightwater's very good value – it doesn't have a train station or any useful buses but that's not an issue for us as we don't need to use pubic trampsportation anyway.

It also means you can ride MTB from your front door.

GB

Lived in Guildford for the last five years.
Good town centre, good pubs and restaurants, lots of riding from the doorstep, Waterloo station 35 mins by fast train, easy access to A3.
Loads of very nice villages around but quite pricey.

What work will you be doing?

Hey Paul

Hows it going?

I stay in Walton when Im here, good for trains and easy to get out riding and for the A3/M25

Surbiton is good for trains, 20 mins Waterloo.

guildford is a nice town, easy biking, easy to get out and again good trains.

Dorking is worth a bet, fantastic riding but slow for trains.

and everywhere in between.

A 1 bedroom flat in Surbiton is about £800 pcm plus bills of around £150 pcm to give you an idea of costs!

I lived in Hampton until recently, no good if public transport is needed.
My mate lives in Surbiton and pays £800 pcm for a 2-bed flat.
I'd go further out, Guildford seems nice.

If you are covering that area, and driving, then don't live near London, nor anywhere with a decent train service. This way you'll find cheaper places.

For riding, any where on the outside of the M25 on the southern end – from the North Downs across to Swinley and the M3 'heaths'.

Hey Ady,

Things are good mate. How's life in Molini? Still ripping up Agrifolio?

No public transport needed, and don't really need to be near a train station as I'll be driving 90% of the time so hope to get a nice place for around £800ish (or less) all in. Is this unrealistic?
Thanks for all the advice so far everyone.

Grayshott, Farnham, Haslemere is very nice, good schools and close good riding. As are Midhurst and Petworth.

I think they all have a direct train link to London too.

Depends on whether you need to get into London much.

Good thing about Surbiton is it's still in zone 6, you're on a night bus service from central London, and the last train is about 1am (likewise Kingston).

Like Atlaz – great bit of footage btw 🙂 – we moved from Surbiton* to Walton about 4 years ago after 15 yrs in Surbiton, that added about 3 quid to the cost of an off-peak travelcard into central London. Top of our list was actually Godalming but Walton won 'cos my OH thought she'd wind up working in London again (actually got a job in Guildford).

>the trains that serve places like weybridge, surbiton etc stop alot and vcan take longer that the fast trains from woking.

As nasher said, Surbiton>Waterloo is about 20 mins and they're v. frequent – whereas Walton has 2 fast (25 mins), 2 slower (35 mins) – add 3 minutes for Weybridge. Kingston has two slow (30min?) trains to Waterloo in hour (plus two slower ones via Richmond)

*actually we were on the edge of Surbiton/Tolworth, round the corner from Cycleopedia (or Martin Reed Cycles, in the unlikely event anyone remembers them…) – so a 15 min walk from the station.

Kingston/Guildford tends to be more expensive than Surbiton – Woking's cheaper still, but some of the town centre's a bit pikey in the evening. I could say the same of the area near the clubs in Kingston, but it has some reasonable pubs otherwise (as has Surbiton).

Another thing about Kingston – living in the centre or just north of it can be a pita to get out of in summer, if the one-way system gets snarled up.

Yep, anywhere "that part" of the area (i.e. Surbiton, Kingston, Richmond) can be a real ballache to get over the Thames. Since I moved, my commuting time has nearly halved for exactly the same distance as it only takes a few mins to get over the river now.

I guess it's all horses for courses. If you're inside the M25 and will be driving mostly, I'd say Walton, Weybridge and the area are a good bet, if you're outside, what most of the above said.

jond – You know any sneaky trails in all the wooded bits between Walton, Esher, Weybridge etc?

There is some decent riding to be had around Oxshott Heath, Esher Common and West End Common. We do a lovely little loop round there that's around 12 miles and mostly off road there is also some decent jumping and so on to be had.

jools – Don't suppose you've got a GPS track or feel like a tag along sometime? I'm getting bored of my road loop and would also like something I can take my other half around so she can get a better taste of riding.

Sure drop me a pm and come along. Might be out that way on Saturday morning.

That's the area I've done a few rides in the past, with a guy from the london-mtb yahoo group who knew it a little better – reasonable enough for a local non-tarmac ride but at the time felt like it needed a few cheeky trails to make it more interesting. But compensated for by a stop-off in the pub at the bottom end of Claygate 😉

I imagine it's probably changed a bit in the last few years, there was supposed to be a lot of wood clearance being done to open the whole lot up.

Whereabouts are the jumps, jools? – there certainly used to be some stuff at the top of the hill to the north of Oxshott station (ie near the bombhole)

Surbiton is the wife swapping capital of England (fact).

In case influences your consideration of locations…..

I live in Woking, previously lived in Guildford as a student. Guildford is nicer (town centre wise mainly), but Woking is a lot cheaper and much faster into London. Both have some excellent riding around them, I tend to go over to tunnel hill etc more than I do the downs now. Tons of nice singletrack.

hello pauly, ive lived in south london, balham & tooting and now live in dorking, also studied in farham.

In terms of riding and ease dorking is about your best bet. I literally cycle up the road and I am on single track.

But what other stuff are you looking for other than riding? Whats your age lifestyle? pubs or clubs? country walks or nights on the town? or everything? dorking is cool but quite family orientated… hence why i moved here… obviously london kicks arse for nightlife…

guilford is ok for nightlife but a bit less cosmopolitan and more towny than london…

or is biking what its all about?

Mid 30's, single, good wage, will want to go into London every other weekend maybe, coming back from a bad injury so will be sticking to the gentler side of riding for a bit.
Don't really go out clubbing any more, but enjoy a nice meal out.

Thanks for all the great advice everyone.

Based on your last post I'd say Surbiton too. It is less of a pain to get back from london klate at night and there are abundant flats and stuff to do in terms of pubs and bars.

IMO worth checking out various towns around M25 J8-10. Can easily be 30mins from Gatwick, Heathrow and London, plus a handful of minutes from the North Downs trails.

If you're going to be on the road then bear in mind that heading anti-clock from M25 j6-15 is an absolutely sh1tbag in the mornings, and then heading back in the evenings – whereas j10-6 clockwise is pretty sound in the mornings and evenings.

SM

I'd agree with jools. Just get into Surbiton. There's loads of flats and plenty of places to eat and drink without ever having to get beaten up in Kingston town centre on a Saturday night. Sounds like Jools, myself and the people who we bought from have all moved from Surbiton once we're looking more family oriented but until then it's fine.

The river roads are really nice but the most expensive part.

jond atlaz

I also used to live in Surbiton now in alton

Fancy a night ride in Esher etc one eve?

Hi nasher et al,

yeah, I'd be on for a ride sometime – between my Orange being in bits (almost sorted but shouldn't stop me, I've got a backup) and a gammy neck I've been riding my recumbent* of late, but I really ought to get my arse out of my hand and get back on an mtb…

Re the river roads – yeah, they're nice, but some may suffer from midges in the summer – a mate used to live in one some years ago and found 'em a pain. Dunno if that was near the Portmouth Road waterworks tho' (ie next to the river) which has (mostly?) been built on AFAIA, so it might not be a problem.

*the *other* Darkside…if anyone sees some bloke on a silver low-slung thing around Walton/Esher, who looks like a cast-off from a metal band, that'll probably be me 😉

Absolutely I agree with me. First flat was Surbiton and then off to Molesey when the missus was boomshanka.

I love dorking but if your single I rekon the advise on surbiton might be good… guilford maybe too but personally i prefer the vibe in london… then again epsom is easy reach of london and full of fashion students 😉

Surbiton is great for the trains (busy in the morning) and getting into London. But if you need to get out onto M25 it will add to your journey getting out of Surbiton.

I'd vote for Walton as well from a recent move but I'm commuting into London. For riding it's OK for a flatish ride round Esher/Claygate/Oxshott. Otherwise it doesn't take too long to get to Dorking and the North Downs. Restaurants in town are OK – a lot of chains but pretty good pub food around.

Why not have a look at Brighton? Great trails on your doorstep, good links out and it has a similar if smaller bar/club scene to London.

If you fancy Dorking – we're selling our place in Westcott (adjacent to Dorking) – right at the foot of Leith Hill.

Linky here….

Moving to Abingdon for a course Mrs Mascy is embarking upon so expect me to ask the same question of that area shortly!

Don't. It's full down here.