In an effort to move to an area a trifle less urban, and enjoy more of the surrey hills, we are currently scouring the local areas.

We have a viewing booked for a house in Westcott just west of Dorking this Saturday, anyone know much about the area and able to vouch for it?

Also, I dont suppose anyone can recommend some cracking secret bolt holes in around the same region, with a max budget of £350k?
Something that can hold a few bikes, and still able to accomodate a swinging cat ideally..

If i were you id maybe look at some of the other villages perhaps to the south or west.

the is nothing Wrong with westcott but its not the smartest area if im honest. Depend on where in the village you are but there is some ‘estate’ housing

might be worth watching obsesive compulsive hoarder or whatever it was called a channel four doco about a guy in westcott who filled his house to bursting!

Perhaps some of that is a bit unfair, deffo go see the house and walk around with your eyes open. The A25 is pretty busy and ive heard residents complian about speeding lorrys and traffic. Also have to put up with hundreds of mtbers parking all over the village at weekends.

id also be interested to look up the crime stats 🙂

Use to live there a while back. It’s a nice little village: heart of Surrey Hills so loads of riding from your door, few little shops and a good bakery, parking can be a bit of a mare, south side of A25 is the ‘posher’ side.

Prefer Dorking though as it’s walking distance to all the amenities…restaurants, cinema/theatre, sports centre, supermarkets, stations etc. Plus it’s still a smallish town surrounded by countryside and not one of those ‘merged’ towns like the way Reigate and Redhill is. Depends on your priorities.

it happens to be spitting dstance from Nirvana cycles.. dont tell the wife..

will also be investigating Dorking further, just wondered which areas I should definately consider, I love riding around there but am awful at remembering location names so never remember what to search for!

I aim to live somewhere between Dorking and Guildford at some point in my life, plenty of lovely villages south of the a25. (currently living in Dorking, grew up in buckland)

I live in Westcott and have done for nearly four years. Firstly ignore the crap on the hoarder program, no pun intended. Slightly sensationalist, the corduroy wearing complainants were from the other side of the village. I don’t think most people round here have a problem with it.

The village is nice enough, and there’s plenty of riders local to me. There is an estate area where I wouldn’t live but we have a lovely Victorian semi which we love. Location wise it’s great for us, we both work in Guildford which is a doddle. It’s far enough outside Dorking to feel ‘country’ but you can still walk in. We won’t live here for ever but it suits us nicely to start a family. Having Ranmore at the bottom of the road, and being one my way up Leith Hill in a couple of minutes is great.

What road are you looking at?

Re crime. It’s low from what I understand. Total of 6 incidents last year, one of them being a stolen chicken. I know one of our community police officers and the normal problems apply. But the most serious it gets is some bored teenagers.

Also, I dont suppose anyone can recommend some cracking secret bolt holes in around the same region, with a max budget of £350k?

£350k max? Not sure they like ‘poor’ people in Surrey. 😉

What road are you looking at?

Parsonage Lane

Blimey you would be close to Nirvana 😀

an apt name perhaps?

I used to live in Forest Green (at the foot of both Holmbury and Leith Hills) which is a fantastic village but perhaps a bit too tucked away for you. I think there are some new builds at around that price.

Great riding from your door, great pub, great community and very quiet.
Also lived in South Holmwood which is cheaper but less villagey and a bit to close to the A24.

I agree with nuke about Dorking over Reigate/Redhill but just stay away from developments in the southern part of the town.

I grew up in Parsonage Lane, and the location is great for countryside. It’s also the nicer side of the village 😛

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-23349750.html

Assuming you mean this place? My best mate grew up in the same house (next door). Ok for inside space but there is really no outside space at all. It is right ‘on’ the road, but Parsonage Lane is a cul de sac so there is not much traffic.

Agree with Nuke, I now live in Dorking and much prefer the convenience factor of having things on the doorstep. It’s a small town but ideally located with open access countryside and hills in 3 directions.

cheers all!

Yes, its on the road – but as you say its a quieter road. Worth a look at least.
Agree that Dorking looks a good bet.
So avoid the south side?

It’s being made out that as soon as you cross the A25 you hit a war zone. The area around Springfield road and St Johns is where I’d be avoiding which is the estate. Horrible looking prefab looking houses. You should be fine with the rest of the village.

Having lived in Westcott for nearly 10 years, it’s nice if you’re not looking to integrate much with the local community who we found quite an odd bunch to say the least. This was typified by our immediate neighbours who considered any ‘outsiders’ unwelcome until they’d been around for 30+ years, seemingly.

I’d like to think we were super considerate, keeping the noise down, no late night DiY, house parties, always a cheery hello & efforts to get to know people. However, we felt largely ostracised after a few years & struggled to sell the place for a long time thereafter. Immediate neighbours were just awful to the Mrs who was effectively bullied whilst I was away at work. Actively dissuaded potential house purchasers against buying to spite us. It can happen anywhere I know, but I’ve never, ever had an issue anywhere I’ve ever lived (and I’ve been around a bit).

Just seems quite insular compared to many other places IMHO.

Not sure how much truth there is in it, but I did hear the horrible looking prefab houses were apparently built by PoW’s in WW2!

Have you considered looking in the area between Reigate/Dorking and Epsom?

Walton on the Hill is nice, and only a few minutes (off road riding) to Reigate and Dorking.

Nice fixer-up here, with potential.. 🙂

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-40396418.html

plenty of lovely villages south of the a25

And to the north! I live to the north….

Westcott has Some unattractive spots for sure but some big houses too – the chap that used to own Evans lives there.

I used to live in Forest Green

Now that is a nice place – my boss lives there and he’s not poor.

Where will/do you work? Now and over the next 5yrs or so?

Beware the local Heavenly Resident. He has no sense of humour.

thanks again guys, some interesting comments.

Where will/do you work? Now and over the next 5yrs or so?

Near Heathrow Airport. Not ideal, but my motorbike puts pay to the traffic for at least 9 months of the year.

Worth noting that there is a big difference price-wise in going from Surrey into West Sussex. Might be worth looking around Rusper etc as you’ll get a fair bit more for your money.

I used to live in Westcott in the late 80’s and only live a few miles away from it now.

I loved having great running country all around me ( I didn’t ride then) which is just fab countryside. There are also a great number of lovely houses in the village which are well out of your price range. I liked living there but generally it’s an expensive place to buy, but its as always due to location. Dorking is also expensive as is the other side of Ranmore, bookham, Effingham etc.

Personally I’d rather live in a small house in Westcott than a large one in Horsham or Redhill for example.

Do you need to use Dorking train station every day? I work in central London and was put off Westcott as I need to get to the station and wife needs to drive across Dorking too. We though it would be a pain every day to do that so bought in Dorking instead where we could commute more easily and walk into the town.

I hoped to find something north Dorking/Westhumble but couldn’t a few years ago so bought in Bookham, Train access a big deal to me. Easy to get to the hills from where I am; a bridleway starts 100m or so from my house – love it and was a great change from living in London.

Dorking’s a road bottleneck at rush hour, bear that in mind.

That house is metres from the A25 so you’ll get plenty of road noise.

To the very best of my knowledge, none of Westcott is ‘rough’, and I have buddies living on the north side very happily. A house down that way near the meadows (Dorking side not where the development is going in) would be a keeper.

Personally I never think of Westcott as an integrated ‘village’, it’s some clumps of houses with a damn busy A road right through the middle of it. I think some of the people on the hoarders program were seeing what they wanted to see, in fact of them all I liked the hoarder best!

It’s a brilliant place to live if you’re into XC riding, I think enough people are moving to Dorking and Westcott for the riding for it to have an effect on house prices. If you buy well your money is safe (IMO!).

See the noticeboard in Nirvana’s window for nightrides.

We though it would be a pain every day to do that so bought in Dorking instead where we could commute more easily and walk into the town.

Good call IMO (vs Westcott).

Understanding the logistics of Dorking’s one way system and how it affects your journey to work/school/college is pretty vital to a good buy around here.

Living in Dorking itself is a win because for getting around town you can walk everywhere so the traffic doesn’t matter. Westcott’s only 10 minutes by bike (and it can be done offroad) so there is no detrimental effect on riding access.

If you see one you like that’s OK priced and affordable, I’d buy it. Don’t wait for prices to drop they won’t, demand outstrips supply and there is (almost) nowhere new to build in Dorking due to the shape of the valley. All IMO of course!

There’s an awful lot of us about here, we should have a pint one day. But not in Westcott.

I like Westcott, but if possible I’d personally be looking to the South/West – Holmbury St Mary, Peaslake, Forest Green, Ewhurst etc. That said, I’m not sure there’s much in the first 3 at least to fit the bill!

Cheap/big/Surrey Hills. Pick any 2.

well stone the crows, Mrs Slim loved the house!
We have viewed around 40 places in the last 3 months, and today we found 2 places today that we both really liked. Miracle Saturday.
I really liked the general feel of the ‘village’, local school seems good for Slim Jr. And indeed, the start of Dorking High St is merely a mile and a bit away. A25 didnt seem that bad to be honest, and we couldnt hear a thing from the house.

We are happy to entertain living in the center of Dorking but moving out this direction has always been about captuing a tiny bit more of a countryside feel, so the mile to town center doesnt phase us at the moment.
Going to keep eyes peeled for more locations, but so far the sums seem to be adding up.

I would honestly feel like the cat that got the cream having so much good riding on my door step!

Watch this space..

If you like it buy it. Good value 3 bed houses are very rare in Dorking…

Hope it works out for you Jim.

Personally I’d trade the convenience of the town for the little bit of ‘countryside feel’ you’ll get there, but we’re all different!

Go try the pub, so you know if it suits you …. but there are a couple of lovely ones in the hills.

Night rides Wednesdays from the green. We’re not hard to find.

Let us know what happens.

Glad you liked it slimjim. Personally we’re very happy in Westcott and like matt, I value the access to the walk and rides over access to shops. Keep us posted…

Actually I’m coming out on the townie side, tho I’m pretty lucky to be on the edge of the Westcott side of town so I have best-of-both.

Not that it matters, see you out there guys.

Jim the primary school got a good Ofsted IIRC.

http://www.thisissurreytoday.co.uk/A25-alternative-cycle-path-run-Westcott-Milton/story-16996574-detail/story.html

Night rides Wednesdays from the green. We’re not hard to find.

count me in!
will keep y’all posted

That’s open now, tho from the location of the house the OP is looking at it’s nearly as far to the path as it is on the road to Dorking. Its utility is debatable from my POV, and it’s a shame to surface over yet more of the countryside. The basic problem is the road’s not very safe to ride, especially for a child, due to traffic volumes, speeds, and driver behaviour. That’s what needs fixing.

The path’s a bit of a useless folly really (other than for a tiny number of people), feels like a box-ticking exercise to me.

Dorking resident Michele Kohler, who represented the Open Spaces Society, said: “This is a disappointing decision.

“We have lost a lovely, ancient path in beautiful surroundings.”

Amen. Gone forever.

Sorry /offsoapboax

OP from the top of ‘your’ street there’s a lovely ‘proper’ footpath – turn left for Dorking, right for Leith Hill.