Surrey Hills – best place to live with a reasonable commute to London?

Quite like the idea of getting out of Central London (currently live in Islington) and into the 'country' a little bit, or at least a bit closer to decent riding! Obvious choices are Guildford/Dorking/Leatherhead, but where else is good? Would be nice to have a reasonably short train commute to London and hoping for rent of around £1k a month for a 1/2 bed flat, is this realistic?

Thoughts STW?

Rent is realistic, I think. Dorking is nice. You might find somewhere in Wescott, which puts you a very short ride/20 min walk from Dorking town and also right on the start of loadsa trails.

2nd westcott/ dorking (you 'might' be able to buy there) worth considering Reigate as its a nicer town IMO but has a serious price premium. Still great riding from there too. Lovely part of the country to live
(reigate will put you closer to Redhill train station for a good london commute line)

It's worth remembering that the Dorking branch of the South West Trains service is a bit of a pain – there are fewer trains than on the Leatherhead branch as it's the end of the line.

I would imagine Leatherhead rents might be lower than Dorking's as it's not quite as nice, but have never really looked.

You will easily get a flat for that here in Dorking and has more of a "small town" feel than Guildford
Riding is far better from Dorking
Dont go to Leatherhead – its the dog end of the Mole Valley

We live at the bottom of Ranmore so only 10 mins walk from station (mrs norris goes to Holborn everyday) thats the key as it makes journey much quicker as its not the speediest train service!

I can ride to all the best riding from my house
ie
Boxhill/Norbury Park/mickleham one way
ranmore another
redlands/leith/holmbury /pitch on a slightly longer ride.

Your problem with Dorking is that its on a slow train link into town, wish they still had a quick link. I live in Cobham which is a nice place with a few good pubs and is 40 mins on the train to waterloo. Prob about 25 mins to peaslake as well. On the same rail link is Effingham Junction, East Horsley etc. Cheaper than Cobham but depends if you want the 'town' convenience.

Edit: by the time i'd written that everyone else had pointed out the slow train issue 😳

Godalming?

You can cycle across to Newlands Corner or Peaslake via Wonersh .

You should easily find somewhere for £1k pcm. Fast trains from Guildford too.

I did Raynes Park/Wimbledon for a while. That feels roughly mid-way between the hills and town. You still can't ride after work really, but it isn't a PITA going in during the week and is pretty easy going out at the weekend.

All of the towns mentioned are quite nice places to live actually, crime is low, easy access to the countryside, well served town centres. From Guildford the train to Waterloo takes about 35 mins and goes every 15 mins approx. Guildford has quite a lot going on for it's size, Guilfest music festival, Surrey County show, cricket matches, lots of sports clubs.

From Guildford I can ride to Tunnel Hill, Surrey Hills, North Downs and the Devils Punchbole areas, so don't need a car to get a good ride out. The university is pretty big in Guildford and has recently opened a big new sports centre that's open to the public. The town centre has some good restaurants and pubs (the George Abbot is good for watching the rugby, I think it shows live tri nations matches). A couple of area's in Guildford that aren't too desirable to live in, Park Barn and Bellfields, but they're really not that bad. Lots of very nice areas. For around a grand a month you could buy a house/flat.

You also have lots of very attractive villages around Surrey but I wouldn't like to say what rental availability is like. These smaller villages seem to all have huge houses that command huge rents.

And the riding is far far better from Guildford 😀

Shalford is nice, alightly south of Guildford if you want something a bit more 'villagey' but only a couple of minutes from Guildford, has a station with hourly direct links to Redhill/Dorking/Gatwick and Guildford/Reading, the right side of Guildford for the hills too.

Really depends on how important the commute is compared to the location and whether you want a central location, or a more rural one. There are plenty of nice villages around there, Wonersh, Shamley Green, Chilworth etc, or Cranleigh's more like a town, very close to the hills, but no rail station and 20 minutes from Guildford.

I live in Woking which is still big enough to have plenty of amenities, but way smaller than Guildford. I picked it over Guildford as Guildford is sufficiently large that most places are a drive, and to live near the station you're effectively in the town centre. 25 mins to Waterloo, and trains and every 3-5 minutes at peak – but it's further to Surrey Hills (25 min drive to the Youth Hostel car park). Still there's Horsell Common if you want a local ride.

Woking is also far cheaper, as it's less desirable, but the train service is fantastic, I always commute from Woking if I'm going up to London. As above though, further from the riding, and not convenient by train if you don't have a car? Still just about the balance between work/riding locations.

Ashtead? 37 mins from Waterloo, 18 in a car to White Down or about 10 by train to Dorking/Westhumble.

Having lived in both Woking and Guildford I would recommend Woking for the commute but Guildford for the riding.

You can get to Tunnel Hill from Woking but it's a bit of a slog along the canal. There is other riding out the back of Pirbright and you can get to Bracknell off road by bike if you fancy it. Horsell Common is fine for a blast in the evening but very sandy in summer and can be like a bog in winter.

You can ride to Newlands Corner and the North Downs direct fromm Guildford town centre and also link into Leith Hill area easily. Godalming and onwards to the Devils Punchbowm is another possibility.

Should be able to get something in Guildford town centre area for your budget. Both stations are then walkable as are all the amenities in town and the university.

Not sure of rental prices in Woking but of the two I do think Guildford edges it for night-life although the theatre in Woking is better and puts on much bigger West End type shows if that's your thing.

Esher – 20 mins to Waterloo. Local riding is OK a few decent parks, commons and woodland and 25 mins from the Surrey Hills.

It's a nice spot. Problem is compared to London all these places will feel like a walk back in time. It's all closed after 12 there's no good ethnic goodies and as for getting back home after midnight from town = Expensive cab.

Esher's got some nice Indians. Lots of posh girls in Ugg boots.

Just avoid north surrey (Sutton – Carshalton-Hackbridge-Mitcham) whatever you do. Do you remember when they leaked the BNP members' details a while ago? They all lived there. It's that kind of place. Very urban. Very deprived. And the Tory council just doesn't want to know.

And I won't hear a word said against Leatherhead! Except that the High Street is full of chavs by night and horrible old bags by day. Excellent bike shop though, Cycleworks, run by very knowledgeable Nick.

*Indian restaurants

jhw if you like an Indian restaurant this place does great food

http://www.cocumrestaurant.co.uk/ theres one in bridge rd east molesey

err jhw

Have you ever been to South Sutton. Plenty there over the £1-2M bracket, house wise. Only someone in the SE could call that deprived. Or much of Carshalton Beeches etc…etc….

Oh and Nick at CycleWorks has gone to Sigma sport.

On the postive side Leatherhead is a fine place to live and cycle. Not the tweest part of Surrey though.

And I won't hear a word said against Leatherhead! Except that the High Street is full of chavs by night and horrible old bags by day. Excellent bike shop though, Cycleworks, run by very knowledgeable Nick.

Agreed. Execpt it's run by Dave. Nick left. And fell to the darkside….

I'd avoid Esher if commuting into town is what you want. Either you live close to the station or close to town. I live in Walton which is similar but the station is, at least, only a 10 min walk from the town centre and you CAN live between the two. So yeah, Walton is good 😉

So we all agreed on Dorking then! 😛
4 indians
2 thais
1 chinese
1 malaysian
and 19 pubs 8)

Depends on the balance needed between commuting ease, night life and what sort, village/town, access to riding. I chose a village near Leatherhead

Maybe if the OP came back with more it would be easier….

Crawley?

its a bit of a dump, but that means its cheap, which means you can get somewhere really nice.

Its also <30 minutes drive to both the south downs and the north downs (or a 10 mile bike ride to leith hill) and has a 24hour train service so you can get back at whatever time you like from london.

Don't choose East Molesey what ever you do – Nothing to see here..

Crawley – It really does have little appeal. Having worked on a project there for several years I see no reason to live there unless for work and affordability reasons – though I'd still try to live in one of the very attractive nearby villages.

I'll get shot for saying this but Croydon.

If you lived towards/around Shirley Hills its actually quite nice. 15mins to the central London.

If you want to be able to ride to the trails from your front door, Ashtead, Leatherhead or Dorking.

If you don't mind a short drive/train ride to the trails, Ewell West is in Zone 6, only 30 minutes to Waterloo. Epsom is 1 stop further, but not in Zone 6.

Abinger Common 8)

You can get to Tunnel Hill from Woking but it's a bit of a slog along the canal. There is other riding out the back of Pirbright and you can get to Bracknell off road by bike if you fancy it. Horsell Common is fine for a blast in the evening but very sandy in summer and can be like a bog in winter.

slog? fast as, now they have surfaced the canal path.. nice warm up from you get to tunnel hill etc

Woking ok to live in and you only need to go to the horrible town centre if you are going to the station… 25min into waterloo with a fast train every 5 of mins at peak times.

Guildford nicer town though..

Leatherhead / Dorking / Ashtead (particularly) are fine if you're looking for somewhere to go and die of boredom, but the closer to London you get the more "life" you have. I went to school in Leatherhead and grew up near there. Certainly wouldn't live there if you don't have a family and expect to go out occasionally. Plus the train service becomes superwank in the evening / weekends with frequency of trains being approx. nil.

Personally I chose Surbiton for ease of commute – can ride into Bank in London in well under an hour, frequent trains and is 20 mins from Waterloo (where someone above got Esher as 20 I don't know), and by car it's around 25-30 mins to the start of the Surrey Hills riding. Furthest reasonably as a 34 year-old chap I'd want to be out of London as I'd go mental without the social aspects. Can still get to the riding easily enough.

Esher has a fast service 23 mins but your right Surbiton is a little less dead for damn sure.

cheers for all the advice chaps, appreciated 🙂 'tis just a thought exercise at the moment, it all depends if we decide to stay in the UK or go back to Oz next year… if we're staying, then I want to move out of London a bit, seeing as I can't convince my partner to move North (too cold apparently 🙁 )

What sort of price are train tickets into the center of london from these areas?
I'm thinking monthly or annual tickets for commuters.

think my wifes is 210 or something monthly to london from dorking.

Ouch!

then I want to move out of London a bit, seeing as I can't convince my partner to move North

Don't. Its not even on the same planet as the South East IMO.

packer – Member
What sort of price are train tickets into the center of london from these areas?
I'm thinking monthly or annual tickets for commuters.

Surbiton-Waterloo. £139 per month.

Woking to Waterloo without zone 1 underground (i cycle rather use tube) is £2,440 pa that was actually down from previous year….

all the prices for annual season tickets are on the south west trains webshite

I am quite maused by the numbers of people talking about driving out to the North Downs/ Surrey Hills from places like Epsom/ Ewell/ Esher as you're pretty much out there – you're less than 5 miles away. Next you'll be saying that you drive out along the M3 to get to Peaslake.