Hi Charlotte,
We are in the same position. Looked at Haslemere etc but the proximity to the sea and New Forest clinched it and we decided on Winchester in the end. Now to find a rental property which seem fairly non existent!!

Hi Charlotte! Just out of curiosity, what village outside Winchester have you settled on? My husband and I are in the exact same position as you- searching the Surrey/Hampshire area and we love both Winchester (and not in those counties but Chichester as well). Good luck with your move- Winchester is right at the top of our list too, it’s such a beautiful place and seems to have the right combination of everything you’d want.

Shelton what makes you say that? Would be interested to know. From our perspective it ticks all boxes, the countryside is stunning, it gets more beautiful the further west you go but Winchester is as west as we can go and still commute into London easily, there are frequent trains into waterloo on a fast line, excellent parking at the station, the fast trains have no stops and less than an hour into London, there are good prep schools nearby, secondary day independent not so much but we’ll be in a village outside winchester (the London side) and where we want to live there are buses which will take the children to excellent independent secondary day schools within 30mins towards petersfield and Basingstoke directions - and if boarding then there’s a much larger area of course. I’ve tussled long and hard in my head as haslemere area would be equally convenient (or inconvenient!) commute wise and would be staying within our comfort zone as I know there are a lot of sw London families there that we would have a lot in common with, but despite everything on paper haslemere and surrounding area was just a bit too built up still for us, reminded me of Wimbledon - it is a gorgeous place don’t get me wrong - it’s just for us we realised we wanted something a bit more of a country feel and that required going further out. Sorry rambling on but I can’t see what’s not to like about Winchester and surrounding area! But maybe I’ve got my blinkers on..

Not heard good reviews and would go for a more stable and well-regarded place.

Update from me - thanks so much everyone for your replies, the positives and the negatives, really helpful! This was definitely not a lockdown decision for us, we’ve been planning for years just waiting for husband to get senior enough to have the flexibility to work from home more. We’re just fed up of London, lived here for 12 years and absolutely loved it for 10 but the last two we want us and our children to be in a different environment and all of the inconveniences of living outside don’t outweigh the benefits for us. I have many good friends who have no intention of leaving London ever though so I can see it from both sides!
Anyway, after much research and many weekends driving round Haslemere, petersfield etc, we’ve settled on Winchester! Will no doubt take us a while to find a house but glad to have found our ‘forever’ area at last

We made the move from NappyValley to Haslemere in 2014 (still enjoy checking in with NVN every so often). Kids were at Honeywell in London. Moved them to Highfield and Brookham here. Husband was commuting 5 days a week until lockdown and I worked in London c. 2 days per week.

Positives:
- seeing kids thrive in bigger space, more sport, more music, etc
- 5 trains per hour from Haslemere (this is more important than journey time imo). Journey is c55 mins on train.
- most other parents at school have moved from London at some point so they are open to friendship. Friends who moved further eg Dorset, found themselves left out for not being part of the “locals”
- time on train to read/do emails/ audiobooks etc.

Negatives
- hot housing market - tricky to find the dream house

Re schools, I think a lot depends on the end game. We wanted ours to go to a major league public school at 13+. Highfield is probably the best feeder for those around here as that is the norm. Only a few leave at 11 for local day school options or girls boarding. Other schools that say they cater for 13+ tend to have very few that stay on past year 6 and struggle to put a sports team together in Y7 and 8. Reality is that all the preps here are great but some have different end games as the norm.
State options here are also good. Bohunt (secondary) is meant to be excellent and I’ve heard great things about Midhurst Rother. The primaries in Haslemere (Camelsdale, Shottermill and St Barts) all have great reputations too.
Feel free to PM me.

Haslemere is a lovely place to live, as is Fernhurst, Milland, and villages around. Liphook is not as nice IMO.

Good luck!

Agree with the recommendations above from Lady Lucy. I both taught in Surrey and sent my children to school there so am quite in the loop... I hope this helps:

There are absolutely tonnes of good preps. A few are quite old fashioned and friends moving out from London used to the generally very innovative preps with high quality enthusiastic teachers found some of the preps down in Surrey/Hampshire a bit behind the times or more sleepy.

Avoid The Royal - it has been really struggling and re-branded/re-configured itself so many times to keep going. Not heard good reviews and would go for a more stable and well-regarded place.

In terms of your question about where do pupils go after these schools, obviously look at the leavers' destination pages of the website. There is huge choice in Surrey but it will mean more travelling than you are used to in London. Lots of senior day pupils get the train to their school and it is a fun social time.
Senior schools are either 11+ or 13+:
11+ schools: Churcher's, Guildford High (girls), St Cats (girls), Tormead (girls), Prior's Field (girls, less academic), King Edward's Witley, Royal Grammar School (boys), Farnborough Hill (girls), Salesian (boys)
13+ schools: Charterhouse, Cranleigh (or send away to other public boarding schools)
Either 11+ or 13+: Seaford College (good for SEN), Frensham Heights/Beadales (alternative, liberal schools), St John's Leatherhead, Epsom College, Reeds (boys)


Prep schools
Cobham/Esher area: Danes Hill (known as quite flashy but v strong academics, fun school), Feltonfleet (great easy location, traditional prep, good size and successful), Downsend, Parkside boys, Ripley Court
Guildford area: Guildford High girls (academic, similar style to Putney High etc in London), Tormead girls (Latymer Upper head has just taken over), Lanesborough boys (super reputation), Rydes Hill 
Godalming area: St Hilary's (but watch out for their narrow leaver's destinations), St Catherine's Bramley girls (v v traditional but right for the right families), Aldro (7+ traditional but going co-ed)
Haslemere/Liphook: Highfield & Brookham (really popular suddenly, amazing grounds, hot destination for Clapham parents it seems at the moment!), St Edmund's (goes to 16 now, known as being less academic), Amesbury (traditional fun prep), Churchers (all through, reasonably academic), St Ive's (used to be good but struggling with numbers, good leaver's destinations)
 

Question also about The Royal in Hindhead (Senior school not Junior).  Does anyone who has moved out have any knowledge/opinion of this school please?    

And also curious where do your kids typically go on to from the prep schools mentioned above?

thank you!

 

SouthLondonDaddy has just made me laugh out loud! He is so right that everyone goes on about how amazing it is where they live.... People always look pityingly at us living in town and we look pityingly at those that have moved! My husband and I grew up in the countryside - we are never ever going to live there and I couldn't bear being the wifey at home with a husband who is basically away all week.  We have friends who are extraordinarily happy on the Surrey/Hampshire border though and it is a lovely part of the world!

Hi

Sorry to jump on this post but does anyone also have good information about secondary schools in those areas, both state and private? Thanks

Chinthurst in Tadworth is a good prep school! 
 Lucinda WilliamsPrivate language tutor M: + 44 7949 245 335E: lucinda@privatelanguagetutor.comW:www.privatelanguagetutor.com

I agree with SouthLondonDaddy.

Pls wait for things to get back to normal before making such an important decision. People have extrapolated a small window of time and think this is the new normal.

You also hit the nail on the head regarding door to door time. Also, colleagues rushing to the station after work drinks because of the ‘last fast train’. Love that.

One important thing to remember. If you are no longer required in London 5 days a week, your employer is no longer required to pay a London salary. Look at Facebook and a number of other organisations reviewing their WFH practise and cost base.

Trust me, this cost review is happening. If your job can be done whilst you live in Wales, Cheshire, Winchester... it can be done a lot cheaper as well. If you think you have a special skill set, I would happily come back to this post in 5 years and be proved wrong.

But since I am privy to a lot of senior management discussions, I can assure you “out of sight is out of mind”.

Forgot to say feel free to PM as we’re literally on Hampshire/Surrey Border.
My London commute was easily an hour by the time I’d battled my way on to the sixth train to go past!! Will never miss that!!!

Not sure how far you are looking to move out. We moved to Thames Ditton just over a year ago for a bigger house. Love still being by the river, being able to walk to pubs and good restaurants. It has the villagey feel of Wandsworth Town, where we moved from. I personally didn’t want to be too far out (for the, slightly pessimistic, reasons given above) but here you feel a out of the hectic buzz (walking over Hampton Court bridge in the mist is a sight) but can be back in Clapham Junction in 15 mins from Surbiton - which you can walk to and has lots of trains an hour. Many good schools. It just depends how rural your heart is taking you. X

OMG South London Daddy that is not the question she asked!! We moved out three months ago and I hate to say it but it really has been the best thing we’ve done EVER! In fact went out to dinner with five other Mums, all of whom had just moved from London all of whom we’re saying best thing they’ve ever done and nothing we miss about London at all. We also all work as well as our husbands in this group! Literally the only drawback I can think is taxis are expensive so less drinking but hey I should probably be looking after my liver at this point in my life
Anyway, back to schools. Churcher’s in Liphook is apparently a very good school and very good value compared to other fee paying schools. We know a lot at Highfield but personally for me it seemed a bit too traditional and I wasn’t keen on school on Saturdays. Amesbury is meant to be a lovely school but I preferred Edgeborough which has a fantastic head and what appeared a modern outlook but while still retaining some traditional values. There’s apparently quite a waiting list now though so you’d have to get in early. St Edmunds was also appealing going up to 18 but Edgeborough still had the edge (excuse the pun!) for me.
Good luck with the move, we honestly feel like we’ve died and gone to heaven