Experience of good areas to move to in Surrey/Hampshire and prep schools nearby? Post Reply

[nvmof3]

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!

[CharlotteAbbb]

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

[SheltonBeckfield]

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

[CharlotteAbbb]

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..

[Halael]

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.

[Shaftsburymum]

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!!