11 Plus Exams Forum

Hi

we are planning to move nearer to TGS if our daugter gets place

Which is the good place to live between Sevenoaks and Turnbridge Wells?

Closer to London is better

Not sure what are the travel timing between these places to school and to central London

I heard Seven oaks is more expensive to buy or to rent house.

Where is the good returns for properties comparing with Sevenoaks and
Turnbridge wells over the last 5 years

Some may think it's not property market place

I am not here to debate Please

Sorry if I have asked here too much

Hope some local parents can help

My wife is in NHS and I work in London

Please guide

Thanks

Hi curiouscuppa, been here all my life so may be able to help a bit!

If you go towards Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells you are moving further away from London. Sevenoaks has excellent travel into London but is expensive, travel from Tonbridge is good too, about ten minutes longer but excellent service, and the houses are a bit cheaper. Once you start using Tunbridge Wells station the service isn't as good into London but there are some lovely houses. All worth considering.

Travel for your daughter from Sevenoaks to Tonbridge would be fine either a very short train journey or there are buses. Loads and loads of children will be doing the same journey so don't worry about that - it becomes part of their social life.

If you need to be nearer London look at Orpington, just a bit up from Sevenoaks, property a bit cheaper, excellent travel into London and travel to Tonbridge direct through on the train and again plenty of children doing it.

Hope this helps.

Thanks doodles
I haven't thought about Orpington
How long is the travel from Orpington to tgs by bus or train

There is also a train line that runs east west ish london - redhill - south godstone - edenbridge - tonbridge

That's not a complete list of stops. There some places cheaper than sevenoaks along that line e.g. Edenbridge and that also has two stations with the more central station having shorter london journey times.

Curiouscuppa can I ask which London mainline station is best for you? As Sevenoaks, Edenbridge, Orpington serve several different termini! For example Sevenoaks to Cannon Street or Waterloo / Charing Cross is around half an hour but nearby is Otford which is a great village with a station that goes directly into Victoria - slower than the Sevenoaks line but direct so no tube.

I'm not sure of the travel time to TOGS from Orpington but it should be pretty easy to google and lots of children travel to the Tonbridge schools on that train line. You could call the school and see if they have many girls coming in from there.

doodles wrote:Curiouscuppa can I ask which London mainline station is best for you? As Sevenoaks, Edenbridge, Orpington serve several different termini! For example Sevenoaks to Cannon Street or Waterloo / Charing Cross is around half an hour but nearby is Otford which is a great village with a station that goes directly into Victoria - slower than the Sevenoaks line but direct so no tube.

I'm not sure of the travel time to TOGS from Orpington but it should be pretty easy to google and lots of children travel to the Tonbridge schools on that train line. You could call the school and see if they have many girls coming in from there.

Thanks Doodle canon street or Victoria both work out for me as my work place near marble arch.

Curiuosappa - the commuting services from Tunbridge Wells to Canon Street are actually very good. A lot of rush hour trains are fast from High Brooms to LB, not stopping at Tonbridge. Living in TW also opens up the TW boys/girls grammars as options for younger siblings, as they are very tight catchment rather than superselectives.

We live south of TW on the main Hastings line (just north of Battle) and our DS will be travelling by train to TGS, along with a train-full of other kids travelling up to TGS/Weald/Judd in Tonbridge, and Skinners/Bennett in TW. My wife commutes in to CS/LB twice a week and it's 1h10 each way.

Hope that is useful.

How would your daughter get to school? Orpington is about £185 per half term in the train to Tonbridge, whereas Sevenoaks is about £90 per half term. The bus is a fixed £250 a year but isnt that flex on times.

Tonbridge is cheaper than Sevenoaks... Have a look at the National Rail site as that has route maps too.

HTH

hi uncle Bob

We relocated for TGS over the summer as my DD has just started year 7. yes i know relocating for a school seems crazy, but if you're living in London, under a flight path and fancy somewhere quieter and a school that is significantly better for your DD than any available in London, then relocation isnt (totally) insane.

We quickly discounted Tonbridge as an area of choice and settled on Tunbridge wells. despite Tonbridge having better connections, it just wasnt as nice. The school splits children geographically, so most of the girls that DD is friends with live in the general TW area, and I imagine that Sevenoaks would be the same.

Commuting into London has been fine, although I do often wish that we were had decided on sevenoaks which would give me an extra 30 minutes. However it is worth noting that trains to/from sevenoaks are busier and most days all TW commuters get seats and all Sevenoaks commuters get to stand.

it works for me as I only do it 2/3 days a week, I wouldn't want to do it every day.

Property prices are similar, but you cant get a decent garden near the station in tunbridge wells. We are renting for the first year while we decide where to settle. That has been a good decision so far. let me know if you want more details.

UncleBob wrote:How would your daughter get to school? Orpington is about £185 per half term in the train to Tonbridge, whereas Sevenoaks is about £90 per half term. The bus is a fixed £250 a year but isnt that flex on times.

Tonbridge is cheaper than Sevenoaks... Have a look at the National Rail site as that has route maps too.

HTH

Does anyone's DC use a train season ticket with 'PLUSBUS' to cover bus journeys to/from train stations? Is it economical v purchasing separate season train and bus tickets/passes?

Once I know which school DS will be attending, I'll explore pricing in detail via the relevant ticket offices, but I'd be interested to know if parents have found a combined train/bus ticket worthwhile, particularly when commuting to the West Kent grammars using train as the principal mode of transport.

Our nearest station is Bat & Ball in Sevenoaks but the trains to/from Sevenoaks Station are not that frequent (or reliable) for connections to and from Tonbridge/ T Wells, so I expect DS would use the bus quite often...