UrsTX

One possible place we'll end up with work is in Bracknell - We don't really want to live in the city. Anyone have suggestions on where to live near there?

Rebster

Hubby worked in Bracknell when we were first married. We lived in Lower Earley (Reading.) It's a very suburban area and not for everyone, but very convenient. We then moved out to Sonning - the Twyford/Sonning area was a lovely place to live! Perfect if you're wanting more of a "village" feel.

I don't recall where all of hubby's co-workers lived but I do remember one man lived in Aldershot. Nice place and not a bad commute.

tim010

As the previous poster suggested Lower Earley is a very nice area to live in. It can be a little bit too suburban and I never felt there was lots to do there as there are simply a lot of houses and not much else! The area is quite expensive though.

Woodley is quite nice and is also within easy range of Bracknell.

On the other side of Bracknell there are some lovely areas around Ascot and Windsor but these will be more expensive than other areas.

PM me if you want any specific info as I know Bracknell and the surrounding areas very well as I used to live and work around there.

Tim

ann m

Bracknell itself is a 1960's "new town" and therefore, shall we say, is not the most architecturally attractive place

But - in it's defence it has pretty good facilities in or nearby (Waitrose, John Lewis, cinemas and leisure pool to name a few), and is of a decent enough size to provide employment, and with other places like Reading and Windsor and Guildford all within easy striking distance, I think it's a good base.

Other people with more local knowledge will give you the low-down on the outlying areas and villages - of which there are plenty of pretty ones to pick.

Good luck

livinginreality

We lived in Wokingham for just over a year around 3 years ago.We really liked it there actually.It has a nice small town centre,major supermarkets,library,good schools ect.Its handy for Reading and London,close(ish)to airports,pretty much all you need really.The only reason we moved was because my husband changed jobs.Bracknell?Not a great place I'm afraid!

UrsTX

Thanks all - it's really helpful to have some eyes on the ground!

Looking at Sonning and Twyford area it looks quite nice. I'm afraid the suburbs of Reading don't appeal because we are coming from a US suburb where we can afford twice what we could get in the UK. I also would like to avoid having to drive everywhere. My thought was to exchange what we have for something more quaint or closer in to a city center. We'll be renting for quite awhile anyway, so we'll have time to check out a few areas before we try to get back on the property ladder.

Rebster

Sonning has a great pub (The Bull) by the Thames but not too much else. Twyford has great shops (Waitrose!) but also has the advantage of a train station. You could be in London in under an hour by rail. Of course you will also have buses that can get you into Reading if you wanted to hit the mall (Oracle.)

UrsTX

Yum - I love Waitrose. I still have all of my recipe cards from the last time we lived there. You know what is great, Google maps - I can actually look at all of the places online with pictures in that area. There's a picture of the Bull Inn in Sonning - is that it?

What about Wargrave? That looks really nice based on the photos online.

By the way, anyone have an idea how to find leases in smaller towns? Gumtree organizes by only the bigger ones...

Danny B

Bagshot, Lightwater, Sandhurst and Camberley are all nice areas within 5 miles of Bracknell.

geeandtee

Wargrave is lovely, but I'm not sure what kind of housing is on offer. i suspect there isn't much because of the geography. The River Loddon runs at the bottom of the hill and all of the houses along there are absurdly expensive. It's kind of built on the side of a hill so development is constrained by that and by a very strict 'no-development-outside-settlement-boundaries policy. I suspect it will be quite expensive. The Sultan of Oman (I think) owns the big Estate in the village. It's been a while since I was there. I used to work as a planner for Wokingham District Council so I knew the area quite well.

I used to live in Wokingham and it has a lovely big Waitrose now and some nice restaurants. The schools are good and the train is only one stop from Bracknell and you can be in London in an hour, by train and Heathrow in 45 minutes. There's also plenty of housing choice there, from quaint and old, to 1960s stuff and newer.

Sonning is very pretty, but expensive plus you have the dubious privilege of sharing the village with Uri Geller

katu

I know there is flooding in England at the mo, but if the river Loddon has made it to Wargrave we are all doomed

Wargrave is fairly expensive, but cheaper than Sonning, Henley, Shiplake etc.

If you are looking to rent, you can do far worse than Rightmove.co.uk, as far as I know nearly all estate/lettings agents post on there.

katu

UrsTX

Thanks for that! Rightmove does have more than gumtree. I think we'd want to be on the Wargrave side of Bracknell and I like the things I'm hearing about the area from Twyford up to Wargrave...

CandD

In a strange reversal of circumstances we are currently living in Twyford and are in the process of moving over to Austin, Tx, in fact just got back last week from a LSD Trip. We have been in Twyford for the past 18 months and prior to that were in Wargrave for 4 years. I can only recommend this area, we are really happy and if we weren’t given the opportunity to relocate to the USA we would be staying put!! The area has a great community, all the schools in the area are very good, good location for commuting to London, closed to M25, M4 & Heathrow. Personally I prefer Twyford to Wargrave for various reasons, one being I find the people in Twyford much friendlier. I do find for shopping variety we have to travel either to Reading, Maidenhead or Wokingham, shops are not as conveniently placed here as in Austin and that is about the only thing I complain about..lol! Companies to look at for leasing are http://www.parkersproperties.co.uk/, http://www.huntandnash.co.uk/, we are about to put our house on the market and will be using them and of course rightmove.co.uk. Please feel free to PM me if I can help you with any questions you have.

meauxna

Wow, I knew Austin was liberal, but oh my!
(you probably didn't mean that kind of LSD trip....)

CandD

Ooops..never noticed that.... LSD - Look, See, Decide!!