# Many questions on moving to the UK



## moving soon (May 8, 2009)

Hello!
My wife, 2 year old son and I are moving to the UK from India. We had a few questions, sure hope someone can help!

a) Where to live? I'm going to be working near Ashford, Kent but want to live in Greater London and commute to Kent. What are the ideal places for a family with a young child? What will be the average costs for a 3 Bed, and can we get one with 2 bath?

b) Child Care: What are the best options for child care if my wife also works?How expensive is private day care versus having a part time nanny? Are child minders a good option? We've read about child care tax benefits. Can anyone throw some light on this?

c) Is it possible for us to get other domestic help? Cooking, Cleaning etc. Just trying to replicate our life here as close as possible!

Many thanks!


----------



## Tallulah (Feb 16, 2009)

moving soon said:


> Hello!
> My wife, 2 year old son and I are moving to the UK from India. We had a few questions, sure hope someone can help!
> 
> a) Where to live? I'm going to be working near Ashford, Kent but want to live in Greater London and commute to Kent. What are the ideal places for a family with a young child? What will be the average costs for a 3 Bed, and can we get one with 2 bath?
> ...


Why would you want to consider living in Greater London when your options for all of the above would be far greater and less expensive if you considered Kent? There are many properties around the Ashford area closer to your place of work on new developments - you're looking around £190/£200k. Ashford is well served by many nurseries, schools both primary and secondary. Good hospital - William Harvey Hospital. Lots of agencies for cleaning, etc - or you will be able to find someone outside of an agency too. Have a look at Right Move and look at the properties available within that area. 
Regards,
Tallulah.


----------



## moving soon (May 8, 2009)

Tallulah said:


> Why would you want to consider living in Greater London when your options for all of the above would be far greater and less expensive if you considered Kent? There are many properties around the Ashford area closer to your place of work on new developments - you're looking around £190/£200k. Ashford is well served by many nurseries, schools both primary and secondary. Good hospital - William Harvey Hospital. Lots of agencies for cleaning, etc - or you will be able to find someone outside of an agency too. Have a look at Right Move and look at the properties available within that area.
> Regards,
> Tallulah.


Hi Tallulah,
Thanks for the quick response. You do make a fair point... however, the main reason we want to be in the greater London area is that my wife plans to look for work as well and being a marketing (FMCG) professional, the chances of her finding work in London are probably better than in Kent. 
As for the prices of properties, we should have specified that we are looking at renting, not buying. 
What part of the UK are you from? 
Regards.


----------



## Tallulah (Feb 16, 2009)

moving soon said:


> Hi Tallulah,
> Thanks for the quick response. You do make a fair point... however, the main reason we want to be in the greater London area is that my wife plans to look for work as well and being a marketing (FMCG) professional, the chances of her finding work in London are probably better than in Kent.
> As for the prices of properties, we should have specified that we are looking at renting, not buying.
> What part of the UK are you from?
> Regards.


I'm living in Spain now - but was born and raised in Kent!!! Rentals in a "decent" area of Ashford for that type of property (bearing in mind a semi-detached) around £625/£670 per month - detached property being a lot more. Lots of Estate Agents in Ashford can point you in the right direction - Wards, Your Move, etc etc. All listed in the local paper which you can access online - Kent Messenger is a good source of information. Links from Ashford to London are good also - check out areas closer, such Maidstone or Tonbridge - all good easy links M20/A20 London to Ashford and London commuter routes via train station. Lots of surrounding smaller towns and villages too.
Regards,
Tallulah.


----------



## Tallulah (Feb 16, 2009)

Tallulah said:


> I'm living in Spain now - but was born and raised in Kent!!! Rentals in a "decent" area of Ashford for that type of property (bearing in mind a semi-detached) around £625/£670 per month - detached property being a lot more. Lots of Estate Agents in Ashford can point you in the right direction - Wards, Your Move, etc etc. All listed in the local paper which you can access online - Kent Messenger is a good source of information. Links from Ashford to London are good also - check out areas closer, such Maidstone or Tonbridge - all good easy links M20/A20 London to Ashford and London commuter routes via train station. Lots of surrounding smaller towns and villages too.
> Regards,
> Tallulah.


Also, check out this website which may be of use to you - should list all the services/information you require:

Ashford.gov.uk - 

Regards,
Tallulah.


----------



## Punktlich2 (Apr 30, 2009)

moving soon said:


> Hello!
> My wife, 2 year old son and I are moving to the UK from India. We had a few questions, sure hope someone can help!
> 
> a) Where to live? I'm going to be working near Ashford, Kent but want to live in Greater London and commute to Kent. What are the ideal places for a family with a young child? What will be the average costs for a 3 Bed, and can we get one with 2 bath?
> ...


If you have no existing affinity to any particular London area, then you might want to look at areas (Isle of Dogs?) where excessive new building and off-plan speculation has led to deep cuts in both selling and rental prices. 

As for child care: be aware that you can bring with you on a domestic-servant visa a nanny or domestic who has been working for you abroad for one year. See:
Overseas domestic workers (INF 17)
We got such a visa for our nanny years ago and she now is a British citizen with a family, just finished a course and was immediately hired by a major hotel. So she is good.

You can find help locally, but it's not easy to get loyalty and dedication.


----------



## moving soon (May 8, 2009)

Punktlich2 said:


> If you have no existing affinity to any particular London area, then you might want to look at areas (Isle of Dogs?) where excessive new building and off-plan speculation has led to deep cuts in both selling and rental prices.
> 
> As for child care: be aware that you can bring with you on a domestic-servant visa a nanny or domestic who has been working for you abroad for one year. See:
> 
> ...


Thanks Punktlich2.


----------



## moving soon (May 8, 2009)

Tallulah said:


> Also, check out this website which may be of use to you - should list all the services/information you require:
> 
> 
> Regards,
> Tallulah.


Thanks, now I understand the reason for the hard sell ;-). 
Jokes apart, it's inputs like this that will really help us make up our mind.


----------



## Tallulah (Feb 16, 2009)

moving soon said:


> Thanks, now I understand the reason for the hard sell ;-).
> Jokes apart, it's inputs like this that will really help us make up our mind.


Really - not trying to sell Ashford to you per se!! Kent's a beautiful county though - lots of lovely little villages and amenities on your doorstep. 

Wishing you all the best with your move,
Tallulah.


ps - just an aside after chatting with my husband about this. He was brought up and lived and worked in London in his 20s, which although it was a little while ago (not that long ago!!) he believes things are worse, not better. He has said to me that he would unreservedly, knowing what he knows today, being in your situation and us having lived in Kent surrounded by a very cosmopolitan community, that he would utterly dismiss London now and stick with a commuter belt area. Although his experience is Kent in the latter stages of living and working in the UK, he believes any such area would apply. HIs points are : 
a) high speed links make getting to work in London as fast (no joke) as travelling from within London on transport there or driving
b) superior quality of life for the money outside of London
c) easier integration of ethnicities and cultures without any hint of excessive patriotism (bear in mind he is Spanish)
d) THIS IS THE BIG ONE!! Bringing up the kids, for all the above reasons plus school integration and lack of exposure to the London extremes. 

Bear in mind when you read this, that my husband was in London from ages 8 to 23, so he speaks with experience on this and all this, even though he was brought up in the Chiswick and Richmond area of London, so hardly the rough end, but he believes that today, inevitably, the rough end comes to you whereve you are.


----------



## moving soon (May 8, 2009)

Tallulah said:


> Really - not trying to sell Ashford to you per se!! Kent's a beautiful county though - lots of lovely little villages and amenities on your doorstep.
> 
> Wishing you all the best with your move,
> Tallulah.
> ...


Thanks Tallulah. Really appreciate the effort you've taken to give us your perspective. Did have a few questions in keeping with your thought about Kent being a better option.If we did indeed consider Kent, apart from Ashford, what in your view would be good places to stay. I've heard from friends about Canterbury Rochester and Seven Oaks but confess I am not too familiar with the other options. We would want to be on a commuter line since we have friends that live in London and my wife might have to go in for work so any suggestions for areas we should explore?


----------



## Tallulah (Feb 16, 2009)

moving soon said:


> Thanks Tallulah. Really appreciate the effort you've taken to give us your perspective. Did have a few questions in keeping with your thought about Kent being a better option.If we did indeed consider Kent, apart from Ashford, what in your view would be good places to stay. I've heard from friends about Canterbury Rochester and Seven Oaks but confess I am not too familiar with the other options. We would want to be on a commuter line since we have friends that live in London and my wife might have to go in for work so any suggestions for areas we should explore?


Hello again, Moving Soon,

You should know that the high speed rail link is due to start up between Ashford and London in December 2009 and cuts times from nearly 90 mins to just over 30 mins.

Canterbury is a beautiful historic place - lots of lovely shops and of course the cathedral - can get quite touristy, but always lots going on - private and state schools there. Serviced by a station as well. Can be expensive, so you might want to consider slightly just outside - Sturry.

Ashford area : Kingsnorth/Mersham/Kennington/Charing/Hamstreet all worthy of consideration. I wouldn't go as far as to recommend the actual town of Ashford - it's horses for courses really, but lots of schools, shops, hospital, etc etc as mentioned in my previous post. 

Rochester - can't really help you with.

SevenOaks - very expensive properties for sale - so can only imagine the price of the rental market there. 

Maidstone area is a good bet - again, lots of smaller villages around that area. Serviced by station with links to London direct. Large shopping centre in the town, supermarkets, schools, etc. You might want to consider looking around Bearsted - that's a lovely place as well and has a station also which goes via Maidstone station to London links. Then of course you have East and West Malling. Slightly cheaper would be around the Larkfield area. 

Tonbridge/Tonbridge Wells and its surrounding villages - of course, the price increases as you start heading closer to London. Again, serviced by station with links to London. Schools (grammar and college too).

Bear in mind that England, I suspect like many other places, has lots of (shall we say) micro societies, so that every place has all sorts - good and bad. The best villages will have questionable areas and the questionable areas of course have good spots. 

So, as you can see, these are only a few of the main towns on the commuter line to London - with the impending inauguration of the high speed rail link, that will cut commuting times dramatically. 

All of these towns will be served by borough councils of which information you can source from the internet for further information on services, etc.

If there are any further queries you have, please feel free to ask.

Tallulah.


----------



## Ogri750 (Feb 14, 2008)

You could also consider areas like Dartford, New Ash Green, Hartley, Sidcup etc. Prices will go up the closer you get to London

These are are still in Kent, but far closer to Greater London.

From any of those, it should only be a 45min (ish) commute to Ashford.


----------



## Tallulah (Feb 16, 2009)

Ogri750 said:


> You could also consider areas like Dartford, New Ash Green, Hartley, Sidcup etc. Prices will go up the closer you get to London
> 
> These are are still in Kent, but far closer to Greater London.
> 
> From any of those, it should only be a 45min (ish) commute to Ashford.


You a "Man/Maid of Kent" too, originally, Ogri750? 
Tallulah.x


----------



## Ogri750 (Feb 14, 2008)

ah, that is the question.

Is it man of Kent or Kentish Man?

Originally London but have lived in Kent for many years now. Well, until I bugged out to the UAE. 

North Kent - New Ash Green nr Bluewater and my wife is from Dover


----------



## Tallulah (Feb 16, 2009)

Ogri750 said:


> ah, that is the question.
> 
> Is it man of Kent or Kentish Man?
> 
> ...


Holy crap, Ogri!!! Yeah, it's supposed to be Maid/Man of Kent or Kentish Man/Maid depending on which side of the river, isn't it? Know those areas very well! Dover was only a short distance away from us - I was born in Ashford (for my sins!) and lived around that area, Broadstairs, Maidstone, Kingsnorth, before coming out here...small world!

Tallulah.x


----------



## Ogri750 (Feb 14, 2008)

I know Maidstone pretty well. I was at Invicta Park (36 Engineers) for a while in the 80's


----------



## moving soon (May 8, 2009)

Ogri750 said:


> I know Maidstone pretty well. I was at Invicta Park (36 Engineers) for a while in the 80's


Glad to see we could be of help in getting old neighbours together ;-)


----------



## Tallulah (Feb 16, 2009)

moving soon said:


> Glad to see we could be of help in getting old neighbours together ;-)


Apologies for drifting slightly from the thread, there - it's an very small world - you'll probably find this too when you've been on here for a while, Moving Soon! 

Anyway I hope you found something informative within there.

Regards,
Tallulah.


----------

