Anyone living near Dorking and communting into London?

[Gwen11ian]

Hi all,

The husband and I are looking at buying a house in the Dorking area this spring. The problem is that we both work in the city, and I'm a bit worried about the commute. I work in Richmond and he works near London Bridge.

I've looked the travel times up on TFL, but I was wondering if anyone knows the real time it takes to get back and forth between Dorking and the city. Any experiences or warnings?

[NOG]

Before you work out the times you need to get a hammer,
Take hammer in left hand hold out at arms length and quickly hit yourself in the face with the hammer. Now put £10 in envelope and sent it to me for the priviladge. Do this twice daily and that will be less painful and cheaper than your commute.

[bramble]

How unhelpful was that.

[tootles]

How unhelpful was that.

I bet it's true though!!

[bubblewrap]

Did the computing bit 1967-71 Ilford - kings Cross glad I got out & that was an easy journey.I was working on the railway too so the fares were cheap.

[Gwen11ian]

A bit of what I imagine it will be like. The issue is it's just so quiet and beautiful down there, and I can have a huge back yard to devote to veg growing (instead of a ten+ year wait for an allotment in Richmond).

[bubblewrap]

You would never get me living anywhere in the south east corner of England.
London is only a hour & a half away if I wish to visit.

[SlugLobber]

Before you work out the times you need to get a hammer,
Take hammer in left hand hold out at arms length and quickly hit yourself in the face with the hammer. Now put £10 in envelope and sent it to me for the priviladge. Do this twice daily and that will be less painful and cheaper than your commute.

Agreed. The train from Dorking takes 1hr to get to London Victoria/Waterloo. So, not including your journey to and from the mainline station, you will have a 2hr daily commute. These lines are always the worst affected by weather, too and if you dare to enter London for a social occasion, then prepare to leave concerts and events early, as trains down here stop earlier than anywhere else. I can get to Brighton in the early hours from Victoria, but the last I looked, trains to Dorking stopped at 23:20something. I went to Olympia HOYS in December and had to leave an hour before it finished. Wembley Arena events are simply off the list, now, as we got sick of missing the last train!

I travelled to work for the Christmas party in December (I work between Sutton and Banstead). It took me over 2hrs, I walked to Dorking station (with no buses overtaking me) and from Sutton station (same thing, no buses came past!).

A lot of people do commute from Dorking, but most do not drive to the station, as car parking there is at a premium. If you like the area (and I do, despite the travel to London problem!), consider going a teeny bit further out, then at least you have a chance of a seat on the train! Ockley is on the same line, but much quieter, whilst East of Dorking (Reigate) has better connections to the City.

Good luck!

[FionaH]

These lines are always the worst affected by weather, too and if you dare to enter London for a social occasion, then prepare to leave concerts and events early, as trains down here stop earlier than anywhere else. I can get to Brighton in the early hours from Victoria, but the last I looked, trains to Dorking stopped at 23:20something. I went to Olympia HOYS in December and had to leave an hour before it finished. Wembley Arena events are simply off the list, now, as we got sick of missing the last train!

I live a bit further down the line. I dont commute thank heavens but SL is quite right about the last train, its hopeless. SL you can get back from Olympia, if you dont mind sitting about for an hour at Clapham!!

[Glutton4...]

You would never get me living anywhere in the south east corner of England.
London is only a hour & a half away if I wish to visit.

The area is lovely BW (although not Ilford lol!) but it now takes me the same time to get into London as it does you!

How times have changed; when I was at school we could get to London and back on a coach day trip (Museum/Zoo etc) during school hours. Nowadays they have to start early and get back after tea! All because of the volume of traffic on the roads.

I don't use public transport - we don't get any round here!

Sorry, kinda lost the thread of the subject didn't I - I feel sorry for anyone who has to commute for work, one of my customers does, and she says it takes the whole weekend to get her sanity back each week!

[SlugLobber]

SL you can get back from Olympia, if you dont mind sitting about for an hour at Clapham!!

For next year, we have inside info that it's easy to travel from Putney. Kind of defeats the object of using public transport, though!!!

Sorry if we paint a grim picture of the area, Gwen. Commuting aside, it's a beautiful area. It's just that Dorking itself is notoriously lacking in transport. Strangely, I can get a bus practically outside my door to Guildford and from Betchworth, a direct train to Reading is very quick!

[Gwen11ian]

Thank you so much for the very useful information. It's one thing to think about train times, but quite another in day to day reality. We're actually looking at three different houses currently on the market near Gomshall, so it is a bit outside Dorking.

It sounds like a very painful journey.. but I have to decide if the evening and weekend beauty can out weigh that.

I want a garden, a big dog, and a house out in the countryside.

[Snadger]

Before you work out the times you need to get a hammer,
Take hammer in left hand hold out at arms length and quickly hit yourself in the face with the hammer. Now put £10 in envelope and sent it to me for the priviladge. Do this twice daily and that will be less painful and cheaper than your commute.

Lol!!!

Hammers for sale £20 each........use new hammer each day!

[NOG]

Sorry forgot to add...£18.50 if you want 1st class....it's just as painful as the £10 hit but you get to do it sitting down.