Guildford One Of The Top Places To Raise Children

Published on: 1 Oct, 2012
Updated on: 1 Nov, 2012

New Mother’s exercise on Shalford’s Village Green

By Flora Windebank

Guildford has always been a popular place for families to settle in, but now its desirability has been confirmed. The town has made the Top 20 in a new report that highlights the best places in the UK to bring up children.

The second annual ‘Family Friendly Hotspots’ Report is based on an analysis of 2,400 postcodes across England and Wales and identifies the top 20 postcodes offering the essentials of family living, such as schools and childcare provision, low crime figures, and property affordability.

Surrey, generally, came out well in the report, Lightwater also making it into the top 20. Wokingham, in Berkshire came top.

Craig Staniland, Chairman of the Tormead Junior School Parents Association, spoke about why he felt Guildford was such a fantastic place to raise children. He said: “Guildford is not only a very pleasant and safe place to live, but there’s such a lot to do. There’s a good centre for shopping and lots of activities, especially with places like Spectrum where kids can go swimming, ice-skating or bowling. The facilities at Surrey sports park are at an Olympic level standard. There is also a large choice of schools, both state and private.

“The only downside is the expense. Guildford does tend to be on the pricier side, but for a lot of people the excellent facilities and transport links make living here worth it.”

To support the report, Family Investments (the company behind it) have released an online web tool, where you can put in your own postcode and find out how your local area is performing in many areas such as education, crime rate and local amenities. The tool also allows parents to search for the perfect location to bring up their children, based on their own personal preferences. The tool can be found here.