Hi all

Looking at Uckfield with a view to buying at some point in the future, anyone from the area have any information on the market there? I've been looking at Rightmove and see prices are cheaper than Surrey (where I am at the moment). Also anyone commute to London, whats the train service like.

Any info would be useful, thanks

Hi D12,

I live very close to Uckfield and am a regular commuter to London.
There are some very nice areas of Uckfield and some not so nice - the town itself still has a high street with independent stores and there is a Tesco and McD's - if they rattle your chain :-)) The surrounding countryside is beautiful - the Ashdown Forest is a few miles away. The main school is highly rated and gets very good results. The leisure centre is modern and well run.
Houses close to the forest are expensive - 750k for a 3 bedroom cottage with a bit of land.
Many estate agents flag 'incentives' on much local property and one of our neighbors who is an EA still says that they are very busy - doing what is anyones guess since FOR SALE signs seem to be growing roots on many properies.

The train service is superb. The only downside is that outside rush hour the service is hourly and the last train from London Bridge is around 10pm. If you want to do anything in London you have to drive to Tunbridge Wells - 16 miles or so and travel from there.

Lewes and Brighton are close by but the A roads are really B roads masqerading.

Not much info for you but if you need anymore let me know and I shall ask around.

Regards

Richard

Not much more to add.

I've got a friend who has a barn conversion there as a country retreat. Prices are "good value" compared to central London, but transport is not easy if you are commuting.

Beautiful countryside if you buy well and have nice views.
Take care re: planning permissions on neighboring properties...

I'm not from Uckfield myself, but been through the town many times. OK sort of town though not really that upmarket. The train service is pretty limited, despite some recent improvements. However there are ambitious proposals to re-open the line to Lewes which make real sense from an environmental standpoint....

http://home.clara.net/wealdenline/st_set.html

Whether these proposals ever see the light of day is another matter. Its seems that they have more vision in Scotland as regards re-opening old rail links.

It suffers from what I call 'typical middle sized not quite a proper town in Sussex' syndrome, just like Hailsham, Haywards Heath, Crowborough, Heathfield et al. Too big to have a village atmosphere and any sense of community spirit, or neighbours that you can know all the names of, but too small to actually have all the shops you need - there is a Boots for example but with a much reduced range of products 'oh no we don't sell those, no demand for it, you'd have to go to one of our larger stores like Brighton or Tunbridge Wells for that'. If you're going to live in a town, live in a proper town I say. Oh and because there's sod all for the local youth to do of an evening, apart from 'hanging out' there is a big chav problem as well. Not my cup of tea I'm afraid, but YMMV.

D12 - i know uckfield well. if your a regular london commuter have you ever considered horsham? minimal chav problem during the week, historic market place, reasonably affluent, most EA's per head of population in the country I believe, good mixture of local traders and big high store names. depending on your budget, very nice property for sale on the causeway. also great london commuter links and damn handy for gatwick!

Have lived near Uckfield and and then near Horsham in the past - Horsham far superior in terms of facilities, shops, transport. Probably reflected in prices.

Horsham is totally different to Uckfield, it's more like Tunbridge Wells in size and demographic. Uckfield is much smaller and considerably more downmarket.

hi everyone, thanks for all the information its really helpful.

I liked the idea of Uckfield as its a smaller town with a train station. Although looking at the network rail timetable the commute to london is 1.20, is this correct? At the moment my commute is 35 mins so obviously that is an issue. As for Uckfield being downmarket I'm currently living in Redhill, Surrey.

For anyone who knows both towns, surely Uckfield cannot be worse than Redhill!

In terms of property in the area are houses still selling? What I'm seeing in the Redhill area is alot of property stuck on rightmove with not much in the way of reductions. Some are still selling but usually they have to stand out from their peers in either price or location/condition.