Hinchley Wood is a green, leafy and friendly village with a convenience store, high quality butchers and bakery, parks and excellent transport links to London (my husband and I commute into London for our work). Thames Ditton village is a 10 minute walk and has a number of good pubs, restaurants and cafes as well as two lovely pubs directly on the river Thames.
Surbiton is a small but lively town 1 mile away with lots of restaurants, shops and pubs and direct access to the Thames River path to Kingston–Upon-Thames.
Thames Ditton and Surbiton both host Farmers Markets on a monthly basis throughout the year.
Kingston-upon-Thames is a 15 minute drive or 20 minute bus ride and is fantastic for shopping from high end to vintage, an amazing variety of pubs and restaurants with music gigs and comedy always available, walks along the river and also has the great Rose Theatre, which shows some superb productions.
Travelling into London is very easy, Hinchley Wood train station is a 5 minute walk and the trains run every 30 minutes taking 35 minutes to reach London Waterloo. Alternatively, there is a bus stop at the end of the road with buses every 10 minutes taking 10 minutes to reach Surbiton train station located in zone 6 so you can use travel cards or Oyster cards for daily/ weekly travel into and around London. There are approximately 10 trains into London per hour from Surbiton station some taking as little as 18 minutes to London Waterloo.
The average journey time to Heathrow and Gatwick Airports is 30 minutes.
London Waterloo is on the South Bank of the Thames, with the Royal Festival Hall, National Theatre, London Eye, restaurants and walks along the river. A short stroll across the river from Waterloo takes you to Trafalgar Square, the Mall, Green Park, Piccadilly, Regent Street, the theatres and shops of London's West End and Soho.
As well as London, we are within easy reach of some wonderful places of interest: you can cycle or take the bus to Hampton Court Palace, Bushy and Richmond Royal Parks (great cycle paths), Sandown Park race course or Hampton outdoor swimming pool. River boat cruises operate between Hampton Court Palace, Kingston-Upon-Thames and Richmond.
We are also close by car, bus or train to the Surrey Hills area of national beauty (and cycling heaven), several beautiful National Trust properties, RHS Wisley Gardens, Wimbledon, Twickenham and the south coast (Brighton, Bournemouth are approximately 1 hour away).
It is quite easy to reach cities and attractions such as Oxford, Bath, Salisbury and Stonehenge by car.