Can't see the wood for the trees! (Camberley in general)

Member Name: grahamt

Product:	Camberley in general
Date:	18/02/02 (3184 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great atmosphere, Good Facilities, Excellent motorway access

Disadvantages: Pricey property, Crap railway service

It wasn't my choice to come and live in Camberley.

I was born in the beautiful Essex village of Theydon Bois. I grew up with Epping Forest on my doorstep and surrounded by farms. Theydon Bois was then a friendly rural community despite the fact that it is connected to London via the Central Line. Although it was already becoming something of a commuter dormitory it still was a place where everyone knew everyone.

At the end of the Sixties I moved away from home. I moved to Liverpool with a change of job. The change could not have been more dramatic. Liverpool was then going through some bad times. Always a vibrant city, over the next 25 years I witnessed the transformation of the city from just the place that The Beatles came from to what is today a city anyone could be proud of.

For 15 years of that time I lived in Southport. It was here that I met my wife. Ironically it had been my childhood dream to live at the seaside. My ending up there was more an accident than a plan! I loved Southport; I still do even though I have probably moved away forever. It's a wonderful town, one of the best in the UK. I still feel "homesick"! Fortunately my in-laws still live there so there are plenty of excuses to visit.

So, how come we now live in Camberley? A number of circumstances conspired to make the move more a necessity than a choice.

I work for one of the biggest computer software companies in the World, an American organisation. They have offices all over the UK and Ireland. I worked in the Altrincham (Cheshire) office, commuting daily from Southport.

In fact, my job involved me more with a team based at Slough where our principal UK office was located. It was not unusual for me to either drive or fly (from Manchester) to Slough two or three times a week. This was very tiring although I did accumulate plenty of Airmiles and a BA Executive Club Gold Card in record time!

><br>My daughter had been a gymnast since she was five. She was a member of Southport YMCA Gymnastics Club. Over the years she was there the club went through dramatic changes, which included the creation of what is probably one of the best facilities in the UK. Despite this she felt that she just wasn't making the personal progress she believed she could achieve.

She had come to know Camberley Gymnastics Club through regular attendance of their Summer Gym Camp. Through the inspirational coaching of Colin and Bernie Wright, she made more progress in one or two weeks than in a whole year at Southport.

One day she announced that she still had ambitions to become a member of the GB Gymnastics Team. In order to do so she would need to change clubs. Would there be any way that she could join Camberley permanently?

We too believed in her and, in the light of the excessive travelling I was doing we looked at the possibility of a move South in order to kill two birds...

A relocation to somewhere in the area of Camberley was ideal. None of us wanted to live in Slough! Its unenviable reputation is well deserved. Our company HQ has since moved out of Slough to a brand new facility at Datchet, three miles away in distance and a World away atmosphere.

My wife took on the job of finding us somewhere to live. We did the usual filtering of possible properties from details sent to us by a local Camberley Estate Agent. Eventually we identified the "probables" and my wife and the kids went to spend a few days looking at them with the kind hospitality of one of the families of Camberley Gym Club.

Camberley straddles the M3 and the adjacent parallel A30. This is superb from a communication point of view. Camberley enjoys three motorway exits, J3 at the Lightwater end, J4 at the Frimley end and, just a little further on, J4A at Fleet. Within 5 minutes of leaving my house I can be whizzing towards London o
r Portsmouth but, more likely, stuck in the morning traffic jam!

Lightwater to the M25 is notorious. It desperately needs widening but I doubt either the Tories or Labour have the guts to do it against the opposition of the "Environmentally Concerned", none of whom, of course, actually live here!

If Camberley is let down by one thing it is the railway. OK, it has its own station (unfortunately run by South-West Trains) but mostly there are few direct services from here. To London, almost all trains stop at Ascot where you have to change trains. The service from Ascot to Camberley is highly unreliable. It is far better to drive to Ascot and take the train from there or else drive the 10 miles to Brookwood and take the mainline service to Waterloo.

From London via the A30, you enter Camberley from Bagshot, now the home of Edward and Sophie (Bagshot Hall). We often see photographers camped outside, especially following the latest "indiscretion"!

The local area has a very heavy army presence. At the other end of Camberley is Sandhurst, where is located the world-famous Sandhurst Army Training College.

Neighbouring Aldershot is virtually "Army Town" and, until recently the base of the equally world-famous and much-loved Ghurkas. Many have stayed to open very popular Nepalese restaurants following their tours of duty.

At our end of the town is Deepcut, home of the Royal Logistics Corp. They have been very busy recently with all of the unfortunate activity in Afghanistan. The long closed down adjacent Deppingen Barracks has been sold for new private housing.

We are right on the edge of Camberley, next to the Chobham Ranges where the Army carry out equipment tests and exercises. The sound of rifle fire becomes as familiar a background as bird song but is not intrusive. You also hear these same noises from the Bisley Army Rifle ranges about four miles away. It might
seem from my description that it sounds worse than it actually is in practice.

Continuing the surrounding towns, Farnborough is also world-famous for its annual International Air Show. Commercial and military aircraft from all over the World are displayed there, some seen for the very first time. It is also an important airfield for private business jets. With its convenient location it makes it the perfect touchdown for businessmen doing business in London and the Home Counties. Our company CEO uses it on his visits from the States.

Other than the Army, the area is also famous through Frimley Green as being the annual location (at the Lakeside Country Club) of the World Darts Championships, or at least, one of them. Darts seems to have developed schizophrenia, just like Boxing. When you know the area the immediate reaction is, "World Championships!", "Frimley Green?", "Get out o' here!".

My wife recalls the kids' comments as they entered Camberley for the first time. "Do they have any other restaurants than Indian ones?".

It's true, there do seem to be a phenomenal number of "Indian" restaurants in Camberley. This is just as well since we all love Indian food. This alone could have been a deciding factor! Most are as good as I have found anywhere. Over the years, although we do have our favourites, none have disappointed. So much competition, so high a standard to which to aspire.

Yes, there are other types, very many of them. In fact, you can dine out on just about any style you choose, if not in Camberley itself then in any of the neighbouring districts. I can personally recommend the Ancient Raj in Frimley (Indian), Tariq's (Indian), The Crab and Dragon (Thai), Mings (Chinese - actually this is the other side of Bagshot on the A30 - expensive but worth it), the Ghurka Palace in Farnborough (Nepalese)and the Villa Bianca in Frimley (Itali
an) to name but a very few.

My own first impression was - trees! Trees everywhere. Never seen a town with so many trees. Yes, I know that Surrey (believe it or not) is supposed to be the most heavily wooded county in the UK. Perhaps they are all in Camberley! It's almost like coming home. In fact, there are more trees in Camberley than even Theydon Bois, despite it being right beside Epping Forest.

To me it gives a very comfortable feeling to the place. Maybe it's the Hobbit in me, not that I live in a hole you understand, far from it. One thing you notice about Camberley is that generally there isn't a lot of carbon-copy building. There are a few estates it's true but generally houses are different and distinctive.

Of course, it's also true that property prices are higher than average but then that's true about most places in the South, particularly those that offer good commuting to London. That was the one thing we found painful about our move to Camberley from Southport. A modern small three bedroom semi-detached will cost you around £160,000; a mature four bedroom detached, around £375,000.

Camberley “boasts” the third largest secondary school in the UK, Collingwood College. When we came to live in Camberley, my kids were given the opportunity to decide for themselves where they wanted to go to complete their education. Other than Collingwood, the other practical choice was Tomlinscote. There are a few others but it would have meant more travelling.

Collingwood has around 2,800 pupils, almost like a small village in its own right. Both independently chose Collingwood, having had a chance to see both schools and meet pupils at both. They both said that Collingwood had the right atmosphere. I'm sure though that both are good schools.

My son continued through sixth form at Collingwood and achieved good grades. He is now studying for a computer degree at
UMIST in Manchester. My daughter decided to swap to Farnborough Sixth Form College for her “A” levels. Collingwood couldn't offer the courses she wanted in order to go on to take a Photographic Art degree course.

That's probably the one drawback with huge schools, they can't offer any real flexibility. Both kids were previously at Tarleton High School in Lancashire. This is probably one of the best State schools in the UK. They both loved the place and made enormous progress there, due to the enthusiasm and ability of a very high quality staff.

Both my wife and I speak French and we were keen that the kids learn a language as well. My son chose to learn French. My daughter couldn't get to grips with French but was allowed by Tarleton to do German instead. She really took to German and started to make good progress.

When she came to Collingwood she was told that if she couldn't make a success of French then she wouldn't be allowed to take German! Is it any wonder, with antiquated and bigoted attitudes like that that we English are crap at foreign languages!

As would be expected there are also a number of private schools in the area. I can't personally vouch for any of them as all of the kids of the friends we have made in Camberley went to States schools.

Camberley Town centres around a covered shopping mall. You can find all of the popular High Street retailers, BHS, Army and Navy, Woolworths, WH Smiths, Littlewoods... The centre of the town is largely pedestrianised with a one-way system from traffic around the central shopping mall. It does get very busy at weekends despite the "out-of-town" attractions. Which are...

...the giant Marks & Spencers, for which Camberley is probably best known, third biggest in the World even before they extended it (upwards). Located at the western end of Camberley, by The Meadows roundabout, it shares the site wit
h an equally immense Tescos. It is not unknown for people to come to visit just those two shops for the day! There is also a huge Sainsburys about a mile away on the Blackwater Valley Road, an ASDA in Farnborough, a Safeway in Sandhurst and a Waitrose in Frimley.

If your leanings are towards DIY then there is a B&Q Hyperstore and a Wilkes in Farnborough, a Focus in Frimley and a Homebase across the road from Tescos at The Meadows. Despite this, why is it I still never seem to be able to get exactly what I need!

After all that you will probably want to stop for a drink. There are plenty of pubs and bars but until recently, Camberley has been a bit of a Real Ale desert. That is now changing. The Brown Jug has recently been turned into a Bass Group owned Goose. It serves a very nice drop of Adnams plus a number of other good Real Ales at not unreasonable prices and in a pleasant atmosphere.

The Goose faces stiff competition from a Yates just across the road and, within days Camberley will finally get its own JD Wetherspoons (yippee!). The other pubs will have to start shaping up!

There are a number of nightspots for the kids, including Joe Bananas in the Town Centre and the infamous (actually it's not really that bad) Agincourt, on the A30 down towards The Meadows. For the more mature, Camberley offers regular concerts at the Arts Link theatre, next to the Public Library.

Camberley also has its own Sports Centre at the Arena, containing a swimming pool and various indoors sports arenas and activities. There are a lot of alternatives around the area as well, with the Coral Reef water complex at Bracknell and a huge sports complex at nearby Guildford, if what is on offer in Camberley doesn't suffice.

My daughter no longer does gymnastics. However, the Camberley Gym Club has gone from strength to strength. Originally located in and having long outgrown its original premises in a facility in the gr
ounds of Collingwood College, it has now moved to take over the defunct Aldershot Ice Rink. Largely through their own super-human efforts and those of an enthusiastic and able set of gymnasts and their parents and WITHOUT Lottery assistance, Colin and Bernie have been transformed it into the Rushmore Gymnastics Academy.

This is set to be one of the best gymnastics facilities in the UK, rivalling even the one at Southport. At last Colin (a GB team coach) and Bernie will have a resource worthy of their considerable abilities.

I have to admit that it has taken me some time to settle in to Camberley. This is not the fault of Camberley. I was very sad to leave Southport but it had to be done. It did affect my ability to easily come to terms with the move. Now, after nearly seven years here, I don't regret it for a moment.

My wife made a superb choice in our house. We all said the moment we walked through the door, "This is the one!". The garden is south facing and now we have chopped down a few trees we can even see the Sun (well there were rather a lot of them and they won't miss a few!).

Our house is built on land that was once a large country estate. Preserved from those times is an avenue of huge redwood pines that forms a pathway through the houses. From early spring through to late summer it is my Saturday delight to walk up to the small shopping centre about half a mile away to by a paper. The peacefulness of the pathway, the sound of the birds and the opportunity at the end of the Summer to pick wild blackberries on the way back just makes the perfect start to the day.

We have nice neighbours and a peaceful district (despite the Army), all the facilities we could need within easy reach, London on the doorstep and a great town in which to live. What more could you want?

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