Two of the most attractive areas in Guildford are Burpham or Merrow so I am often asked by buyers which village would I recommend. This is a difficult question to answer because both locations offer a good quality of life providing a high standard of housing and excellent schools, shops plus local leisure facilities and transport links.
These areas are separated by the Guildford to London railway line via Cobham.
The village of Merrow is located in the north-east of Guildford, 2 miles (3.2 km) from Guildford town centre and situated on the edge of the ridge of hills that form the North Downs. Merrow can trace its origins back many hundreds of years when its name literally meant 'fat', "probably referring to the high fertility of the land". The village grew up around a crossroads at which the A25 road between Guildford and Leatherhead and the original road (Merrow Street), which would have enabled local citizens to travel from Burpham to Dorking, used to intersect.
The oldest houses in the village can still be seen along these two roads, together with St John's Church and the Horse and Groom, a 17th-century coaching inn next door.
Merrow remained a relatively small settlement right up until the 1950s, when the Bushy Hill estate was built. This development of several hundred houses was originally all council-owned, but since the 1980s, many homes have passed into private ownership.
Further expansion occurred in the mid-1980s when the Merrow Park development was built, completely surrounding the old houses on Merrow Street. Comprising several hundred houses and flats, Merrow Park is often considered a suburb in its own right as it has its own shops, school and doctor's surgery.
There are several exclusive roads in Merrow comprising Fairway, Levylsdene and Longmead all leading up to Guildford Golf Club and the North Downs beyond.
The median pricing for houses in Merrow is £500,000 though this might have increased slightly in the past year with houses on the Linden development, at Redland Close, having sold for up to £1.6m.
Merrow has experienced excellent capital growth over the last 20 years with most houses more than tripling in value, at around 365%.
Burpham is home to the largest secondary school in Guildford, George Abbot School, a parade of small shops, and the nationally recognised, Sutherland Memorial Park used for sporting and leisure pursuits.
Similarly to Merrow, Burpham has a mix of housing especially in the Weylea Farm and Weybrook Farm developments built more or less at the same time as Merrow Park. The jewel in the crown is Abbotswood, a conservation area located close to Stoke Park and built as a garden suburb in the Arts and Crafts Style by the notable architect Alfred Claude Burlingham.
The median price for property in Burpham is lower than Merrow, at £325,000. This reflects the many lower-priced starter homes and flats situated in the Weybrook and Weylea housing estates.
One of the reasons why Burpham tends to be a popular place to live for families is that it lies within the catchment area for George Abbott School so there is always a healthy demand for 3/4 bed houses. Burpham has experienced a capital growth over the last 20 years of 380% so achieving a higher capital growth than Merrow.
In conclusion it is therefore difficult to favour one area over the other but if you are a keen golfer then Merrow has to be your preference being the home to the Guildford Golf Club. From there you can walk onto the North Downs and over to Newlands Corner, the beauty spot made famous by Agatha Christie, when she mysteriously disappeared from there in 1926 to then be discovered in a Harrogate spa.
If you should like to chat about any matters discussed in this article or about the Guildford property market in general then please do contact me.
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