Berkshire or Oxfordshire? Help me move!

[netstaller]

Wise Mumsnetters please give me some advice!

I'd like to move from our rough(ish) area of London to Berkshire or Oxfordshire for a better quality of life. I'm still going to have commute to London three days per week. Our (me, DP, DS age 2 and DS age 1) budget is max 600k, and ideally we'd like a 4 bed house with a decent garden (dream would be with space for an outside office) and not too far from a train station and near good schools.

Ideally somewhere with nice playgrounds and high street. Could anyone please suggest some suitable areas? Thank you! x

Thanks for the suggestions. Re St Albans it's just too pricey to get what we're looking for, I would love herts but DP says most of it is either too £££ or under a flight path. Annoying but he's respected my wishes not to move further south for family reasons so I have to take his considerations into account too.

Whereabouts in North London do you need to get to OP?

Newbury is great. Market town with good facilities, very safe for kids and teens. Schools are good. Electrification has improved the commute which is now under an hour to Paddington. Look for houses in the St Barts school catchment as its the most popular secondary school and easy access to the station

Newbury has a council-run lido, too (though it's not opening this year.)

Woodcote is a large village north west of Reading. A short drive to Pangourne or Goring and Streatley stations. Great secondary school. Really good countryside woods and hills for walks.

I think you need to think about what the maximum length commute you'd want - there's a big difference between 10 min walk to station, 45 minute train journey, 5 min on tube, 5 min walk compared with 10 min drive to station, 10 min train journey, change to 25 min train, 5 min on tube, 5 min on another tube, 10 min walk - I'd find the first a lot more bearable, especially in winter, when it's dark both ends of the day, the weather's grim, delays and cancellations mean you're hanging around on a platform for ages... So knowing what your limits there will probably cut out some options. Then, thinking about what facilties you want beyond good schools - swimming pools or places to walk, access to theatres or music venues? Anything like that will help you filter out some options.

An uncomplicated commute makes a difference.

A nice local village pub is a big plus, but bear in mind that the pub or cafe might not always be there.