If I love York and Exeter - where should I move to in the SE

[BromleyBR1nightbus]

Just that really. I am a quiet bookish mum with a small family.

We love places like Truro, Exeter, York and Durham. I love history, space, a river, books, character blaaaa blah blah

We need to move back to the South East for work and be within 1.5hours train journey from Liverpool St, London.

The last time we lived IN London we lived in the skyscraper - Ontario Tower. Which is was amazing and fun at the time. But I'm now older with young children and I don't think I can face being too near the City.

Definitely no closer than Bromley! (Although I love Bromley!)

Budget £450k which I know is low for the area ...

Rye would be a good fit. Also Deal and Tenterden..

Hawkhurst has a nice looking tennis club (driven past several times). Also Gouldhursrt is nice - more large villages then towns.

We lived in Canterbury for 10 years. Nice city, 2 train lines with different routes in. Handy for the coastal Whitstable, herne bay etc- bit of a fag to drive to though and you can get caught up in some big traffic/lorry snarls but it most fits your criteria - some bits rougher than others- but that goes for everywhere. These two are in a nice bit of town

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/126189044#/?channel=RES_BUY

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/124916693#/?channel=RES_BUY

I would also suggest salisbury- suprisingly decent shopping and quite a small city vibe--it does have touches of a bit 'dog on a rope' - but so does every attractive Cathedral city I've found, including Canterbury. Salisbury to me is like a bigger Canterbury . I liked it more than I expected to

I was going to suggest Canterbury too

Canterbury city council seem to be actively determined to screw up the traffic and parking (I wonder sometimes if they're actively TRYING to kill off the city centre).

I think the problem with a lot of the places mentioned will be finding what you want within budget. You may need to compromise some of the wishlist.

Faversham might be more affordable than Canterbury, or one of the villages around it.

DH is excited but the cost of rail travel from Canterbury has just given him a heart attack 😱 £80 return!

Chichester?

Ooh yes

Cambridge, Windsor or Winchester

Oooh Faversham! My auntie lives there.
I love the idea of being near family.

Commuting costs are a bit cheaper too!

Chichester?

Canterbury, Rochester (both have cathdrals) or Faversham.

Cathedrals*

What do you class as SE? Is Colchester too far north for you?

St Albans?

How regular is the commuting? Norwich is lovely but it’s closer to 2 hours to Liverpool Street at the moment, though new line improvements will bring it down to 90 minutes apparently. It’s a lovely city- much nicer than Cambridge to live in, because its quieter and fewer tourists and money will go much further.

Not a cathedral city, just a smallish historic town, but Bishop's Stortford?

Thaxted?

With the train - does he have to work conventional hours as if he doesn't he could use a network south east pass which gives 1/3 off .

The other option to get the train price down is somewhere like Guildford/Godalming. Your budget is a bit under for this area (and it's a really nice area) but there are the odd things around

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/127208264#/?channel=RES_BUY

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/126713966#/?channel=RES_BUY

Canterbury: we looked within the city on the same budget 3 years ago and couldn’t find anything decent. Or nice houses were in student areas. We went for a village nearby. Are you coming from a grammar school area - that’s something you need to think about carefully too.

I used to live inside the city walls of Canterbury.

It was lovely, but freezing and I was woken up every early morning by shop deliveries. Lovely pubs and I really enjoyed walking through the cathedral grounds to get home sometimes.

Guildford is nice.

Rochester is OK, but between Strood and Chatham. Both of which are dire.I was brought up in the Medway Towns. Only visit to see parents.

There's a little bit of flexibility with his hours so we'll check out the rail card. Thank you :)

We're coming from a non grammar school area. So it hasn't even crossed my mind! But a very very good point!

Lots of amazing ideas. Thanks everyone! We're currently tag teaming Google Maps and Rightmove!

I was once assaulted in Chichester and although it's unlikely to happen again, I'd rather rule it out. It was horrid.

Winchester